OAKLAND, Calif. – Chael Sonnen backed up his trash talk with a dominating performance through four-and-a-half rounds against the seemingly unbeatable Anderson Silva. Unfortunately for Sonnen, a championship fight is 5 rounds, and it only takes mere seconds to change the face of a fight in mixed martial arts.

After a one-sided beating of “The Spider,” Sonnen lost focus for just a moment and found himself in a triangle with less than three minutes away from being crowned the new UFC middleweight champion.

Sonnen took the fight to the champion early, rocking Silva with punches before taking the fight to the mat and using his relentless ground and pound to punish “The Spider” through the first three rounds.

The fourth round saw much of the same, although Sonnen did sustain a deep gash over his eye from a short elbow thrown by Silva from his back.

Silva came out quick in the fifth and staggered Sonnen with a an elbow, then took the fight to the ground, but was quickly reversed. Sonnen at that point looked like he could ride out the rest of the fight from the top, but Silva in true champion fashion, found the opening he needed to lock on the fight ending triangle, forcing Sonnen to lightly tap out, as his dreams of becoming the new middleweight champion faded into thin air.

Silva gave an insight into a possible reason for his poor performance throughout most of the fight.

“I knew I was losing the first four rounds,” Silva said. “Not to make any excuses, but a week and a half ago I hurt my ribs. The doctor told me not to fight, but for you guys and the UFC, I came out here and fought.”

The win moves Silva to 27-4 overall and 12-0 in the UFC, and marks his record seventh straight UFC title defense.

Fitch decisions Alves

Jon Fitch once again executed his game plan, smothering and neutralizing Thiago Alves the entire 3 rounds of their bout, setting him up for another shot at the welterweight title.

The trouble Alves had with cutting weight seemed to be a huge factor, as Alves lacked his usual explosiveness on his feet and was unable to stay off of his back as Fitch continued to apply pressure throughout the bout.

Fitch used repeated take downs, and superior ground control, effectively taking away the leg kicks and big strikes that Alves often uses to punish his opponents on the feet, dominating the action the entire three rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory in this rematch of welterweight contenders.

Guida submits dos Anjos

Everybody knows that when you fight “The Carpenter,” that you better be ready to go 3 tough rounds at a relentless pace. Guida used his improved stand up game under the tutelage of Mike Winklejohn to land a shot that broke the jaw of dos Anjos in the first round.

Guida came out in the second round and started to put the heat on dos Anjos, and in the third after a big slam to get the fight to the ground, Guida used his his superior top control to put enough pressure on the jaw of dos Anjos to force a tap.

Hughes puts the “Big Dog” to sleep

Matt Hughes has had a legendary career in the UFC as the greatest welterweight of all time. Many thought that his career was all but over, but Hughes proved that he is still a threat in the 170 pound division, choking out Ricardo Almeida midway through the first round.

After a tentative start by both fighters, Almeida was starting to get his rhythm landing some nice leg kicks, and powering through the clinch of Hughes early on.

That all changed when Hughes landed a solid left hook that dropped the “Big Dog”, and Hughes wasted little time looking to control the fight on the ground, locking up a front headlock as Almeida reached for a leg.

The headlock was very tight and Almeida looked to be in trouble with one arm stuck in the choke hold as Hughes locked on the submission attempt tighter. Within seconds, Almeida went limp and was completely out from the choke.

Dos Santos dominates Nelson, gets winner of Lesnar and Velasquez

Junior Dos Santos put to rest any doubts that he may not be ready to be a true title contender with a dominating, one-sided domination of Roy Nelson.

Dos Santos used blistering and punishing uppercuts, dropping Nelson in the first, and mixed in a few big knees to the body for good measure, en route to a one-sided unanimous decision victory over “Big Country.”

Nelson proved that he has a granite chin, and that his not-so-fashionable body can take an enormous amount of punishment, but surviving the onslaught of Dos Santos was not enough, as the number one contender moves to 12-1 overall and 6-0 in the UFC.

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