Chael Sonnen: Anderson Silva's Biggest Threat?

When former WEC Middleweight champion Chael Sonnen merged into the UFC at the beginning of the year along with the entire WEC 185-pound division, most fans didn’t think much of the new acquisition.

Sonnen was coming off a big victory over a previously unbeaten Paulo Filho but fans didn’t expect the former two-time NCAA National Wrestling champion to accomplish much in the premier MMA organization in the world. 

After all, Sonnen had already competed in the UFC previously, in which he compiled a less than stellar 1-2 record, losing to both Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Jeremy Horn by way of submission. What evidence would fans have to believe Sonnen would accomplish anything different in his second UFC run?

Certainly his unanimous decision victory over Filho in the WEC was an impressive achievement, but on the other hand it could also be viewed as a lackluster performance against a fighter who was not 100 percent mentally stable at the time.

There really wasn’t anything to convince fans that Sonnen was a legit threat to the upper echelon of UFC middleweights.

In his return to the Octagon, Sonnen was paired up against one of the most feared Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts in the sport, Demian Maia.

Prior to the bout fans expected a quick submission from Maia and they were right. Maia submitted the last WEC Middleweight champion with a beautifully executed first-round triangle choke.

Any die-hard fan will tell you that there is absolutely no shame in being submitted quickly at the hands of Maia, but regardless, the loss seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for Sonnen’s UFC career in the eyes of MMA fans.

Stepping up on short notice to replace an injured Yushin Okami, Sonnen took on talented young prospect Dan Miller at UFC 98.

Again, the fans were not in Sonnen’s corner and predicted another quick submission defeat for the Team Quest member. Instead, Sonnen took Miller down at will and pummeled the New Jersey native with strikes from his guard a la Randy Couture.

Just by looking into his eyes you could tell there was something different about Sonnen. As he tossed Miller around the Octagon like a rag doll, he had the look of a hungry lion in his eyes. The result was a unanimous decision for Sonnen which saved his spot in the UFC’s middleweight division.

“Ok, so he dominated a young MMA prospect, so what? It’s not like Miller was ranked anywhere near the top ten so who cares.”

That’s exactly the attitude that most fans had towards Sonnen after the fight. Despite a dominant victory, they still didn’t view the All-American wrestling powerhouse as anything more than a divisional gatekeeper.

Sonnen was then matched up with top-five ranked Middleweight contender Okami at UFC 104 and once again the Team Quest original was expected to be dismantled by the Japanese fighter.

Okami was considered by many to be long deserving of a title shot before the fight, boasting three straight victories and only one UFC loss to former champion Rich Franklin.

Surely this should have been an easy victory for Okami, right? Wrong. Sonnen dominated Okami in every aspect of MMA to earn a unanimous decision victory.

He took Okami down at will and controlled him in the wrestlers' clinch. He also out-struck the middleweight contender on the feet, displaying a much improved stand-up game.

If you aren’t impressed with Sonnen now, then there is something wrong with you, because make no mistake about it, Sonnen is a legit top-ten 185-pound fighter. Believe it or not he is the biggest threat to current Middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Before you get out your pitchforks, think about it for a second. What is the one area of Silva’s game that has raised the most eyebrows? The one aspect that most believe could be considered his only weakness? Wrestling.

Silva is a ninja on his feet and a dangerous black belt on the ground, but his takedown defense has always been questionable. That is something Sonnen would definitely exploit.

In Silva’s fights against Travis Lutter and Dan Henderson, both fighters were able to take the champion down and use their wrestling ability to win one round respectively on Silva before eventually being submitted in the second frame.

Sonnen’s wrestling ability is second to none in the Middleweight division and his pure strength when in the clinch is super-naturally strong.

If able to keep “The Spider” pressed up against the cage, he could zap the champion's will while utilizing dirty boxing from the clinch. This is something Sonnen applies regularly in his fights and something that has been proven very effective by UFC Hall of Famer, Randy “The Natural” Couture.

Sure it sounds far-fetched because after all we are talking about Silva, a man who has defeated the likes of Forrest Griffin, Henderson, Nate Marquardt and Franklin without breaking much of a sweat.

Sonnen is an incredibly powerful wrestler but his striking and submission game still has a ton of holes that Silva would be able to capitalize on.

In no way, shape, or form should it be implied that Sonnen would defeat Silva but he should be considered “The Spider’s” biggest threat currently.

Vitor Belfort has evolved tremendously over the years but his style is tailor-made for a counter-striking phenomenon such as Silva.

Marquardt has become a completely different fighter since losing to Silva in 2007 and would likely perform much better in a rematch but regardless you can’t shake the fact that he has already been defeated by the champion.

Henderson seems to be on his way out of the UFC due to contract issues and while Maia could pose threats to Silva on the ground, his last fight with Marquardt has set him back from earning that opportunity anytime in the near future.

Sonnen is now on a two-fight win streak and depending on who his next opponent is, he could be one more victory away from challenging Silva for the gold.

With Henderson gone, a likely scenario would be to match Sonnen up against Marquardt to determine the next title challenger after Belfort gets his shot in January.

Sonnen is a much more accomplished wrestler than Marquardt is but Marquardt is able to blend every aspect of MMA together more effectively than Sonnen.

It also isn’t a good match-up for Sonnen because he won’t have a significant strength advantage over the explosive Marquardt like he did against Okami and Miller.

If there is one thing that can be learned from his previous performances, it is not to overlook Sonnen. He may go on to defeat Marquardt and Silva to claim the undisputed Middleweight crown or he may lose his next fight and fade off into MMA limbo.

Either way, let’s give the man some credit. He might not have that great of a personality, in fact he can be viewed as somewhat of an arrogant jock.

But when it comes to fighting, he deserves to be recognized as a legit contender.