CHICAGO -- Chael Sonnen has the rematch with Anderson Silva he so desperately wants.
Sonnen beat Michael Bisping by unanimous decision at Saturday night's UFC on Fox 2, winning 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 on the judges' scorecards. As he usually does, Sonnen turned the post-fight interview to an exercise in absurd self-promotion.
"When you're the greatest fighter in the world today they've got a name for you," Sonnen said. "They don't call you a great fighter, they call you Chael Sonnen."
The win will earn Sonnen a shot at Silva, the UFC middleweight champion, likely this summer in Brazil.
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Sonnen took Bisping down just seconds into the first round, eliciting a huge cheer from the crowd. Bisping popped back up quickly, but within another minute Sonnen had taken him down again. Bisping was able to shrug off that takedown, too, and most of the first round was fought standing up, but Sonnen clinched with Bisping for most of the first round and controlled the pace of the fight, even though he couldn't do much damage.
At the start of the second round Bisping appeared to be doing a better job landing punches and avoiding the clinch, but after a couple of minutes Sonnen took Bisping down and got on top of him again. Before Bisping could get back up he ate some hard punches. However, Bisping did better on the feet once they stood back up. It was a close fight through two rounds.
Sonnen went for an immediate takedown at the start of the third and got on top of Bisping, and when Bisping briefly stood up, that just allowed Sonnen to take his back. From there Sonnen transitioned into full mount, and he was in control on the ground for most of the rest of the round. Bisping did get back on top in the final seconds of the fight, but Sonnen had done enough to win -- and his second shot at the title.
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This is awesome, a rematch nearly two years in the making.