Sonnen says Bisping hurt him big time in round 1

Chael Sonnen talked about his win over Michael Bisping, his upcoming shot at Anderson Silva and more after last night's UFC on FOX 2. Check out the highlights:

On Bisping's performance: "I was surprised about everything. Michael Bisping hit me so hard in the first round that I didn't even know what day it was. I remember when I came to, looking at him and thinking, 'Oh my God, you have no idea how bad you hurt me or you'd step in and do something about it.'"

On rounds he was confident he won: "The only round I knew I had was the third," he said. "I thought I might have one of the first two, but I didn't know I had it. I was never in a position tonight where I was comfortable. Not once."

On the odds of the Silva match happening: "I know I'll do my part. Do I think [Silva] will sign to fight? No, I don't. But we'll see. I've been wrong before. But I've tried to get him to fight four times. That's the one thing they don't tell you, and I'm not trying to go against the brass here, but that's the one thing they haven't revealed. They've offered him the fight four times, and he said no four times. Mysteriously, he's supposed to accept on the fifth? I'll tell you this: I've never backed down, and I never will."

On giving Bisping credit: "I'd rather talk about real men like Michael Bisping who step in on 10 days' notice and fight me. Those are the types of guys I'd rather give attention to – not some bum in Brazil...I can assure you having fought him and the alleged champ, [Bisping] could win the title today if they gave him the opportunity."

 

Sonnen is very complimentary of Bisping and honest at the same time which is a breath of fresh air.

 

That being said, Sonnen is full of shit. Anderson Silva destroys Bisping within minutes.

 

By the way, my favorite part of this interview was about the security problems with Sonnen fighting Silva in Brazil. Chael is funny at times.

 

He should be, he got a gift decision over him. Not even Sonnen thought he won the fight.

 

"But don't send anybody you want back."

Nice.

 

Agreed. :bears:

 

Come on Z, Sonnen is actually being real about it. I really only think the only decisive round was the third, which went to Sonnen no doubt. The other two was close, I had Bisping winning one and Sonnen winning one. Definitely not a robbery any way you look at it.

 

If MMA were scored perfectly then Rounds 1 and 2 would have been even 10-10 rounds. And the 3rd won it for Sonnen.

The truth is that it was a close fight and it could have gone either way. But at the end of the fight, I would rather have been Sonnen because he had the most dominant stretch.

That's just my take.

 

No. I hate what MMA scoring has become. A guy wins a round on a single takedown where he couldn't even keep the guy down for more than a couple of seconds. You shouldn't get credit for a takedown unless you gain control over the guy you took down. Sonnen could not do that in the first 2 rounds and Bisping was winning the stand up for the majority of those two rounds. 10-10 for 2 rounds is a scoring cop out.

 

I think this is where you and I disagree. I don't think Bisping had much of an edge at all in the stand up. Slightly maybe but not enough to clearly win either of the first two rounds.

Again, I wouldn't really be pissed about either guy getting the win. I just don't think it was robbery by any stretch.

 

The only credible scoring is 'who would you rather have been during that round?'.

Anyone who has ever been in a fight knows that this is the only thing that matters. It doesn't mean that everyone will agree, but it does mean that everyone will have the same approach rather than crediting bullshit takedowns as you describe or ring control or whatever.

 

I'd rather receive a bullshit takedown and get back up than even 3 hard blows to the face, put it that way.

Yet in MMA, 1 takedown that doesn't lead to anything scores more than 3 clean punches to the face every single time :notallthere:

 

silva would beat the shit outta bisping. but then again, sonnen said the same thing about okami and how easily he was going to beat silva in brazil.

 

I claimed way back when that, guaranteed, Bisping would lose to Sonnen. I was shocked by how close the fight was. A case could be made either way. Bisping has grown into a better fighter over time---a fight who can adapt to his opponent and do amazingly well. His fight with Rashad was pretty close. He just seems to be able to map out a good gameplan and go with it.

 

MMA scoring pisses me off sometimes. The judges should be fighters.

 

While it doesn't make intuitive sense, judging a fight more accurately apparently has nothing (or not enough to matter) to do with being a fighter. Similar to how being a great director doesn't require having been an actor.

 

So which round did he win clearly of the first two?

 

bisping is very good in my opinion. i thought bisping had a great chance of winning this when it was first signed. sonnen lacks knockout power and bisping's takedown defense has always been solid.

 

They really should.

Just imagine if these judges had a week's training course that involved hard sparring with UFC fighters. They'd get a wakeup call, and a very different point of view of what should be scored higher than what. It would lead to fairer scoring without a doubt.

 

Agreed. Very close fights with Rashad and Sonnen, and people act like he's some scrub, it's crazy.

It goes without saying that he's a total chode, but that does lead to him being underrated as a fighter.

 

I scored it the exact same way. I gave Bisping the second. But I thought the first round was fairly easy to score for Sonnen. Would not say he won as clearly as the he did with the third round, but it was still easy to score for Sonnen IMO. For a guy after a title shot, Bisping never seemed to try and go for it.

 

I don't THINK you're referring to me, but let me be clear about my opinion.

Bisping is a very good fighter. He jumped a few notches for me by being impossible for Sonnen to keep on the ground for 2 rounds. That's a huge deal.

But I also have him hovering around the top 10 because he can't get the big win. Seriously, the dude has been able to beat the Chris Lebens of the world and he's even managed to stay close in fights with guys like Sonnen and Silva. At the end of the day, however, he has lost his most important fights.

This does not mean I think he's a 'scrub'. It just means I don't think he's done much to pull himself away from guys like Belfort, Munoz, Stann or even Maia. And now you've got guys from Strikeforce like Rockhold, Kennedy and Jacare that aren't shabby either. Oh, and the guy I think might be the toughest match for anyone is Palhares who has really bounced back since the Marquardt fight.

 

No not you Trp, I know you're one of the main guys here that rates him fairly low, but I am talking in general, on this board and off.

I hear what you're saying, he is yet to get a big, legit win, and losing to Wandy is awful, but like I said before, I honestly think if you match Bisping up with the top 10 middleweights in the UFC he goes at least 5-5.

I don't think he's an amazing fighter by any means, but he's a very good, solid one, and for my money, top 10 for sure.

 

Palhares is a beast and I love the way he gets leg locks to finish fights and even though he looks like a juicer I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on that, but

he's a complete piece of shit for what he did to Drwal and should have been banned for at least a year for being such a blatant prick.

 

I really want to see Jacare get in the UFC. Not sure yet who he would beat, but he's dangerous to anyone.

 

I'd love to see the whole gang in the UFC. Rockhold, Kennedy, and Jacare.