One of the most intense finishes in a while. Great victory and a well-deserved one in my mind. Sure, Sonnen was on top all the time, in all rounds but he wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, his shots from the top position did almost no damage while Silva was more dangerous.
Standing up, at the start of each round, Silva connected with massive shots and was short 1 strike to end it when Sonnen was able to ground him.
The way i saw it, Sonnen was an improved Fitch. Taking the guy down and then doing nothing, just staying at the dominant position unable to deal effective damage,advance position or finish the fight. I'm not sure i would want to give him the win and the title only doing that. I mean if the first Machida-Rua fight went with Machida exactly because 'you have to do much more against the champion to get the title', then i think Silva-Sonnen was the same. Sonnen sure looked good by putting Silva on his back but it didn't ammount to anything - in all stages of the fight it still looked like Anderson is the only one that can end the fight before the decision.
So yeah, i'm happy, i'm a Spider fan. His fights are always entertaning, even (or esepecially) when he's doing his shannanigans. Silva was protesting the lame fighters they would put against him so he was coasting the matches. I do hope now after going through this near-loss experience, he'll cut back on the swagger.
Havn't read all of the thread, how serious is Silva's alleged pre-fight rib injury?