Sonnen doing damage on the groundCHICAGO -- 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.
Read More »from Sonnen earns his rematch against Silva, grinds out win over Bisping at UFC on Fox 2




