No.7: Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen – 3.10mins of Round 5
Chael Sonnen certainly talked the talk in the build-up to his first fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 117 in 2010.
However, many questioned whether he could actually walk the walk on fight night against the fighter some believed to be the greatest of all-time.
With that in mind it was something of a shock when Sonnen really did end up taking the fight to Silva and had him in real trouble, hurting him on the feet and dominating him on the mat with stifling top control.
By the fifth round it really did look as if Sonnen was on the verge of producing one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport as he again brought Silva to the mat.
However, Silva wasn’t willing to give up his long long title reign so easily, and so with less than two minutes of the round remaining he suddenly found the space he needed to lock up a triangle choke submission that caught Sonnen completely off-guard, while simultaneously also cranking on an armbar, leaving him with no choice but to tap out just 1.50mins away from achieving his dream of becoming a champion.
