2010 Blesnie Award Fight Of The Year

And the Nominees are: Too many to name

And the Winner Is: Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen, UFC 117

I had a hard time choosing this fight over my true personal fight of the year which was Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin at UFC 116 which is a fight I can watch over and over which I really can't say is true for the Silva fight. Thus, I added the caveat of "The Fight of The Year based on the original airing". And even then now that I think about it, I still have apprehension giving it the nod, but I made my decision and I'm sticking to it. Sorry folks, I prefer drama and excitement over rounds of sloppy brawling or a fight involving no-name fighters.

You've read the description I gave for the Submission of the Year award and it holds true here. This fight actually started at the beginning of the year with Chael Sonnen's trash-talking against Anderson Silva. And it built and built as Chael became a demigod among pale, acne-faced youths living with their parents. Chael was the anti-hero for all keyboard warriors, he said the things they couldn't say. Meanwhile, Anderson Silva is the picture of coolness and not responding. He was so cool that the media was UPSET that he wouldn't engage in trash-talking. 

The actual fight opened up with Anderson easily stuffing a takedown, while most figured that it would be a routine Silva fight...then a funny thing happened. Sonnen caught Silva off-guard with a punch and sent him off-balance. Sonnen continued to hit him in the jaw while Silva had his hands at his waist. Sonnen then took Silva to the ground and hit him with shot after shot. This wasn't supposed to happen to Anderson Silva. But it did. Over and over. Sonnen took Silva down, but didn't have him in any real trouble, but it seemed destined to go to a decision win for Sonnen. Silva showed a few hope spots with a hard standing elbow that buckled Sonnen as well as a sharp elbow from the bottom that cut Sonnen in the 4th. 

The hope was sucked out of many Anderson fans and the crowd in the arena chanted "Son-nen" and "U-S-A" in support of the challenger. Sonnen again took Silva down and rested in his guard and it looked like it was going to be a new champion. Sherdog and the UG all had their mice ready to click "New Thread" so proclaim the "E(r)a of Sonnen", but soon became the "E(r)ror of Sonnen". While resting in Silva's guard, Sonnen was quickly locked in a triangle from the bottom which transitioned into an triangle-armbar to which Sonnen tapped once. Josh Rosenthal came to break up the hold and Sonnen, true to his personality, momentarily claimed he didn't tap. The crowd booed until they saw the replay and were shown that "Yes", Sonnen had tapped.