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Sunday, Aug 11, 2013

Full Contact Fighter’s “The Daily Takedown”: Chael Sonnen, Alistair Overeem in Must-Win Situations at UFC Fight Night

Sonnen

By Joshua Molina

If Chael Sonnen can’t beat “Shogun” Rua he should retire. Sonnen hasn’t won a fight since a controversial victory over Michael Bisping 18 months ago. The problem with a rapid rise to title contention is that if you lose, the fall is even quicker.

Sonnen has fought for a world title three times in the last three years, twice against Anderson Silva and once against Jon Jones. Sure these guys are two of the best mixed martial artists on the planet, but Sonnen still lost handily in two out of those three encounters.

Now he’s talking about dropping back to middleweight after the fight with Rua, a fight that he probably is going to lose. Unless he can control Rua on the ground for the fight, he’s going to be in trouble. Rua has power and submission skills that will give Sonnen trouble.

It would be great if Sonnen could win a world title before he retires, but there’s little chance that is going to happen. If Chris Weidman defeates Silva again, Sonnen would have little chance against Weidman, a younger, stronger, more talented striker than himself.

Sonnen is a good mixed martial artist but his biggest failure inside the cage is that he never developed the stand-up striking skills to compete with the heavy hitters. Wrestling is a bigger threat when guys fear your striking. No one really fears Sonnen’s striking.

If Sonnen gets knocked out or loses a lopsided decision he should consider throwing in the towel. He’s had a good career and he will have a better one in the broadcast booth.

Likewise, Alistair Overeem needs to win Saturday at UFC Fight Night. He’s coming off an embarrassing loss to Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. If he can’t stand with Browne, Overeem will have trouble with the upper echelon of the division.

Overeem has not looked the same since coming back from his positive test for elevated testosterone levels. Will he ever be the same fighter?

 

posted by JoshuaM @ 6:19 pm
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