OAKLAND, Calif.: Chael Sonnen talked a whole lot before his fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 117.  For 24 minutes, the challenger lived up to every word of hype he built up prior his meeting with the champion on Aug. 7, but in the end, Sonnen ended up on the losing end of a spectacular fight. Sonnen irritated many a person with his talk about Silva.  Many thought his mind games were getting old and they expected him to be utterly demolished by the middleweight champ. This, however, did not happen. Chael Sonnen did everything he said he was going to do to Silva for the duration of the fight up until the very end. ...

It was the spring of 2006 and Matt Hughes, then the UFC welterweight champion, had a problem. The problem was his back. More specifically, the problem was the three bulging discs that made every day its own little carnival of pain. He had a fight coming up in a month's time – a catchweight showdown with early UFC legend Royce Gracie. He had a decision to make. Only if you hear Hughes tell it, there was no decision. The matter had already been settled before the injury ever occurred. "I'm probably a little different than most people," says Hughes. "If ...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="340" caption="Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images "][/caption] Although UFC president Dana White has no choice but to showcase controversial middleweight king Anderson Silva as the featured attraction at UFC 117 , that doesn’t mean he isn’t worried about it. “You have to,” White told a small group of reporters following WEC 48 on Saturday night. “He’s ...

   A message has been sent to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Fight or go home. UFC president Dana White announced on Tuesday, when appearing on ESPN's “Jim Rome is Burning,” that Silva would face top contender Chael Sonnen for his next fight, and if he pulls any of the antics that he did at UFC 112, he will be cut. First up on the agenda was the official announcement that Sonnen, who has long lobbed strong words towards Silva, would be the next fighter to challenge Silva for his title belt. "He's got a real tough fight coming up. His next fight's going to be against Chael Sonnen, and Chael Sonnen's one of these guys who's not going ...

Most pundits are giving Demian Maia little or no chance to unseat middleweight champ Anderson Silva at UFC 112. This is in spite of the fact that Demian Maia is one of the most credentialed jiu jitsu practitioners to ever fight for a UFC title. Maia has won the world jiu jitsu title three times and has also won the Abu Dhabi Combat Club submission grappling championship. Forget BJJ black belts like Thales Leites and Rousimar Palhares. Anderson Silva may have excellent jiu jitsu, but  Maia is on a different plane as a grappler. He's in that rarefied air where only the best of the best contend. His peers are Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, ...