Live: UFC 148 Silva vs Sonnen II – live updates, blog
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Join us for live updates from the biggest fight in UFC history: UFC 148: Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen II.
>> Check out our UFC 148 predictions
Dana White is calling UFC 148 the biggest event in UFC history – so The Roar has grudgingly agreed to be cage side live blogging in the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas.
The main event will be between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, a rematch for the Middleweight belt.
Silva is being called the greatest MMA fighter of all time (or according to the t-shirts of the Brazilian fans pouring into the MGM Garden Arena ‘The Pele of MMA’).
Chael Sonnen, the self-styled bad guy of the UFC, comprehensively outfought Anderson Silva for four and a half rounds in their last meeting two years ago, before being submitted by a freak triangle choke- the latest stoppage of a fight in UFC history.
There’s genuine animosity between the two fighters, with both claiming the other has gone too far with the personal jabs, and with things getting physical at both the press conference and the weigh in, some of the fighters and media have voicing genuine concern for what Anderson Silva may do to his opponent.
Other voices however have claimed that Sonnen’s skill set is perfectly suited to ending the Silva era.
The undercard is stacked, and includes Tito Ortiz final ever fight, movie star Cung Le up against KO artist Patrick Cote and fights from Forrest Griffin, Chad Mendes, Cody McKenzie, Dong Hyun Kim, and Damien Maia.
Join us for live updates and commentary as UFC 148 unfolds here at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The Crowd Says (74) | Page 1 of Comments
The Roar Live Blog: Latest comments displayed at the top of the page | Click here to jump to leave a comment
11:55pm
stam said | 11:55pm | Report comment
When did it become ok to knee a person on the ground?
11:35am
Bill Larkin said | 11:35am | Report comment
As I said in the other thread on this topic, it’s okay to knee someone on the ground, as long as it isn’t in the head.
2:51pm
Benny said | 2:51pm | Report comment
All in all great event. The undercard was a little underwhelming, but the top three fights were all excellent in their own way. Cote and Cung came to fight and put it all on the line, Forrest and Ortiz did what they could, with the fight finishing in the only way it could have- strangely. In the main event we had a hint of what could have been, with Sonnen dominating the first round but then we saw what we’ve seen for years and may see for a few more, Pure Silva lethal brilliance.
Too good, too dangerous and a gracious champion. Well done Anderson Silva. Well done done UFC. Well done traveling Brazilians. Well done to the bartender who I have a date with.
Benny
7:25pm
daniel said | 7:25pm | Report comment
anyone know what chad mendes’ walkout song was?
2:46pm
Stumpy said | 2:46pm | Report comment
Yep that’s about how it was likely to go Sonnen had his real chance the first time they fought. Silva is a freak
4:48pm
Benny said | 4:48pm | Report comment
He’s incredible. He was asked at the presser if he’d like to test his skills against Bones and he emphatically said he didn’t.
2:41pm
Benny said | 2:41pm | Report comment
Round two
It’s allllll over.
Sonnen shoot again for a double but can’t get the takedown. After a little stand-up Sonnen shoots for a single but is stuffed. Sonnen looks fearful of the stand up and throws a wild spinning backfist, but misses and get’s clipped and falls and on the ground he eats a flying knee.
On the ground, Sonnen is peppered with strikes and soon there’s a stoppage. TKO win for Silva.
In the post fight press conference, Silva buries the hatchet somewhat but the crowd isn’t having any of it, still booing and calling him Put.
Silva calls Chael over and encourages the Brazilian fans to cheer him and then asks him to come around for a BBQ at is house, making reference to Sonnen suggesting Silva’s wife should come over to Chael’s house and cook him a steak.
2:31pm
Benny said | 2:31pm | Report comment
Round One
This is it. The soccer chants start before match and both fighters look surprisingly relaxed.
Anderson walked towards Chael before the fight and there’s a moment when the officials are fearful that the fight might start prematurely but Silva just bows.
Unbelievable, Sonnen gets the takedown straight away and spends the whole round on top, getting full mount with 45 second to go.
