If you ponied up and purchased Saturday’s UFC 117 pay per view or even went to a local bar and watched you were treated to one of the best nights of MMA fights ever.  There was a little bit of everything on this card.  You had two heavyweight contenders just throwing bombs on each other in the stand up.  You saw wrestling with ground and pound 101.  You were even given a few slick and innovative submissions.  If you weren’t entertained then you aren’t an MMA fan.  You should probably go watch that pathetic shell of itself they call boxing because you don’t know what MMA is all about.

Looking back at my predictions I picked 4 out the 5 winners.  I got one prediction pretty much dead on and almost, ALMOST had the main event picked to a tee.  But even with the winners I did pick right the results did surprise me.

I knew Roy Nelson was a tough dude but I didn’t think anyone could take Junior dos Santos’ lethal boxing.  Despite that Big Country looked absolutely gassed even in the second round he kept in there and kept trying to throw leather at Juniors jaw as well.  In the end dos Santos won a unanimous decision instead of my thought of a second round KO.  Either way Junior is next in line to face the winner of the Brock Lesnar/Cain Velasquez match up for the UFC Heavyweight Title.

I don’t know exactly why I was never a fan of Matt Hughes.  Part of it is that country boy persona.  Part of it was he sometimes cockiness towards opponents.  But one thing I can never deny is that the man is a legend in the sport and he still has some tricks up his sleeve.  I thought Hughes would take the Big Dog down and will and just punish him for three rounds but in the back of my head I had a feeling he could get a submission.  Hughes has always had a really good submission offense and I wanted to maybe say an armbar for the win but didn’t know if he could pull off a submission against Almeida.  Not only did he pull off a submission but one of the craziest ones I’ve ever seen.  It was part anaconda choke, part arm triangle, part bear hug.  But is was all awesome.  Ricardo went out like a light and woke up a few seconds later wondering where he was.

So what’s next for a man that has done almost everything in this sport?  He said he’s going to go hunting and spend time with his family.  Oh such a country boy that Matt.  But I have a thought on who I would like to see him face next.  How about the winner of the Dan Hardy/Carlos Conduit match.  It would be a great opportunity for either of those young men and we get to see if Hughes can still go with someone considerably younger than him.  Joe Silva, Dana White, make it happen.  (Because they read my blog anyway)

I think Clay Guida’s new nick name should be the Perpetual Motion Machine because that man does not stop moving.  And not only that but he keeps the same pace, always!  Guida pushed the pace very early with Rafael dos Anjos as they spend more time on their feet than I thought they would.  Clay got in some good punches will dos Anjos used very good leg kicks to keep distance.  But Rafael’s night went south after a Clay Guida punch seemed to have broken dos Anjos’ jaw and in the third round Clay just put his shoulder and all his weight into that hurt jaw and got himself a submission victory and back into the thick of things in the lightweight division.

After that was the potentials/maybe/we’ll see number one contender match up in the welterweight division.  Jon Fitch came in looking like his normal self with I don’t care hair and gnawing at his mouth piece.  Alves came in just not looking like himself.  He looked tired and dejected before Fitch even scored his first take down.  And really after that first take down the match was over.  Jon Fitch did what he always does.  He pins down his opponent and keeps them there while punching them in the face while they think about their predicament.

So with his decision win Jon Fitch may or may not fight the winner of Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck depending on who wins, what Jake Shields does in his octagon debut and just if Dana and Joe Silva want it to happen.  I think Fitch is the most deserving as I mentioned in my predictions post so hopefully Fitch will want to fight no matter who wins between GSP and Koscheck.

Then it was go time for the eagerly anticipated middleweight title match between the champion Anderson Silva and the challenger Chael Sonnen.  As you know I bought into the Chael hype and talk.  Silva pissed me off as a fan with his last number of title matches.  It was time to pay for those displays and I believed Chael was the one to dish out the punishment.

Photo by Esther Lin at MMA Fighting/Fanhouse

But even as Chael was my choice to win I think I was with almost everyone else when Chael went out there and pretty much did what he said he was going to do.  For four and a half rounds Sonnen put Silva on his back and tried his damn hardest to punch a hole in his face.  According to MMA Fighting and Compustrike Sonnen out struck Silva 289 to 29 through the entire fight.

Now before you say something unintelligent like, “Well it was all on the ground.”  Let me offer myself to give you an example if you so wish.  I will be happy to sit in your guard and punch you in the face for about 23 minutes if you don’t think that is impressive.  See the little Love/Hate Mail link up top you get get a hold of me there if you would like to take up that offer.

But over those 4 and a half rounds Chael looked confident.  He looked dominant.  He looked like a champion.  And then just like that Silva locked in a triangle choke.  Whether or not Sonnen actually tapped or meant to tap is something only Chael can answer.  And so far Chael has not answered that question.  But instead of making excuses Chael took the defeat like a man.

“I worked hard and did what I could do all that nice stuff, but at the end of the day you either get your hand raised or you don’t, and I didn’t.” Sonnen stated in the post card press conference.

Silva in victory got down on all fours at Chael’s feet and bowed to him.  Finally someone made Anderson work hard and he knew it.  But then this display of humility was slightly over shadowed by his remarks in the post fight interview that he hurt his ribs in training and was told not to fight by his doctor.  If true yes he was a warrior for fighting through it but it also looks like he was making excuses for his performance against a man who really was the better fighter that night.  But I guess Anderson will be Anderson and haters gonna hate.

So that brings up the question as to whether Chael deserves an immediate rematch.  Yes the “tap” is questionable but there wasn’t much of an argument from Chael against the ref’s decision to stop the match.  And as much as I was even thinking he didn’t tap and want to see Sonnen as champion I think he shouldn’t get an immediate rematch.  Vitor Belfort has been quietly sitting back and waiting for his shot.

Belfort was suppose to fight Silva at UFC 112 in April but an injury forced him to pull out of the fight.  He was then leap frogged in the pecking order by Sonnen.  He has been waiting patiently and now he deserves his shot at the belt.

As for Chael who should he fight next?  Maybe the winner of Michael Bisping vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama or how about the ever resilient Chris Leben?  I would even maybe like to see a rematch with Yushin Okami with the winner of that maybe fighting for the title.  Okami has greatly improved since his lose to Sonnen and would give them both a tough match for a future title shot.  Again this is all up to Joe Silva and Dana White.  That is unless they want my help.  At which that Love/Hate Mail button up top is a great  way to get a hold of me guys.