Anderson Silva Vs Chael Sonnen, UFC 117
We’ve saved one of the most dramatic and famous submissions of all-time until last. Silva Vs Sonnen was one of the most eagerly awaited title fights in years thanks to Sonnen’s pre-fight trash-talking, and, much to everyone’s surprise, in the Octagon he backed up his words by giving Silva what was at the time the toughest fight of his long-unbeaten run in the UFC.
So much so in fact that heading into the final minutes of the fifth round Silva was so far behind on the scorecards that he needed a miracle to win. Luckily for him that’s exactly what happened.
As in much of the previous four rounds, Sonnen had Silva placed firmly on his back early in the final five minutes and looked poised to use his superior wrestling to coast to victory. Then, out-of-the-blue with only two minutes to go, Silva spotted a momentary chink in his opponent’s armor and threw up a triangle choke attempt. He locked it in and then as Sonnen struggled to break free he added an armbar in for good measure and the combination of the two techniques applied at the same time forced the tap!
It’s one of those submissions that’s best appreciated when you watch the whole fight to realize just how close Silva came to defeat that night and how remarkable it was that he somehow still found a way to win. With that in mind, check out the full fight below!
