Chael Sonnen's real thoughts on Anderson Silva

Sounds like an honest assessment. I think Anderson will probably whoop his ass but when someone has wrestling on the level of Chael Sonnen's anything can happen.

Bigs03 wrote:

Sounds like an honest assessment. I think Anderson will probably whoop his ass but when someone has wrestling on the level of Chael Sonnen's anything can happen.

Yeah it's just a lot harder to hold someone down for 5 rounds. Hell I think Marquart would have won if their fight was 5 rounds.

Even if he gets Anderson down, he could easily sub Sonnen off his back.

I'm picking Sonnen for the win. I have to get one right vs Spider.

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

Even if he gets Anderson down, he could easily sub Sonnen off his back.

Not easily. We haven't seen Anderson on his back in a long time and Filho didn't exactly sub Sonnen easily off his back.

Sonnen historically is very susceptible to subs in general and from top position.

Anderson has slick submissions and is pretty good off his back, remember Lutter?

I'll say Anderson could potentially sub Chael off his back

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

Sonnen historically is very susceptible to subs in general and from top position.

Anderson has slick submissions and is pretty good off his back, remember Lutter?

I'll say Anderson could potentially sub Chael off his back

Yeah potentially, but I don't think he'll do it easily. Chael's gonna be ready for it I'm sure. I think it's going to be Anderson's toughest test probably ever at MW.

I'd go somewhere between easily and potentially, most of Chael's losses are by sub.

I'll disagree with the last part

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

I'd go somewhere between easily and potentially, most of Chael's losses are by sub.

I'll disagree with the last part

Who was a stiffer test? Franklin? He walked through Franklin twice. Nate? Lutter? Hendo? He made quick work of Hendo, too. The first round of that fight Anderson just nullified Hendo's offense on the ground and wait until the second when they were back on their feet. Then it was wham bam thank you ma'am...Anderson leaves with the belt again.

Anderson hasn't had a difficult road at 185. It wouldn't take much to be his stiffest test there.

[quote="OUSOONERSOU"]

Bigs03 wrote:

Yeah it's just a lot harder to hold someone down for 5 rounds. Hell I think Marquart would have won if their fight was 5 rounds.

Yea he was fading quick. Not sure either had much left after that near guillotine sub.

Bigs03 wrote:

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

I'd go somewhere between easily and potentially, most of Chael's losses are by sub.

I'll disagree with the last part

Who was a stiffer test? Franklin? He walked through Franklin twice. Nate? Lutter? Hendo? He made quick work of Hendo, too. The first round of that fight Anderson just nullified Hendo's offense on the ground and wait until the second when they were back on their feet. Then it was wham bam thank you ma'am...Anderson leaves with the belt again.

Anderson hasn't had a difficult road at 185. It wouldn't take much to be his stiffest test there.

It won't take much to provide a stiffer test then Hendo? Anderson mows through guys cause he is Great, not cause his competitors are not. I think he'll handle Sonnen fairly easily.

captain organic wrote:

Bigs03 wrote:

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

I'd go somewhere between easily and potentially, most of Chael's losses are by sub.

I'll disagree with the last part

Who was a stiffer test? Franklin? He walked through Franklin twice. Nate? Lutter? Hendo? He made quick work of Hendo, too. The first round of that fight Anderson just nullified Hendo's offense on the ground and wait until the second when they were back on their feet. Then it was wham bam thank you ma'am...Anderson leaves with the belt again.

Anderson hasn't had a difficult road at 185. It wouldn't take much to be his stiffest test there.

It won't take much to provide a stiffer test then Hendo? Anderson mows through guys cause he is Great, not cause his competitors are not. I think he'll handle Sonnen fairly easily.

Hendo was unsuccessful in punishing Anderson when he took the fight to the mat. So yeah, I don't think it would take much of a performance out of Sonnen to make it a tougher fight for Anderson. That's not to say that I think Sonnen is a better all around fighter than Hendo, I just think he may pose a bigger threat to Anderson because of his willingness to stick to a gameplan of getting on top and controlling there. Hendo decided in the second round against Anderson that he might be able to stand with him but Sonnen won't. Sonnen will be content with holding Anderson down for the entire fight if necessary.

