Did Chael "quick tap" in order to cheat?

The answer is no. Absolutely Not.

Unfortunately Sonnen's antics before the fight, specifically his Lance Armstrong cheating remarks, have caused some in the MMA blogspere to go on what can only be described as a witch-hunt to paint Sonnen as the cheater.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/8/10/1615283/ed-soares-and-dave-meltzer-on

Here is Kid Nate again for the third time bringing up the "quick tap". Kid Nate keeps referencing a Matt Lindland fight from ten years ago as hardcore evidence Team Quest is loaded with quick-tap cheaters. That is no different than saying Ben Askren is a steroid user because The Lions Den was Shamrock's camp and he used PEDS years ago.

If you watch the video of the fight again, Chael's tap resembles Fedor's in a lot of ways, he thinks about it, thinks about it, wants to, doesn't want to, and then taps once. Fedor for a moment looked like he might want to protest or continue fighting.

Chael Sonnen's submission is identical to the one Amir Sadolla beat CB Dollaway with. The submission was applied and was tight, causing an almost instinctual tap that the conscious mind protests out of a mixture of disbelief and dismay. After a tough four round battle Chael may not have even been fully aware he fully tapped in the seconds following the tap. Usually those kind of protests come after the hand hovers as if it wants to tap before finally tapping just once. I can't imagine the emotions flying through one's head after 4.5 rounds of domination over the p4p best only to fall again to a submission. This isn't even the first time this happened to Sonnen. In his fight with Filho he submitted verbally and immediately denied it afterward the exact same way. Nate references this as evidence Sonnen does this to cheat, but how in the hell could verbally submitting to the ref gain you anything but a loss on your record? If anything that is evidence Chael tends to slip into brief denial after tapping. The knock on Sonnen isn't he is a cheater, it's that he must have a low pain threshold and can't help but tap when a move is applied, even if he doesn't want to.

Chael's tap was open and in plain view of everyone. If you want to see an intentional quick-tap, look no further than Jeremy Horn vs Nate Mardquardt. Horn tries to escape a standing front choke by reaching behind Nate the Great's shoulder and tapping. It wasn't one hovering tap but a quick series of taps designed to get Nate to release the hold by hiding the submission from the ref.

Kid Nate watches and knows as much about MMA as anyone else who has unhealthy blog habits on the sport, so there is no excuse for that kind of article other than bias and dislike of Sonnen. Bloodyelbow is a good site overall, but I am starting to understand why fighters like Shane Carwin have abandoned it and it's staff.

It's pretty well known that Matt Lindland has a "If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'" attitude with MMA. I think it was earlier this week on the Savage Dog Show on the Sherdog Radio Network they were discussing whether or not Chael quick tapped and they said that Lindland told them he had done it for years in competition. Of course, that's not to say Chael did it, but I don't think it's fair to say Kid Nate's on some sort of crusade against Team Quest for no reason. He didn't just dream this idea up as a biased way to attack Chael Sonnen.

It was a tap just not the most clear or concise 'tapping'. The whole end with Anderson still holding and Sonnen still pulling with the ref right there in between, not pulling to separate but it seemed like he was unsure of it, all made for a little confusion. But He submitted, everyone knows it, especially Chael, the call and outcome were correct.

I was one of the first on this board to scream he tapped and I was rooting for the guy. But he tapped, though after watching re-runs, I guess he could have claimed he was reaching for the the thigh, but he tapped and it looked like a tap.

he definitely tapped and then tried to protest

does that make him a cheater, no not really, just dishonest

He didn't protest anything, Rosenthal told him he tapped and Chael said "I believe you"

the way he stayed on top of Anderson and kept trying to fight, how does he not know he tapped?

Birdofthad wrote:

the way he stayed on top of Anderson and kept trying to fight, how does he not know he tapped?

maybe cuz anderson kept cranking the armbar?

come on Anderson loosened the triangle and Sonnen kept staying there

love how Sonnen protesting is becoming Andersons fault

they watched the replay it is clear he was protesting

Chael said "I believe you" indicating he wasn't fully aware he tapped.


Nate constantly talks about how he's never ever trained. It shows badly here. Ali have you grappled? It's easy not to know if you've tapped if you're in a deep choke and you're fighting to get out. You can try not to tap and still tap anyway, out of pure reflex to the hold. In the gym guys tap before they really crank on holds to prevent injury, so tapping when it gets tight comes reflexively. It's hard to turn that reflex off.

learn to read bub

once you realize who it is you will slap yourself since you already know the answer to your question

and obviously Ali has never rolled cause they only wear kilts in Scotland

Oh well I assumed it was ali and not someone who trained because someone who trained for real wouldn't ask that. Or so I thought anyway. This confirms that you were more of a den groupie than a member.

hahah ya says the guy who practices martial arts on his 9 year old

sorry wolf when i rolled, i tapped and knew i tapped

call me whe your ever in a sanctioned amateur or professional fight

your wife sanctioning the battle of the living room den doesnt count

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Chael said "I believe you" indicating he wasn't fully aware he tapped.


Nate constantly talks about how he's never ever trained. It shows badly here. Ali have you grappled? It's easy not to know if you've tapped if you're in a deep choke and you're fighting to get out. You can try not to tap and still tap anyway, out of pure reflex to the hold. In the gym guys tap before they really crank on holds to prevent injury, so tapping when it gets tight comes reflexively. It's hard to turn that reflex off.

for someone that never trained a day in his life wolf sure has alot of insight

Well I have trained, mostly boxing and disarms and shit, but I have trained, and my kid does Judo. Also unlike Kid Nate I'm not an idiot.

Bird has become the new LA.

na ill never let what you says piss me off that much