Chael Sonnen Reminisces On UFC 117 Defeat To Anderson Silva

With UFC 148, an event which is headlined by arguably the most anticipated rematch of all time between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, slowly creeping up on us, Sonnen, the man who single handedly sold the first fight, appeared on the latest edition of the Joe Rogan Experience to talk all things MMA.

One of the things that Sonnen spoke of, was the now legendary UFC 117 middleweight title fight between himself and his Brazilian nemesis, which ended in the most dramatic fashion, when after four and a half rounds, all of which was dominated by Sonnen, Silva threw up a hail mary triangle choke off his back, and scoring the submission with less than two minutes left.

Here is what the "Republican Gangster" remembers of the fight (Props to MMAMania for transcribing):

"It was devastating, I had no idea what happened in that fight, none. When the fight was over, I was devastated. I came to, and I said to the ref, you know the typical thing like a doofus, 'What happened?' The referee, Josh Rosenthal, is a fantastic referee, simply says, 'You tapped out.' And he looks at me for a response like I was going to argue, and I simply say, 'I believe you.' Now, I knew that because ESPN zoomed in on it and showed it. But that's all I said was, 'I believe you.' I remember falling asleep, it's a very weird experience you know, when you're actually going to sleep but you're trying to stay within reality, and I remember having a dream thinking, "Well if I tap I can get out of this, nah, let's not tap. The fight was over. I had already tapped, I hit his foot and I really didn't fully know what happened. When it was over and I came too, I didn't fully know what happened, I was trying to figure out what just happened. So, aside from being choked, don't forget, I got fatigue issues, I got blood and Vaseline in my eyes, I have exhaustion, I have anxiety. I'm a normal human being, I feel every emotion. So many people say to me, 'Oh you're never scared.' Come on, I'm a human, I feel it all. So, I lose the fight, we got to the back and they bring me the Fight of the Night check. They pay you immediately if you get a bonus. Boom, here's your check. And I remember thinking, 'You gave me this out of sympathy because that was such a boring fight, nothing happened, you gave it out of sympathy, I'll take it. I'm fighting back the tears, I'm just devastated, I'm absolutely devastated by this defeat. Later the fight gets Fight of The Year from Fighters Only Magazine. So, it ended up being a really good fight. But the point I'm trying to make is , that is how out of touch I was with what was happening in the ring. At one point, my corner told me it was round five when it was round four or it was round four when it was round three, whatever it was, the corner had the rounds off. I just didn't fully know what was going on. In this next fight, I'd like to, as I visualize and plan for it, that's one of the things, I'd like to be a little more aware and in touch with what's happening. But it's hard, it's hard in the Octagon man. A lot of stuff goes out the window, you get hit, you get kicked, it's tough. It's tough to stay focused."

The UFC Middleweight title fight between Anderson "The Spider" Silva and Chael Sonnen will headline UFC 148, which goes down Saturday, July 7th, 2012.

Source: http://blog.joerogan.net/archives/4777
Source: http://www.mmamania.com/2012/5/16/3022113/ufc-148-devastated-chael-sonnen-tears-anderson-silva-submission-loss-mma

Published by Lee Rabey - Thu, 17 May 2012 16:46