UFC 117

Much like Shane Carwin did for his fight against Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, Chael Sonnen dominated the Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. For over four rounds, Sonnen, an all-American from the University of Oregon, controlled the champion with some heavy strikes from the mount, including elbows and hammerfists to the ears. Silva would get some shots in, but Sonnen was clearly the more dominant fighter.

But, just like Lesnar did against Carwin, Silva would remain patient, and caught Sonnen with a triangle choke, forcing the submission 3 minutes and 10 seconds into the fifth round. This was only one of three fights in UFC history to end in the 5th round. The others were Randy Couture vs. Ricco Rodriguez at UFC 39, and B. J. Penn vs. Diego Sanchez at UFC 107.

"I knew that I was losing the first four rounds," said Silva during his post-fight interview. "But, you know, not to make any excuses, about a week and a half ago, I hurt my ribs. The doctor asked me not to come in and fight, but for you guys and for the UFC, I came in here and put it all out on the line."

Silva improves to 27-4, retains the UFC Middleweight Championship, and is the promotion's longest reigning champion. With 12 consecutive wins, Silva holds the longest active winning streak in the UFC and the record for the longest winning streak in UFC history.


In the UFC 117 co-main event, Jon Fitch earned a title shot against the current Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, after defeating Thiago Alves via unanimous decision. Alves, who failed to meet the weight requirements again, seemed out of the fight in general.


Clay Guida continues to amaze UFC fans, scoring a submission victory over Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Rafael dos Anjos 1:51 into the third round. Dos Anjos appeared to have suffered a broken jaw during the bout, which may have led to his submission. During the third round, Guida moved to half guard and applied pressure to the Brazilian's neck and head, forcing the tapout.


Matt Hughes proved that just because you are in the Hall of Fame, doesn't mean that your career is over. Hughes choked out Ricardo Almeida 3 minutes, 15 seconds into Round 1. For Almeida, it was the first time he has ever submitted.


And The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 winner failed to impress Saturday, as Roy Nelson lost to Junior Dos Santos via unanimous decision. For Dos Santos, he has earn a title shot against the winner of the Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez UFC Heavyweight title fight.