There’s a triagle threat for but a moment, but it was a big round for Sonnen…
2:21pm
Benny said | 2:21pm | Report comment
Anderson Silva comes out to huge applause with his coaches and Steven Seagal, once again with shooting glasses. You know, just in case it goes down.
He’s certainly making Chael wait- just getting in his head, as he has been all week.
2:18pm
Benny said | 2:18pm | Report comment
Personally, I’d love to see Chael win. He’s got so much weird personality, he’d be a very entertaining champion and he’d put the belt on the line at the drop of a hat.
As he said at the press conference, “If you’re 185 pounds and you say my name, we’re fighting.”
He comes out to some awful country song and the crowd boos him, almost uniformly. I would have thought US patriotism would have kicked in but it doesn’t seem so.
2:35pm
Steve said | 2:35pm | Report comment
Not now obviously, but after the fights there’s going to have to be a discussion about how everyone writing or commenting on The Roar thinks Sonnen is great, and seemingly everybody else hates him. What’s that all about?
OK, back to reading the updates……
2:15pm
Benny said | 2:15pm | Report comment
Now we’ve come to it, the most anticipated rematch in the sport.
Anderson Silva (31-4) v Chael Sonnen (27-7-1)
Not much to say about Anderson Silva except that he’s a fighter who seems to be from another world….except when he fights Chael Sonnen.
Silva is 14-0 in the UFC and simple the greatest MMA fighter of all time, but he very nearly had his record blemished two years ago when Chael beat him down for four and a half rounds before escaping with a submission win against all flow of the match.
There’s genuine hate here, and I’m actually a little fearful of waht might happen to Chael here, but if he can out-wrestle the Brazilian.
2:09pm
Benny said | 2:09pm | Report comment
Round Three
What a round. Tito clocks Forrest and knocks him down, but is too tired to follow it up.
Tito takes Forrest down and the crowd goes ballistic.
Forrest tries for a kimura from the bottom but can’t get it.To end the round both men swing wildly but not much connects.
Forrest walks out of the cage as soon as the bell sounds and I think we just saw the end of two careers. He’s disgusted with himself.
Forrest is back in the ring, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this was his last fight.
Forrest takes is 29-28 on all cards and the crowd haaaaaaaaaates it.
Forrest grabs the mic and takes the interview. aTito doesn’t think’s it’s dd, but Joe Rogan is standing around like, “what the fuuuuuuuu…”
Forrest is getting all kinds of boos. Joe is telling everyone to chill and Forrest says he wants to keep fighting. Bizarre fight, bizarre ending.
1:59pm
Benny said | 1:59pm | Report comment
Round two
Tito rocks Forrest with a straight right and the two flail around before clinching and Forrest wakes up. Forrest clips him with a stiff jab, and again, and again.
Both men are trying for a spectacular fight, and the will is there but not the speed or power.
Forrest is beating Tito to the punch regularly the end of the round.
Not very technical but entertaning none the less.
Let’s see what Tito has in his last ever round….
2:13pm
Da Madbacker said | 2:13pm | Report comment
Thanx for the update Benny!
1:52pm
Benny said | 1:52pm | Report comment
Round One
Tito is fight the first and only time as a hall of famer, but Forrest gets a huge roar too.
Forrest has the early stand up but Tito gets a takedown and does some good damage from the top- an elbow and two hooks.
Tito looks little slow in the ensuing stand up exchanges, but gets another takedown just before the bell.
Without looking particularly dangerous, I think Tito got the round.
1:43pm
Benny said | 1:43pm | Report comment
Now we have the co-main event of the evening.
Forrest Griffin (18-7) and Tito Ortiz (17-10-1)
Light Heavyweight
This is going to be something. The one-time face of the UFC, Ortiz is now fighting his last bout and it’s going to be emotional, win lose or draw. The thing about Tito though is that he fell of a giant cliff a few years ago and he’s only won one match since losing the title at UFC 66.
Tito comes out in some sort of gladiator helmet.
Forrest, another former champ, looks like he has a little more left in the tank, but he says he was given Tito’s swan-fight because they wanted a guy who was big and slow who’d stand in front of Tito and bang.
Forrest comes out to Dropkick Murphy’s “Shipping off to Boston.”
This one is going to be good. Tito will go out on his shield if need be.
