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OAKLAND, Calif. – There have been times during his stint in the Ultimate Fighting Championship that Anderson Silva has looked invincible. He made Rich Franklin, one of the elite fighters in the modern era of MMA, look like a bush leaguer.

He embarrassed Forrest Griffin, a former light heavyweight champ, and humbled former PRIDE champion Dan Henderson. Dana White, the UFC's president, for years has called him the best fighter in the world.

But then, on a night when he was pummeled for nearly 23 minutes, Silva pulled off perhaps his greatest victory. He absorbed more than four rounds of punishment from trash-talking top contender Chael Sonnen and looked as if his long winning streak would crash while surrendering his middleweight title.

Suddenly, he was celebrating with one of the most thrilling and improbable wins of his storied career. Flat on his back and taking a brutal battering, Silva wrapped his long legs around Sonnen's neck and

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OAKLAND, Calif. – Anderson Silva was only 110 seconds away from surrendering his Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight championship when he pulled off one of the most stunning finishes in mixed martial arts history in the main event of UFC 117 at Oracle Arena.

After taking more than four rounds of pounding from trash-talking challenger Chael Sonnen, a thoroughly beaten-up Silva (27-4) caught Sonnen (25-11-1) in a triangle choke. Sonnen tapped out at 3:10 of the fifth round, though Sonnen complained to referee Josh Rosenthal. He apparently was saying that he didn't submit, though replays indicated he clearly did.

Sonnen took Silva down early in each round and beat him terribly in each. Several times, Rosenthal was leaning in, apparently on the verge of stopping the bout.

The fifth round was no different from the other four. Silva, who was far behind on the scorecards, came out aggressively and tried to end it, but Sonnen took him

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There's something remarkable about Devon Alexander. It's not that he's as unassuming as Opie Taylor or as physically gifted as just about any boxer not named Mayweather or Pacquiao.

It's not just the 300-10 amateur record or the 20-0 pro record.

Being alive at 23 is perhaps the most impressive part of his story. Alexander, the World Boxing Council/International Boxing Federation super lightweight champion who defends his belt in an HBO-televised bout against Andriy Kotelnik on Saturday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, has bucked incredible odds to make it as far as he has – and without a criminal record.

Growing up in Hyde Park, one of the roughest sections of St. Louis, he began to box when he was 7 at a gym run by Kevin Cunningham, then a police detective in the narcotics division.

In those early days, the gym was crowded with around 30 boys. Gradually, the group began to thin out. It wasn't lack of interest or talent that caused

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If boxing ever hired a commissioner, I'd nominate Kevin Cunningham. The former St. Louis police detective, who has done yeoman's work trying to save the youth of his hometown from the violence of the streets by introducing them to boxing, has a keen understanding of what is best for the sport and what would help vault it back into the public consciousness in the U.S.

Cunningham, who has become one of the game's elite trainers, is angered by the way many promoters and managers would rather protect their investments by keeping their fighters away from anyone who is remotely considered a risk.

The super lightweight division is one of the rare ones in boxing in which there are more championship-caliber fighters than there are world title belts. Cunningham trains and manages arguably the finest, Devon Alexander, who will meet Andriy Kotelnik on Saturday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis in a bout that will be broadcast on HBO. If he wins,

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Chael Sonnen's verbal assault the last six months on Anderson Silva, the Ultimate Fighting Championship's suddenly silent middleweight champion, is unprecedented in company history. It is probably unprecedented in MMA history and perhaps even in sports history.

Sonnen has run a trash talk campaign against Silva that's been more organized and more well carried out than Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency in 2008.

He's been acerbic, he's been profane, he's been witty, he's been blunt and, frequently, he's been accurate. In a very short period of time, he's transformed himself from a middle-of-the-card guy few paid attention to into a must-watch championship contender largely on the strength of his razor sharp and extraordinarily quick wit and, yeah, some great wrestling and a vicious ground-and-pound assault.

Sonnen, who upset Nate Marquardt at UFC 109 in February to earn the championship shot against Silva in the main event of UFC

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Coaching on Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter," the Ultimate Fighting Championship's reality series that airs on Spike TV, was kind of a reconnaissance mission for Josh Koscheck.

At the conclusion of the season, which premieres on Sept. 15 and features lightweight fighters vying for a UFC contract, Koscheck will challenge UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre for the title in the main event of a yet-to-be-announced pay-per-view card. So Koscheck took the opportunity while coaching against St. Pierre to learn a little more insight about the champion and, predictably, how to push his buttons.

It will be a classic good guy versus bad guy match for the belt, with the beloved St. Pierre risking his belt against perhaps the most hated man in the UFC this side of Chael Sonnen.

And so Koscheck, who almost never fails to say something if he thinks it will irritate an opponent, spent a lot of his time learning what makes St. Pierre tick.

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LAS VEGAS – As Juan Diaz trudged back to his corner after the sixth round of his lightweight title bout Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center with Juan Manuel Marquez, he looked to the floor and shook his head.

He was doing everything he had trained 11 weeks to do and yet he was still being schooled by Marquez.

It was a case of a good fighter getting drilled by a great fighter.

Marquez retained the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Organization lightweight titles with a wide unanimous decision victory in the main event of a Golden Boy Promotions card before 8,383 raucous fans.

Logic and economics would dictate that the win should propel Marquez into a third bout with Manny Pacquiao, but this is boxing and in boxing nothing is ever easy or makes much sense.

And just as Floyd Mayweather Jr. is clearly ducking and dodging Pacquiao, Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum is doing a bit of ducking of his own. He's made it clear he wants no

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Nothing that Jon Jones says would suggest that he's fallen in love with himself or that he believes he's God's gift to mixed martial arts. He speaks softly and humbly, talking of what an honor it is to fight Vladimir Matyushenko and scoffing at suggestions he's on the verge of becoming a superstar.

Listen to him rave about Matyushenko's skills and you might walk away fearing for Jones' safety.

Yet, one needs to go no further than UFC.com to see the 23-year-old light heavyweight referred to as the future of the MMA. Search the Internet and you'll see words such as "star," "sensation," "phenom" and "generational talent" next to his name.

Jones, who fights Matyushenko in the main event of UFC on Versus 2 on Sunday at the Sports Arena in San Diego, has heard and read it all. He's been the darling of the fight crowd since his UFC debut at UFC 87 on Aug. 9, 2008, when he outworked veteran Andre Gusmao and then admitted he learned the sport by