Sonnen earns his rematch against Silva, grinds out win over Bisping at UFC on Fox 2

CHICAGO -- It was a rough 15 minutes, but Chael Sonnen did enough to get the fight he's coveted for 17 months.

The middleweight title contender locked up a shot against the UFC's 185-pound champ Anderson Silva with a surprisingly tough win over Michael Bisping.

In a fight, that appeared to be a toss-up for some, Sonnen took a unanimous decision, 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28, in the co-main event of the UFC on Fox 2 card at the United Center.

Sonnen's win sets up an intriguing scenario.

UFC president Dana White guaranteed the winner of tonight's tilt the next shot at Silva. The champ has been sidelined since August with shoulder and back issues and the promotion is pointing towards a summer return. But Silva recently hinted that he may be out beyond the summer.

Sonnen (27-11-1, 6-4 UFC) believes Silva is ducking him and has done everything he can to call out the champ. Tonight, he made the wise decision of not poking Silva. Instead, he delivered a hilarious postfight speech talking about his own greatness.

"As I've told everyone before, when you're the best fighter in the world, they don't call you champion, they call you Chael Sonnen," said Sonnen.

Sonnen was good, not great tonight, but much of that had to do with the opponent. Bisping (22-4, 10-0 UFC) rubs plenty of fans and media members the wrong way and, as a result, he's a bit underrated. The common thought was that the Brit would get eaten alive by Sonnen's Olympic-level wrestling, but that didn't happen in the first two rounds.

Sonnen scored two takedowns in the first, but Bisping got to his feet in less than 25 seconds on both occasions. He also stuffed two more takedown attempts. In the second, Sonnen scored a takedown with 2:58 left. Bisping was up a minute later and took minimal damage. The Brit was effective in the striking game, landing a few good combinations, but nothing appeared to rock the hard-charging American. Sonnen admitted during the postfight press conference that he was shaky on one occasion after a big shot from Bisping.

UFC color voice Joe Rogan was convinced Bisping had won the first two rounds. That wasn't the case on the judges' scorecard, but two of them did have things 19-19. Sonnen did what he needed to in the final round. He scored a big takedown and really dominated the position for over three minutes.

Sonnen scored that takedown just 12 seconds into the round. Bisping defended well for the next minute but got a little impatient as he was just about to rise to his feet. Bisping gave up his back standing and Sonnen squashed him. Then he did a brilliant job of getting both hooks in and rolling to dominant position on the ground. He worked to lock on a rear-naked, but it didn't happen. Bisping was protecting from the choke, lost his focus and allowed Sonnen to roll the position into the mount with 2:31 left. With 1:31 left, Bisping hip escaped to full guard. Bisping eventually got to his feet with less than 20 seconds left and scored a takedown of his own. He even landed a few big elbows, but it was too little, too late.

Bisping thought he won the first, but didn't flip out.

"That was a great fight. My hat goes off to Chael, he won the fight tonight. But, I really felt that I did enough in rounds one and two to secure the victory. He won the third, but I really felt that I was up on the judges' scorecards. They saw it differently and it is what it is," said Bisping.

Now the question is when will the fight everyone wants - Sonnen vs. Silva II - actually go down? Sonnen turned up the heat in recent weeks, plainly stating that he'll never get to face Silva because the champ won't accept the fight.

"I'm not going to fight Anderson either way. They can say whatever they want. Anderson is never going to do that fight," Sonnen told "The MMA Insiders" show on Las Vegas' ESPN1100/98.9 FM. "I hope he's healthy and has a good life, but I'm not buying into this mythical world that Anderson is going to some day sign a contract to fight me."

Silva beat Sonnen at UFC 117 via fifth-round submission, but that was after getting dominated for 23 minutes. He's had to hear about it ever since. This is a chance to shut Sonnen's mouth and likely do it in front of a record-sized crowd in Brazil. Why would he pass on the opportunity?

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/sonnen-earns-rematch-against-silva-grinding-win-over-022024441.html

Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander

UFC on Fox 2 picks, Vegas-style: Bisping really getting annoyed by Sonnen?s wrestling lines

CHICAGO -- It's all about staying off your back and top control in tonight's three big fights on the UFC on Fox 2 card.

If they control the pace in fights, top level wrestlers have the ability to steal rounds and money. A mix of underdogs and favorites (Chael Sonnen, Phil Davis and Chris Weidman) with excellent college wrestling backgrounds, will be an interesting follow on the betting scene.

Sonnen's controlled the pace so well in his recent fights, it's made him just about unbeatable and a huge favorite over Michael Bisping. We'll find out tonight if Bisping's takedown defense allows him to stay in the fight. Hopefully keeps his cool. Sonnen along with yesterday's weigh-in crowd at the Chicago Theater really got under the Brit's skin.

As an underdog, Phil Davis will be looking to do slow things down against Rashad Evans. Chris Weidman's in the most interesting position because the former Hofstra star could probably stay on top of Demian Maia the entire fight, but that's incredibly dangerous place to be against a top level jiu-jitsu fighter. In spite of that Weidman is a pretty solid favorite over the UFC veteran.

Former UFC bantamweight champ Miguel Torres joined Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole and myself on ESPN1100/98.9 FM to pick the fights using the Las Vegas' numbers.