1:35pm
Benny said | 1:35pm | Report comment
We just got a shot of Sonnen arriving and then Silva. Amazingly, the Brazilian fans completely drowned out the American Sonnen fans. If Silva gets a KO, it’s going to be deafening.
1:34pm
Benny said | 1:34pm | Report comment
Round Three
As the fighters come out they shake, recognition of the joint effort. Cote cops a knee in the fruit and veg early, but the younger Cote looks sharper and throws solid flurries of punches.
From two clinches we see a solid spinning backfist from Cote and then a takedown from Le, but Cote pops up again. Cote gets a single but cant’ get the takedown.
Cung Le gets the trip with 40 sec to go and Cung Le takes a 30-27 unanimous win.
His first UFC victory. Good fight, very deserving winner.
Cung Le says he was going to do a backflip, but he’s too tired.
Crowd likes it.
Cung Le says he might keep fighting in the UFC and dedicates his victory to all the 40 year olds.
1:25pm
Benny said | 1:25pm | Report comment
Round 2
Le once again shows range of strikes, including a spinning heel kick, but gasses a little and Cote gets inside and clips him with some heavy shots.
After a minute, both men are cut but neither take a backward step.
Great fight, with fortunes going backward and forward…
1:20pm
Benny said | 1:20pm | Report comment
Round one
Cote feints a kick and straight away hes thrown via a judo throw.
Cung moves beatifully moving in and out of range at ease landing some solid body shots and a couple of nice hooks. As expected, Le throws all kinds of strikes from all kind of angles.
Cote resorts to a bum rush but to no avail.
Round ends after a solid ‘Cung Le’ chant
1:11pm
Benny said | 1:11pm | Report comment
Cung Le (7-2) v Patrick Cote (17-7)
Middleweight
Cung Le is one of the most entertaining guys in MMA, with some of the most incredible kicks in the game. He’s already a movie star, playing Marshall Law in the Tekken film, and a former Strikeforce champ but he is 40 years of age and without a win in the UFC (0-1 against Wanderlei).
Patrick Cote, another of Silva’s scalps and just returning to the UFC after a two year layoff, comes out to MC Hammer’s “2 Legit to Quit”
Cote’s a boxer and kickboxer with an atomic bomb of a right hand so both men love to finish. If someone manages to finish with a headshot, these guys could be picking up a fight bonus.
Cung Le comes out to “Baddest Man Alive.” It’s such shame he’s not ten years younger, hes the teenage boys ideal vision of a martial artist.
1:03pm
Benny said | 1:03pm | Report comment
Round one
Another super early stoppage (47sec). Maia went for the takedown straight way and they end up in an awkward position. The Korean was flipped and sustained some sort of abdominal injury. Maia got into a full mount, but Kim had already tapped from…strikes?
Confusing fight, but the Brazilians are happy and will take it.
OK, Maia has confirmed that Kim injured his neck on the cage in the takedown. He’s up and OK though.
12:58pm
Benny said | 12:58pm | Report comment
Damien Maia (15-4) v Dong Hyun Kim (15-1-1)
Welterweight
This is Damien Maia’s first welterweight fight, having lost two of his last three fights at middleweight. His opponent is one of Asia’s best, a man who’s only been beaten once, and that loss was to interim champ Carlos Condit.
Kim is an expert Judo player, but he’s also a solid kickboxer so he may try to keep it standing up, to stay away from Maia’s superlative BJJ.
Maia is one of a few fighters on the card who took a beating from Anderson Silva (Cote, Forrest), but I think Maia’s was the worst, with the champ toying with him like a particularly sadistic cat might.
Be interesting how the Brazilian fares against the athletic Koren.
12:52pm
Benny said | 12:52pm | Report comment
Th smell of weed has wafted over the media section. I, for one, am outraged.
Bisping has arrived behind us (not related), to get a preview of the beating he’s got coming if Anderson gets over Chael tonight.
12:49pm
Benny said | 12:49pm | Report comment
Round One
First stoppage! McKenzie throws some very awkward kicks, and Mendes catches one of them and floors him with a gut shot. McKenzie couldn’t have been less impressive. Dances out to some 90′s awful-rock, throws some teenage-style muay thai and then gets KO’d by a gut shot.
