It’s been almost five full years since Anderson Silva’s last successful defense of his UFC middleweight title. On July 7th, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada, “The Spider” fought arch-nemesis Chael Sonnen in one of the most highly anticipated rematches in UFC history. Sonnen famously dominated Silva at UFC 117, only to lose by submission with less than two minutes to go in the fight.
The rematch started out with Sonnen shutting down Silva’s offense, taking him down in just five seconds, and winning the opening round 10-8 on one of the official scorecards. Round 2 is really what you’re looking for, as you had Silva’s egregious grabbing of Chael’s shorts, Chael’s disastrous spinning backfist attempt, the questions over whether or not Silva’s knee landed on Chael’s head or his body while he was downed, and then Sonnen getting knocked down (for the first and only time in his UFC career) and eventually TKO’d.