UFC 148 Fight Card: Why the Smart Money Is on Anderson Silva

At UFC 117, Chael Sonnen put on a spectacular display of ground-and-pound against a fighter who's widely considered to be the best to ever step foot into a cage.

For 23 minutes, champion Anderson Silva was pummeled into a beaten, broken and scarred mess. And when the two fight again tomorrow night, you should bet against him.

How can we suggest that Anderson Silva is the betting favorite even though he was outstruck 320 to 64 in the first encounter?

Let’s think about the facts.

Fact No. 1: Chael Sonnen entered the fight with a T/E ratio nearly three times the allowable limits (and nearly 18 times those of a normal human being).

Fact No. 2: Anderson Silva entered the fight with a rib injury that made utilizing proper footwork painful and stuffing takedowns impossible.

Despite these fight-altering issues, Chael Sonnen was unable to come out victorious over a weakened Spider. For roughly 20 minutes of the fight, Sonnen was able to maintain his most dominant position on Silva, yet somehow, was unable to pull off the win.

Now that Sonnen's levels are being closely monitored and Silva's injury has healed, why should we expect a Chael-friendly outcome when these advantages are removed?

By no means am I suggesting that Silva is going to remain standing the entire fight. In fact, I expect him to go down a few times throughout the fight if it goes multiple rounds. I am suggesting, however, that Chael Sonnen does not have what it takes to finish Anderson Silva.

Tomorrow night, when the cage door shuts, it will be time to put up or shut up, and unless Sonnen has added some impressive new tricks to his arsenal, Silva has already seen everything that the Oregonian bad boy has to offer. On top of that, he has had two years to think about those mistakes and how he can correct them.

No offense to Chael P. Sonnen, but should we really expect that the greatest fighter in the history of MMA will come in unprepared?