UFC 136 Fight Card: What Brian Stann Must Do to Beat Chael Sonnen

UFC 136 features one of the most stacked fight cards of the year. One of the most anticipated bouts will take place when Brian Stann fights the returning Chael Sonnen in a contest that odds-makers expect the former Marine to lose.

Stann has become the face of the military in MMA which has helped him become one of the most popular fighters in the entire sport. He’ll be an even bigger fan favorite this weekend against Sonnen who has established himself as perhaps the biggest “bad guy” the sport has ever seen.

In addition to being a fan favorite, Stann has quickly grown into one of the most respected competitors by other fighters due to his style and, of course, his military background.

He is respected so much so that even the loud-mouthed Sonnen has been practically mute when it comes to talking trash about him, opting instead to simply talk-up Stann’s skills and repeatedly mention how much he respects him.

But respect only goes so far. Stann is currently listed as a +220 underdog on Bodog with most fans and experts agreeing that he will likely fall short in his quest to become the new No. 1 contender for Anderson Silva’s UFC middleweight title.

The odds-makers can certainly be wrong, though, and the truth is that Brian Stann is a fighter who has a chance in any fight. As great as Sonnen is, there is a recipe for Stann to beat him.

Simply put and as obvious as it might sound, Stann needs to keep this fight on the feet.

Sonnen’s wrestling is arguably the best in the entire middleweight division, as he displayed in his title shot against Anderson Silva at UFC 117. There’s no doubting that he’ll want to bring the fight to the ground where he can utilize his ground-and-pound to control and inflict damage on Stann in order to win a judges’ decision.

Chael looked excellent in the stand-up game against Anderson Silva the last time that we saw him, but if there’s one place that Stann almost certainly has the advantage, it’s when the fight is on its feet.

The former WEC light heavyweight champion is the owner of back-to-back knockout victories in the UFC as he pummeled two of the middleweight division’s hardest-hitting fighters, Chris Leben and Jorge Santiago.

Sonnen can certainly take a punch, but he may have never been hit harder than what Stann is prepared to deliver on Saturday night. If he connects with one of his bombs, we could be saying goodnight to “Uncle Chael.”

Of course, Stann isn’t completely useless if he does end up on his back. As we saw in his fight with Mike Massenzio, Stann is capable of coming out of nowhere with a submission off of his back—and we all know how susceptible Sonnen is to getting submitted.

It’s going to be a tough night, but if Stann can implement the game plan that he and his coaches at Jackson’s Submission Fighting have come up with, he should have a good shot of walking out of UFC 136 as a winner.