UFC on Fox 2 odds:
Best plays in bold

Rashad Evans (-205) vs. Phil Davis (+175) - Light heavyweight
Michael Bisping (+360) vs. Chael Sonnen (-450) - Middleweight
Demian Maia (+120) vs. Chris Weidman (-140) - Middleweight
Evan Dunham (-355) vs. Nik Lentz (+295) - Lightweight
Mike Russow (-150) VS. Jon-Olav Einemo (+130) - Heavyweight
George Roop (-115) vs. Cub Swanson (-105) - Featherweight
Charles Oliveira (-490) vs. Eric Wisely (+390) - Featherweight
Shane Roller (-225) vs. Michael Johnson (+185) - Lightweight
Joey Beltran (-205) vs. Lavar Johnson (+175) - Heavyweight
Chris Camozzi (-150) vs. Dustin Jacoby (+130) - Middleweight

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fox-2-picks-vegas-style-bisping-really-211806558.html

Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah 

Dana White holds 2012 lead in skipped press conferences

By Kevin Iole
Yahoo! Sports

LAS VEGAS -- UFC president Dana White has routinely given welterweight contender Nick Diaz a hard time for skipping news conferences to promote fights.

In September, Diaz was briefly booted off of UFC 137 after he no-showed news conferences in Toronto and Las Vegas. Circumstances put him back on the card, but it remains a hot topic five months later.

On Thursday at the final pre-fight news conference for UFC 143 at Mandalay Bay, Diaz and White were asked several times about his stance on news conferences.

"He's made it very clear, he's not here to make any friends," White said of Diaz. "He's not looking to have any barbecues over at his house with anyone from the MMA world. He's here to fight. That's it, and I'm cool with that. You just have to show up to press conferences and do the stuff and now, he's doing all of the stuff that needs to be done."

White, though, skipped a press conference last week and didn't do what he needed to do.

White was unhappy with the UFC on Fox 2 card in Chicago on Jan. 28. Rather than say anything that he might regret, White skipped the pos-fight news conference and flew on his private jet back to Las Vegas, leaving UFC media relations director Ant Evans to run the show.

Pressed on his absence Thursday, White grinned impishly.

"Yeah, I wasn't in the mood," he said. "I can not go if I don't want to."

He later said, "I usually try to skip press conferences where I know I'm going to, you know, [lose my temper]."

The next time that Diaz, or anyone else misses a news conference, he needs only to point to White's absence at the UFC on Fox 2 media event.

Bringing that up should be good for at least one get out of jail free card.

You can watch UFC 143 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dana-white-holds-2012-lead-skipped-press-conferences-025101149.html

Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade 

UFC 143 picks, Vegas-style: Making the hard calls on three big fights

LAS VEGAS -- Cashing UFC tickets may not be an task this weekend. The top of the card at UFC 143 features some difficult calls.

The underdog price of plus-175 on Carlos Condit makes him an inviting play, but Nick Diaz is on a 11-fight win streak dating back to 2007. He's pretty much destroyed or broken every opponent along the way.

On paper, Josh Koscheck (minus-265) should be a bigger favorite over Mike Pierce. So why isn't he? Are the sports books and sharp bettors onto something?

Roy Nelson versus Fabricio Werdum features grappler vs. grappler. Does that mean we don't see any dangerous scenarios unfold on the ground? Can someone pull off a submission? Or do we see a plodding stand-up battle? Werdum is a small favorite at minus-155.

Listen here as Frank Trigg, Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole and myself made picks during our "MMA Insiders" show on ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas.

UFC 143 betting odds:
Best plays in bold

Carlos Condit (+175) vs. Nick Diaz (-210) - Welterweight
Scott Jorgensen (+210) vs. Renan Barao (-250) Bantamweight
Josh Koscheck (-250) vs. Mike Pierce (+210) - Welterweight
Roy Nelson (+135) vs. Fabricio Werdum (-155) - Heavyweight
Matthew Riddle (-380) vs. Henry Martinez (+315) - Welterweight
Matt Brown (-340) vs. Chris Cope (+280) - Welterweight
Alex Caceres (Even) vs. Edwin Figueroa (-120) - Bantamweight
Dustin Poirier (-525) vs. Max Holloway (+415) - Featherweight
Ed Herman (-300) vs. Clifford Starks (+250) - Middleweight
Stephen Thompson (-300) vs. Dan Stittgen (+250) - Welterweight
Rafael Natal (-170) vs. Michael Kuiper (+150) - Middleweight

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-143-picks-vegas-style-making-hard-three-195536221.html

Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo 

First bouldering at Stanage Plantation, Derbyshire, UK

Location: Stanage Plantation Date: Sunday 27 July Sunday shone this weekend. A planned trip to the gym was quickly canned and instead we made a trip out to a new bouldering spot. After a recommendation that Stanage plantation had some good climbing (thanks Jonny!) we checked my bouldering guide book and set out. If you’re reading this wondering [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rock-climbing-blog/~3/PAQVWyt9-Yc/philsheard

Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague

UFC on Fox 2?s Three Stars: Oliveira, Johnson and Evans

The UFC's second foray into network television was not exactly thrilling. Some of the best moments happened during the Fuel broadcast, with the fights on Fox providing less-than-exciting action. Who stood out for you? Here are Cagewriter's Three Stars. Tell us yours in the comment section or on Facebook.

No. 1 star -- Charles Oliveira: In his first fight at featherweight, the Brazilian used a leg submission that caused every MMA writer on press row to say, "What was that?" We settled on a calf slicer, while Oliveira walked away with the Submission of the Night bonus.

No. 2 star -- Lavar Johnson: If you haven't watched Johnson's KO of Joey Beltran, go watch it. We'll wait. OK, now that you've watched him take out Beltran with huge uppercuts, you likely will agree with him taking home the Knockout of the Night bonus.

No. 3 star -- Rashad Evans: Put yourself in Evans' shoes. Though you're the No. 1 contender for the light heavyweight belt, injury and bad luck has forced you out of the actual title bout more than a year. Then, you're told you still have to win another fight to get that title shot. You could sulk about it, or you could use the five rounds provided to beat up and outwrestle Phil Davis. Evans chose the latter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fox-2-three-stars-oliveira-johnson-evans-154224902.html

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio