This weekend I was hanging out in the living room of a New York Times Best Seller, and I nearly flipped my chair over when Michael Buffer announced the unanimous decision in favor of Chael Sonnen. When it comes to being professional in social settings, I fail every time. I'm the guy that will bring a flask to the Academy Awards and refuse to share it with Brad Pitt. Everyone in the room insisted that Michael Bisping grabbed a 29-28 decision over the pseudo-middleweight champion, but I wasn't sure if it was just some elaborate troll job. Judging by a few of your responses on MiddleEasy and Twitter, a select handful of you sincerely believe that Bisping defeated Sonnen. I just can't imagine a scenario in which Bisping even won a single round at last weekend's UFC on FOX 2. Fortunately, this FightMetric chart somewhat supports my hypothesis and completely crushes yours. Awesome.

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-24 # ArmyOfFedors 2012-01-30 10:29

You all know what kind of strikes Sonnen throws.

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+46 # aint.that.a.kick.in.the.head 2012-01-30 10:34

Yes effective ones that stagger Anderson Silva

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+20 # Guest 2012-01-30 11:04

Quoting aint.that.a.kick.in.the.head:

Yes effective ones that stagger Anderson Silva

Goldberg:"Oh my!"

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+4 # Guest 2012-01-30 23:54

Yes so damn effective that after landing a couple of hundred strikes, Anderson still looked exactly like he did 5 rounds earlier.

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+2 # Guest 2012-01-31 18:48

I dont think ive ever seen anderson with swelling or cuts anyways though.

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+19 # WiseUp 2012-01-30 11:33

Fuckin' truth hurts, dunnit?

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-21 # makesmewretch 2012-01-30 11:42

WiseUp you are the reason for abortion.

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+30 # WiseUp 2012-01-30 11:45

I didn't know you had an account on here, Mom?

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+1 # Guest 2012-01-30 23:52

Exactly, even the silly slaps which do no damage at all are being counted as "significant strikes".

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+27 # Harrison101 2012-01-30 10:29

To be fair, judges don't get this kind of information on the fly like we do almost immediately. I still think it was extremely close, either way a 29-28 I think, is fine.

...Its the 30-27 for Sonnen I take issue with.

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+10 # Guest 2012-01-30 12:40

This is a prime example of Rogan's commentary swaying your view of the action. I'm a fan of Rogan, but him claiming that Bisping holding Sonnen on the cage was "winning the wrestling battle" was fucking ridiculous. I rewatched it on mute, and while it is a VERY close fight, its easier to make an argument for a Sonnen victory than it is to argue for Bisping.
The round that comes into question when debating the 30-27 is the second, which was by far the closest, but in no way did Bisping run away with it. I can very well see how the fight can score 30-27, with it still being so close.

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+5 # Harrison101 2012-01-30 14:08

Very good point, Rogan was talking is if he'd bet his weed stash that Bisping won the first two rounds, when it was too close to call.

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+5 # Guest 2012-01-30 14:31

I'm glad Chael embarrassed him in the post fight interview.

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+8 # Guest 2012-01-30 10:35

1st & 3rd to Chael, Bisping probably took the 2nd. 29-28 like Harrison101 said.

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+4 # aint.that.a.kick.in.the.head 2012-01-30 10:35

I agree Sonnen won, but the 9 significant leg strikes made me LOL.

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+3 # greatjake 2012-01-30 11:40

I dont always agree with fight metric stats. Accoring to fight metrix Chael won the clinch but as saw it bisping was getting the better of the clinch game. I thought Mike controled more than Chael in the first 2 and was more effective striking. Clear 29-28 for the Cout IMO

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+6 # aint.that.a.kick.in.the.head 2012-01-30 12:20

See I think thats where people have this fight wrong. The punches landed against the cage werent significant and to me Bisping didnt have control. Its a neutral postion.

Chael had: Takedowns, Mount, Guard Pass,

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+6 # greatjake 2012-01-30 14:19

Thats where Chael landed alot of his punches. I literally just rewatched the fight and have the exdact same opinion on it. I dont really see how any of Chaels takedowns meant anything with the exception being the final one. he did nothing with the others IMO. the clinch work favored Bisping, alot of the punches Sonnen "landed" in the clinch were wrist punches that were almost totally useless. I saw Bisping as having the striking advantage throughout.(alt hough Chael did decent) Round 1 was close Chael got half Bisping got half but i think Mike was more effective. 2 was semi close but IMO a definate round for Bisping. round 3 was easily for Chael. I saw it 29-28 Bisping. One thing that is interesting to think about is that Bisping more effectively implimented his game plan while Chael didnt.

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+5 # Guest 2012-01-30 10:47

Close fight either way. I never expected bisping to do so well after the way sonnen handled stann but he comes out of this well regardless of the result.

Kind of glad sonnen won as him vs silva in brazil is going to be crazy.

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+15 # Guest 2012-01-30 11:01

another topic but i'm curious about one thing - if you're rooting for Rashad in his UFC 145 fight give a thumb up , if you're for Jones - thumb down , THX

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+3 # Guest 2012-01-30 11:16

Michael Buffer does UFC fights now?

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0 # Guest 2012-01-30 11:31

hey, fightmetric only counted a half guard a when sonnen took bispin's back...
didnt said anything about that mount

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+5 # WeeMadAndo 2012-01-30 11:31

I had it 10-10, 10-9 Bisping, 10-9 Sonnen. Sonnen didn't win that fight, nor did Bisping in my eyes. And Sonnen's post fight rehearsed speech was ridiculous given the fact that according to every person I've spoken who watched, he lost.

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-5 # WiseUp 2012-01-30 11:38

Quoting ArmyOfFedors:

FightMetric stats don't change the fact Bisping won, idiot. Analyze the stats, don't just read the page that tells you who won.

.

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+2 # makesmewretch 2012-01-30 11:45

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-12 # Guest 2012-01-30 11:39

you can't score a round 10 - 10. Its a ten point must and you have to pick a winner of each round.

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+4 # Guest 2012-01-30 12:15

Not true. They score rounds 10-10, very rarely though which is stupid IMO. http://mmadecisions.com/ten_ten_report.jsp

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-3 # Fatherlessbastard 2012-01-30 11:48

whatever a win like that won't mean anything for anderson. carrying a toy belt is over the line.

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+3 # Guest 2012-01-30 12:17

I actually thought a round cant be scored 10-10 but it somehow can, look it up there have been many fights that have had even 10-10 rounds scored.

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+1 # Guest 2012-01-30 12:21

10 point must system means each fighter should be scored 10 points or less each round, there does not have to be a winner of each round. I believe ive seen a 9-9 round one time due to a 1 point penalty.

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+3 # Guest 2012-01-30 12:26

I gave bisping round 2...Don't care enough to watch it again.

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+1 # Guest 2012-01-30 12:52

This chart may be right, but it means nothing to me. Overall Bisping hurt Sonnen more then Sonnen hurt Bisping. Bisping stunned him a few times...

It's hard to judge MMA for sure, but 30-27 was, is, and always will be bullshit in my book.

The first two rounds were easily 10-10 and the last round was sonnen so 30-29 sonnen.

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0 # Guest 2012-01-30 14:47

Exactly! Chael is the king of stats since he pushes hard and punches a lot, but he doesn´t do much damage (best example: The Silva-fight).
Chael doesn´t threaten any top-level fighter at MW by either ko or submission, he is only dangerous because he is on top when the final bell rings.

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+2 # Harrison101 2012-01-30 15:22

Not to mention, the Unified Rules of judging favour wrestlers, and Chael's one of the best in that department @ 185 pounds.

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0 # Guest 2012-02-04 03:58

Quoting Chuck:

Overall Bisping hurt Sonnen more then Sonnen hurt Bisping. Bisping stunned him a few times...

And Chael hurt Anderson in their fight more than Anderson hurt Chael.

Does that mean Chael won? Because Chael certainly thinks so.

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+3 # Tom Hanks 2012-01-30 13:26

Fightmetric-off icial bitches of the UFC.

Wait for Compustrike data...

Ok,Bisping outlanded Sonnen 109-81 in total strikes landed while Sonnen had 4-1 advantage in takedowns.

http://twitter.com/compustrike

Zeus maybe make that into an article too??

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+1 # Harrison101 2012-01-30 14:06

To me folks, as long as judges continue to be encouraged NOT to give a round a 10-10 score, questionable winners will keep happening.

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+1 # WiseUp 2012-01-30 19:30

Yes, but we would see more Draws.

All in all, I think Draws are a bigger pain in the ass than a decision that could go either way.

Chael won, we can move on. If it was a draw, we still wouldn't know who is gonna find Andy.

The Edgar-Maynard draw, for example, didn't do much good for the lightweight division.

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+5 # Guest 2012-01-30 14:44

why don't you try posting the compustrike numbers? they seem to reflect the fight i saw "Compustrike saw Bisping landing 59% of his punches, while Sonnen connected 37% of the time." http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mma/post/2012-01-28/sonnen-grinds-to-decision-against-bisping/615149/1

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+3 # Guest 2012-01-30 15:42

The point is, Sonnen isn't that great, and Bisping is a lot better than we thought.

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+1 # Guest 2012-01-31 02:44

I guess it´s mostly the brian stann fight that made chael look like a beast recently. But maybe it´s just Stanns (and silvas!) fighting style that favour Sonnen a lot.

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+1 # Guest 2012-01-30 20:53

I watched it on mute, Chael clearly won

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+1 # StGutFree 2012-01-31 10:20

Rogan really was smooching bisping's ass the whole time.

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