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#1 Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, UFC 117
By the time UFC 117 came around, Anderson Silva was already widely recognized as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC and he’d already made six successful defenses of his Middleweight title. When challenger Chael Sonnen promised to “swing the hammer” in a “one-sided pounding” it seemed like a load of hot air. But when it came to fighting time, it turned out that Sonnen was deadly serious.
He landed huge punches standing that had the Brazilian champion in a ton of trouble, and also took Silva down at will, where he simply beat the hell out of him for four straight rounds. Silva used some elbows to open a cut on the challenger but going into the final round, it had been a one-sided fight and nobody was under any illusion as to who was winning. Silva had simply never been dominated in this fashion before.
With about two minutes remaining it looked like Silva’s title was slipping away – but somehow, he managed to throw up his legs and lock up a triangle choke from the bottom. Sonnen fought but it was too late, and he had to tap out – snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in a truly jaw-dropping moment. Due to the punishment he’d taken and the incredibly high stakes, Silva’s comeback remains the greatest in UFC history.
