UFC 136 Results: 3 Things Chael Sonnen Needs To Improve Before Fighting Anderson

If UFC 136 taught us anything, it's that Chael Sonnen-Anderson Silva II is coming our way. If Sonnen is to capture the middleweight title this time, there are three specific areas that he needs to step up his game.

Sonnen called out the middleweight champ after defeating Brian Stann via arm-triangle choke in the second round. Sonnen upped the stakes of the rematch, claiming he'd leave the UFC forever if he lost to Silva.

It's clear that Sonnen doesn't need to improve his hyping abilities but there are some ways he needs to improve if he's to keep his UFC career.

What are these areas and why does he need to improve? Read and find out!

Submission Defense

This is the area where Sonnen needs to improve the most. Submission defense has always been the Achilles' heel of Sonnen; of his 11 losses. Eight have come by way of submission.

Specifically, Sonnen must master defense of the triangle choke and the arm bar (submissions that are responsible for all of his submission losses but one).

If he can defend against Silva's submission attempts, his wrestling and incessant ground and pound will allow him to get the victory and finally the coveted 12 pounds of gold that is the UFC middleweight championship.

Conditioning

Improved conditioning will help Chael Sonnen from getting submitted later in the fight.

While Sonnen's conditioning wasn't poor in his last fight with Silva—far from, it in fact—that aspect of practically any fighters game can always be improvement; does fatigue not make cowards of men?

If Sonnen comes into the second Silva fight in better shape, the high pace he fights at in all of his matches won't wear down on him so much and he may be able to power out of a late submission attempt by Silva.

Striking

Chael Sonnen's striking looked good against Anderson Silva in their first fight, but if you're fighting MMA's greatest striker then you're striking will need to be far better than just good.

Better striking will enable Sonnen to rock Silva more than he did in their last fight and it will also aid him in setting up his takedowns, which Silva will obviously know are coming.

Conclusion: Sonnen Can Definitely Win

If Chael Sonnen improves in these three areas, he'll beat Anderson Silva. He'll use his striking to take the champ down, batter him with ground and pound, avoid submissions and have the energy to keep strong for the whole fight and not have a momentary lapse in strength that gets him submitted.

Sonnen will earn a unanimous decision victory and be the new UFC middleweight champion.