Knee looked good to me. Can someone tell me how you would knee someone in the chest like with without some other part of your leg grazing his chin?
You could put it down in the lower solar plexus or liver area instead. Which is where you'd do more damage than an upper sternum shot anyway.
Honestly, that knee placement, if you
aren't going for the head, isn't the best idea. That's part of the reason I'm laughing so hard at these people talking about how perfect that knee was. If you ask Anderson, he'd probably tell you the knee missed.
I figure either Anderson:
1) Actually was going for the head just in the heat of the moment and missed it, or couldn't follow through because his forward movement kinda got moved when Sonnen's leg came up between Silva's legs, or the strike got blocked downward by Sonnen's hands/arms.
or
2) Anderson instinctively was going for the head and pulled it at the last moment as he thought better of it.
or
3) He was trying for the solar plexus or liver and missed, because Sonnen didn't do the expected and rise to his feet immediately. A great striker like Silva hits you
where you are going to be, not where you currently are. When Sonnen did nothing for that moment, likely frozen because he was completely surprised he put himself on his ass with that silly backfist attempt and was caught between the idea of shooting for an ankle pick or rising for a moment, Anderson's blow hit where it hit, because Anderson expected him to get up.
To me, #3 is very likely. Silva was already targeting the liver with success during the fight. And everyone who has had experience in striking before knows that if you want to really hurt somebody--not just win, but make a guy experience pain--that's the best way to do it.