Fact or Fiction 7.14.12

Posted by Ajit Punj on Jul 16, 2012 in Editors' Picks, MMA, UFC

Anderson Silva put an end to all doubt and talk last Saturday with his destruction of Chael Sonnen in the second round. Silva showed some of his classic moves, but it did not come without criticism. UFC 148 left fans with a sense of satisfaction, putting an end to a lot of uncertainty, but did not come without some condemnation as well. Let’s take a look at some of these remaining questions with Neil Rooke and J “Yayo” Hernandez:

1. Anderson Silva hit Chael Sonnen with a knee when he was grounded, and it has sparked a lot of debate about the legality of the knee. Was the knee legal?

NR: Fact:

If slow motion action replays can teach us anything it is that no matter how bad something looks, once you slow it down it becomes fine. That knee looked bad at the time but after reviewing and reviewing and.. reviewing you can see it was legal.

JH: Fact

At first blush it seemed that Silva had caught Sonnen with a full blown knee to the face. But after looking at the replay exhaustively (like zapruder film exhaustively) I think the knee caught Sonnen in the chest. At most some of Silva’s thigh caught Sonnen’s face which although unfortunate, doesn’t cut the mustard for illegal.

AP: Fact

Yves Lavine, the referee during the fight, witnessed the knee and deemed it legal. Slow motion gifs and pictures posted around the internet now, have verified that the knee did, in fact, hit Sonnen in the sternum. Haters gonna hate I guess!

NR: 1, JH: 1

2. Chael Sonnen’s camp filed an appeal with the NSAC based off of Anderson Silva’s tactics during the fight. Will Sonnen get the rematch?

NR: Fiction

Although it may be down the track there will be no rematch in the foreseeable future as Andy has already proved his worth, twice now. I don’t see an appeal being successful so for now the record remains in the Spiders favour and he controls the future.

JH: Fiction

Chael is in the back of the line at middleweight. He spent two years hyping the fight and lost in a less than epic matter.

AP: Fiction

First off, I do not believe an appeal will overturn the decision as the knee appears to be legal. Even though it appears as if there is no one left to challenge Silva in the Middleweight division, I do not think we will see a Silva vs Sonnen 3 in the near future. I think Chris Weidman or even Bisping (after recovering from whatever injury forced him off the UFC 149 card and winning his next fight) will be granted the next shot at Silva.

NR: 2, JH: 2

3. Forrest Griffin stole the mic from Joe Rogan after his fight, and interviewed Tito Ortiz. Was this a disrespectful move?

NR: Fact

Although it seemed like some light hearted buggery for which i am all for it kind of put a negative on Titos last hurrah. Rogan should have been able to give Tito a Randy style send off and the fans should have been able to enjoy it. If Tito had of asked for Forrest to do it then i am all for it however now Titos final moment in the cage will forever be remembered as the night Forrest went crazy in the coconut.

JH: Fact

This was Tito’s swan song and Forrest ruined it. Add to that the fact he was forced back into the cage because he decided to leave after the fight was done, and Forrest was completely disrespectful to Tito.

AP: Fiction

Honestly, while watching UFC 148 at a restaurant surrounded by people and friends, I thought Forrest interviewing Tito was a cool bonding moment captured on live tv. However, after checking the Underground forum people (of course) were outraged by Forrest’s actions. Even Tito was steamed. However, Forrest made Tito’s retirement more memorable than it could have been with a simple post fight speech with Joe Rogan, and on top of that, Joe Rogan could have still interviewed him after the fight! Sure, maybe Tito did not want his last moments inside of a cage in front of a crowd to go down that way, but I do not believe Forrest had any malice towards Tito by interviewing him.

NR: 2, JH: 2

We have a 2-2 tie this week! Be sure to check back next week for a new Fact or Fiction breaking down Strikeforce: Rockhold vs Kennedy.