For four-plus rounds, Chael Sonnen brutalized middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Then, the man considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world found a way out.
Stuck under Sonnen, Silva managed to execute a triangle choke three minutes, 10 seconds into the fifth round. Sonnen tapped once. That was all that was necessary to give the match to Silva.
"I don't have any excuses. Chael had a hell of a fight tonight," said
Silva, who improved to 12-0 inside the UFC. "I knew that I was losing
the first four rounds, but, you know, not to make any excuses, about a
week and a half ago, I hurt my ribs. The doctor asked me not to come in
and fight, but for you guys and for the UFC, I came in here and put it
all out on the line."
Sonnen knew how much of an opportunity he had lost: "It was a tough fight," Sonnen said. "He's a tough guy. I came in
second. There's nothing I can say. They gave me my opportunity, and I
came up short."
In the co-main event, Jon Fitch defeated Thiago Alves 30-27, but the night's chief drama was unquestionably found in Silva's Criss Angelesque escape act.
UFC fan Mark Cuban summarized the match succinctly via tweet: "No way that just happened."