12:45pm
Benny said | 12:45pm | Report comment
Next fight is…
Chad Mendes (11-1) v Cody McKenzie (13-2)
Featherweight.
Both of these guys are sub experts so maybe we’ll have the first finish of the night. Mendes is a heavy favourite, having only lost once, his last fight to Jose Aldo.
Cody has a pretty monochromatic game, finishing almost every fight with an amended guillotine but he’s reeeally long for a featherwight.
Cody comes out with Ronda Rousey to the sounds of The Offspring and looking every part a guy who usually fights in roadhouse car parks. He won’t stop jumping and shadowing violently s Chad comes out to some mournful country.
This is the Odd Couple: The Fight.
12:40pm
Benny said | 12:40pm | Report comment
Wanderlei just walked past and he looked like a hipster who’d been in a car accident.
12:38pm
Benny said | 12:38pm | Report comment
Mick Easton wins 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. Not exactly ‘Bustin’ Loose,’ but I’m sure he’ll take it.
12:37pm
Benny said | 12:37pm | Report comment
Round 3
Menjivar goes for a spinning kick and is taken down with about 2:30 to go, but Menjivar quickly locks the American in with his guard, before both men end up on their feet again.
As was the case for the prior two rounds, Easton throws out a spectacular attempt at the end of the round, this time a flying scissor kick, but again to no avail and outside of that, little is thrown, let alone landed.
Crowd is happy this one is over.
12:30pm
Benny said | 12:30pm | Report comment
Round two
It’s a fairly action-free round, with an early, slightly blocked overhand right from Mejivar being a highlight, as well as a flying knee toward the bell.
As he was in the first round, Easton talks intermittently though the round, speaking presumably to himself and I think he pushed the pace and should probably take this round, but it’d be hard to score.
As is often the case, the crowd is quick to anger when there’s little action and the round ends with boos.
12:24pm
Benny said | 12:24pm | Report comment
Round 1
Easton gets a nice head kick through and lands a couple of vicious leg kicks. For his part, Menjivar hits Easton with a ‘low blow’ a few inches below his knee.
Easton shoots for a late round takedown, but doesn’t get it but he still should have taken the round, controlling the pace and octagon.
12:19pm
Benny said | 12:19pm | Report comment
Easton has a comically large bulge in the front of his shorts? You didn’t want to know that? I didn’t want to see that.
12:15pm
Benny said | 12:15pm | Report comment
Mike Easton (t 135 pounds) comes out in a Hulk mask and purple Hulk trunks to the sounds of “Bustin’ Loose.” He’s just been installed as an unbackable favourite.
12:13pm
Benny said | 12:13pm | Report comment
“If i see the head, I punch it. If I see the arm, I take it. If I see the neck, I choke it,” Ivan Menjivar.
12:06pm
Benny said | 12:06pm | Report comment
The main card is about to start and little video show with Anderson and Chael has the crowd frothing for it. First fight of the six fight main card is:
Ivan Menjivar (24-8) v Mike Easton (12-1)
Bantamweight
Menjivar was to fight Renan Barao, who will now be fighting Uriah Faber for the Interim title but now is fighting Easton, a very capable fighter with a black belt in BJJ and TKD and is coming off a seven fight win streak, with three of those fights in the UFC.
11:59am
Benny said | 11:59am | Report comment
The decision comes down and it’s 30-27 to Guillard on every card. The Brazilians don’t like it.
11:57am
Benny said | 11:57am | Report comment
This time the USA chant takes and is booming, but is met by an equal chant from the South Americans.
Guillard is first mostly in this round, with leaping left hook or straight right. Fast punches, but a predictable and little gets through.
Camoes get a singe with 1:15 to o but has to give it up and again at with half a minute to go and they end up on the ground. They finish in a neutral ground position.
Both fighters think they have it, but Camoes seems more convinced.
11:51am
Benny said | 11:51am | Report comment
Camoes locks in a singe but couldn’t get Guillard down. Guillard has his chance for a takedown, but chooses against it.
An insipid U-S-A starts before a muuuuch louder BRAZIL chant drowns it out.