I still think Anderson will win but I also think Sonnen has some tools that could give Anderson problems. At the same time, if Anderson walks through Sonnen I won't be surprised either. I still think GSP is Anderson's toughest fight at 185.

Sonnen is just the flavor of the month, I was one of the few who actually thouight he was good pre his current win streak. But it's tough to even say he's better than Franklin, let alone Hendo.

Who knows I think Hendo came in to aggressive standing and got caught. If hendo came in with the lay and pray wear you out method only, he could possibly outwrestle Anderson for 5 rounds. I doubt by the way but i think it would increase your chances on winning.

muayjitsu wrote:

Who knows I think Hendo came in to aggressive standing and got caught. If hendo came in with the lay and pray wear you out method only, he could possibly outwrestle Anderson for 5 rounds. I doubt by the way but i think it would increase your chances on winning.

It's not as though Hendo was able to take Spider to the ground in the opening moments of the 1st round, and held him there throughout the round. We should also not assume that if Hendo wanted to take Spider down early in the 2nd he could have. And we should not discredit spider's ability to make it difficult for any GnPer while on his back. His length allows him to keep his opponent in tight(and thus unable to deliver quality punishment) as well as posing a consistent sub threat.

captain organic wrote:

muayjitsu wrote:

Who knows I think Hendo came in to aggressive standing and got caught. If hendo came in with the lay and pray wear you out method only, he could possibly outwrestle Anderson for 5 rounds. I doubt by the way but i think it would increase your chances on winning.

It's not as though Hendo was able to take Spider to the ground in the opening moments of the 1st round, and held him there throughout the round. We should also not assume that if Hendo wanted to take Spider down early in the 2nd he could have. And we should not discredit spider's ability to make it difficult for any GnPer while on his back. His length allows him to keep his opponent in tight(and thus unable to deliver quality punishment) as well as posing a consistent sub threat.

I did say that i doubt it would happen jeez lol. I know the threats standing were greater for hendo's then anderson's subs off his back. Lets not forget Hendo was in there with big Nog and Hendo had to get tired out to be subbed by him. Hendo came in that fight saying people were scared to stand and fight with anderson and he was not, also claiming that he would KO anderson. All I am suggesting is if Hendo approached the fight with the intention of solely wrestling anderson he could have possibly had a very different outcome. But of course all we are doing is suggesting what would happen, we will never really know.

my post was directed as much to bigs, as it was to you Muay.

captain organic wrote:

muayjitsu wrote:

Who knows I think Hendo came in to aggressive standing and got caught. If hendo came in with the lay and pray wear you out method only, he could possibly outwrestle Anderson for 5 rounds. I doubt by the way but i think it would increase your chances on winning.

It's not as though Hendo was able to take Spider to the ground in the opening moments of the 1st round, and held him there throughout the round. We should also not assume that if Hendo wanted to take Spider down early in the 2nd he could have. And we should not discredit spider's ability to make it difficult for any GnPer while on his back. His length allows him to keep his opponent in tight(and thus unable to deliver quality punishment) as well as posing a consistent sub threat.

Regardless of Anderson's ability to make it difficult for a gNp fighter to inflict damage, that seems to be the best plan of attack against him. Hendo has fallen in love with the KO a little to much at times. He has a helluva right hand obviously but if he would stick to his wrestling a little more he might've won some of the big fights that he's lost.

If Hendo and Sonnen stepped into the cage against each other tomorrow I would pick Hendo. However, if I had to choose an opponent for Anderson between the two, I'd pick Sonnen. Mostly because he's willing to at least attempt to hold a guy down and beat on him for the duration of a match but also because I've already seen Hendo lose a fairly one sided contest to Anderson.

And as far as LA's comment about Sonnen being the flavor of the month...that's all we ever have in the MW division. It's one flavor of the month after another getting beat convincingly by a dominant champ. Much like the WW division which actually is much deeper overall. Hardy is GSP's flavor of the month too.