For the last two years Chael Sonnen has been promising a victory over Anderson Silva. On Saturday night Silva put that talk to rest, defeating Sonnen in a TKO victory at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Silva had promised a victory and on Saturday night he delivered with a hard body shot that ended the match. The victory didn’t come easy to Silva who was dominated by Sonnen in the first round, throwing him to the mat and landing various punches and blows.
By the second round the entire match had taken a turn for the worse for Sonnen as his attempts were blocked and he was taken to the canvas by a knee to the chest after missing a spinning backfist. After Silva landed several hard punches referee Yves Lavigne called off the fight at 1:55.
While both fighters have been at each others necks for the last two years Silva was quick to let bygones be bygone.
“Chael fought me and I fought Chael. This is a sport. I have nothing against Chael.”
Silva then invited Chael to his home:
“If you [Chael] would like to have a barbecue at my house, I’d like to have you over.”
In defeating Chael Sonnen the champion has now defended his 185-pound title 10 times and improved his record to 32-4.
After the match even Sonnen who had showed outward hostility to Anderson Silva had nothing but kind words:
“He gave me an opportunity. He didn’t owe me anything. He’s a great champion. He got me with a good knee.”
This is the second time Silva has defeated Sonnen, the first match was Aug. 7, 2010 when Sonnen was taken down in a fifth-round submission.