Camoes gets Guillrd up against the cage with a minute to go but gives up his back after a failed spinning elbow. the round finished with Gullard trying to fit his elbow in Camoes ear. Hard to sore, but I might have it at 1-1. Looks like we may be in for some fireworks in this final round.
11:46am
Benny said | 11:46am | Report comment
Dana just sat down across the ring from me. Man, you’d have to have long arms to choke that guy.
11:45am
Benny said | 11:45am | Report comment
In the first round, Camoes tries multiple times to take the Young Assassin down, bu to no avail, eating some shots with each attempt.
Camores gets Guillard on his back with a minute to go and transitions to full mount, raining some blows down before trying for a choke, but Guillard gets up and we finish the round with Camores eating blows from above.
Super entertaining round the crowd ready for a finish…
11:37am
Benny said | 11:37am | Report comment
The Brazilian flags are out for this one, bu the US crowd has really found their voice for the entrance of Young Assassin Guillard.
11:35am
Benny said | 11:35am | Report comment
Ok, one more fight on the undercard until we get to six main event fights, all interesting in their own way. That final undercard fight is Melvin Gillard, a top Lightweight prospect a few fights ago but now on something of a slide after getting submitted a few times.
He’s going to up against a BJJ black belt from Rio, Fabricio Camoes.
11:31am
Benny said | 11:31am | Report comment
The Russian takes the win here, making him 2-0 in the UFC and 18-0 in pro fights. Takes every round. Guy has a future methinks.
11:29am
Benny said | 11:29am | Report comment
Impossibly, the Russian is out muscling Tibau, controlling the cage and happily eating any shots that come his way. The way he’s pushing the much larger Brazilian is impressive. Good to watch, sharp and smart but certainly not afraid to walk forward.
11:23am
Benny said | 11:23am | Report comment
This Nurmagomedov kid is really game, going ever forward and landing some nice punches, with damage now showing above the Brazilian’s right eye he was taken down quickly, but bounced right back up.
Might be 1-1 or 2-0 Nurmagomedov.
11:17am
Benny said | 11:17am | Report comment
The chant of ‘Bra-zeel’ fires up a few times in the first round of this one with some loud soccer songs. The undefeated Nurmagomedov looks energetic against his giant opponent, but neither take much damage.
Tibau must have had a huge cut because he looks seriously welterweight-y.
11:13am
Benny said | 11:13am | Report comment
Or whatever it is in the middle of that flag.
11:11am
Benny said | 11:11am | Report comment
The ovation for Braziian Gleison is huuuuge. Like I said lots of Ordro e Progresso.
11:21am
Rob said | 11:21am | Report comment
Ordem e Progresso
11:51am
Benny said | 11:51am | Report comment
Cheers Rob.
11:09am
Benny said | 11:09am | Report comment
It’s not a UFC even until someone comes out to Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man.’ Thank you Gleison Tibau.
11:02am
Benny said | 11:02am | Report comment
Philipou takes a unanimous decision, and improves his record to 11-2. Fukuda just looked a little slow, with inflicting little damage with his strikes.
10:59am
Benny said | 10:59am | Report comment
Costa cops a kick in the jewels straight after the resumption and screams at Fukuda and swings wildly, with a few punches getting through.
10:58am
Benny said | 10:58am | Report comment
Costa is back to a huge roar of approval.
10:56am
Benny said | 10:56am | Report comment
Costa takes a Three Stooges style poke in teh eye and he’s in quite a bit of pain a the action takes a break….
10:53am
Benny said | 10:53am | Report comment
Speaking of that open workout, when Chael started training he came over and chatted to me, mentioning that it was a little warm for a workout.
He looked huge and I asked how much he weighed and he said, “About 205.” He did get to 185 24 hours later, so it’s interesting to see-
a- how his energy is
and
b- if a weight disparity will play into Sonnen’s ability to take Silva down.
10:51am
Benny said | 10:51am | Report comment
A closer round here, with Fukuda kicking effectively, but I’d probably still give it to Costa. He’s stronger in the cinch and rocked the Japanese fighter with his right a couple of times.
10:44am
Benny said | 10:44am | Report comment
Just told Costa is not Cypriot, but Greek, living in NYC. Whatever he is, he’s doing well in a wary first round. Fukuda’s face already shoing damage.
10:42am
Benny said | 10:42am | Report comment
Here’s some footage I shot of Seagal doing a little Aikido with former Strikeforce champ Feijao.
10:39am
Benny said | 10:39am | Report comment
Costa comes out to White Snake. Love this guy.
10:38am
Benny said | 10:38am | Report comment
Costa Phillpou against Riki Fukuda now, with the Cypriot ready to make the jump to the main card with a win here.
10:35am
Benny said | 10:35am | Report comment
The Brazilians have started to hang flags and chant. It’s been interesting to see the difference in the way Silva and Sonnen have approached the week.
Silva has been playing the rock star all week, moving through with a giant entourage, including giant, ear-pieced bodyguards where Sonnen has been, well, kinda quiet and workmanlike.
The best example of this was the open wokouts. Sonnen worked out first and did a full 20 minutes of genuinely hard work with his trainer, leaving the mat to talk to all and sundry from the media.
Silva on the other hand, conducted a full martial arts class with a full dozen fighters, including Feijao, his son and Steven Seagal, before leaving without taking even one interview.
10:30am
Benny said | 10:30am | Report comment
Yep, Roller wins 29-28 on all three cards.
10:28am
Benny said | 10:28am | Report comment
Alessio finishes on top, but I’d guess that Roller has done enough.
10:27am
Benny said | 10:27am | Report comment
Roller survives a Belfort style bezerker-rage charge from Alessio and now is grinding his way to a round win. Not very exctiing, but he’s doing enough to keep them from being stood.
10:23am
Benny said | 10:23am | Report comment
Roller controlled the second round, taking Alessio’s back but never really looks like he was going to finish. Should be1-1 though.
10:18am
Benny said | 10:18am | Report comment
It’s the second round of the first undercard fight between John Alessio and Shane Roller. Roller looks behind and has been winging haymakers almost from the get go.
Alessio is controlling the tempo well.
10:12am
Benny said | 10:12am | Report comment
Another highlight was the pub crawl through Downtown Vegas with some of the fighters and ring girls. Special mention goes to Donald Cowboy Cerrone for having the sunburn and blood alcohol content of a teenager at his first Big Day Out.
10:30am
Tristan Rayner said | 10:30am | Report comment
Haha.. really? That’s great.
10:36am
Benny said | 10:36am | Report comment
I have the greatest pic of him with twenty or so showgirls, going nuts.
10:05am
Benny said | 10:05am | Report comment
So, this fight is the culmination of the first UFC International Fight Week, which has been five days of pool parties, pub crawls and workout sessions.
The week kicked off for me on Tuesday at a media workout at the UFC training centre, made famous by the TUF series. I thought for all money that we’d do a couple of sprawls, jog around the octagon once or twice before reclining with some Bud Light, but they kicked our asses.
First we did BJJ with Joe Benevidez and Alan Belcher before 20 five muay thai rounds with Mike Pyle and then a gruelling wrestling class with Straikeforce GP eavyweight champ Dan Courmier.
The attrition rate was about 50%.
I’d be surprised if I read any articles about a fighter’s lack of cardio for months to come.
10:00am
Benny said | 10:00am | Report comment
The undercard is about to start and I’ll put a few comments up if anything of note happens, but I won’t do round by round until the main card starts.
One point of note is that there are a a hell of a lot of Brazilian TV journalists here and it seems it’s impossible to get an on camera job unless you have similar dimensions to one of the curvier Kardashians.
9:56am
Benny said | 9:56am | Report comment
And we’re LIVE! Sort of. The wifi here is intermittent, possibly because of the electricity in the air. Er, yes.
People are quickly pouring into the MGM Garden Arena and if I had to guess how many Brazillian’s are here, I’d guess all of them. When Chael Sonnen finally comes out, despite being the local fighter he will be seriously under represented. I haven’t seen him with my own eyes just yet, but word is that Russell Crowe is here with part of teh Wu Tang clan.
Trust me, if I can get a photo, I’ll take one.