Prime Sonnen vs Israel

[yekmurat]

Who wins discuss

 

[chitoortiz]

Roided up Sonnen?

Chael easily.

 

[Masturbin]

Prime Chael P.E.D Sonnen wins by dec via grounded lay and pray

 

[Eiffel-sixtyFight]

He has one victory over Silva so I can't see why not.

 

[Huligani]

Adesanya via TKO starting with a knee on a takedown attempt, in round 1 or 2.

 

[TheSpider]

Prime 17:1 testosterone ratio Sonnen via UD. Izzy doesn’t even have the BJJ skills of an injured ribs Silva

 

[TR1]

Izzy dances around and beats the shit out of Fail.

 

[DoctorDeelon]

Izzy is going to land something and finish him off. I love Chael but he would always find a way to lose when it really mattered.

 

[TheMessiah]

The American gangster double legs him into oblivion

 

[91 seconds]

Do you think Sonnen would chug a carton of milk at the weigh-in?

 

[OmegaRugal]

Good fight. Roided Sonnen was no joke. He COULD win but he will take some damage going in.

I would overall go with Adesanya to win. I do believe today's fighters are overall better than previous generations but I do admit that Roided Sonnen is the type of fighter you want to be like if you want to stand a chance at beating Adesanya. A fearless, aggressive wrestler with fantastic cardio.

 

[Straatblaffer]

Sonnen. The man existed of 82% banned substances, more roided than any East- German fighter in the eighties.

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

Two undefeated fighters, both currently in their prime.. tough to call.

 

[SakurabasEar]

Well if a prime HGH dragon sonnon got izzy to the ground, then yes. But i depends on several factors really. I would favor izzy slightly

 

[Gamer007]

At his peak Sonnen was a beast, and Izzy hasn't show that he has a legit world class ground game like Maia or Silva did.

It's likely that Chael's pace and willingness to grapple sees him clinch with Izzy and get him down at some point, and then it becomes a beatdown. People forget Andy had one of the best defensive guards ever, completely stifling guys like DC and Hendo from doing damage or advancing position. Costa and Whittaker had plenty of moments to clinch izzy, it just wasn't their style and they weren't willing.

Izzy doesn't have the power, chin, clinch game, or speed that Andy had. Chael would be able to walk him down a lot easier. Maybe izzy could survive and find a TKO late but people forget Sonnen has wins over Bisping, Shogun, Stann, Marquardt, and Okami. from 2008-2013(aside from the Rashad fight), the only men to beat Chael were either GOATS of their respective divisions (Silva, Jones), or a GOAT tier MMA grappler (Maia).

 

[arathans]

sonnens wrestling would be too much power for izzy. like anderson, izzy would spend 5 rounds on his back getting the smesh beat out of him but izzy lacks the jits to get out of it.

the american gangster all day long baby.

 

[ninjion]

Prime roided Chael had a hell of a chin and would be one of the toughest matchups for Israel that I can think of because of his wrestling.

To those who might say "but Romero is a better wrestler than Sonnen", you have to consider how they use their wrestling in MMA. Romero is primarily a heavy-handed striker who occasionally mixes in his wrestling to capitalize on situations and keep his opponent off guard. Yoel never had the cardio to implement wrestling as his main strategy in MMA. Sonnen, on the other hand, was a relentless grinder who would constantly spam takedown attempts until he got you to the ground. He also had some of the best cardio ever at MW, though that may have been partly due to his "supplement" regime. Chael wouldn't just stand around and get picked apart by Adesanya- he'd charge him nonstop and had the chin to take a few shots on the way in.

To anyone who compares Izzy to Silva, I'd argue that Anderson has much better grappling credentials and poses more of a submission threat from the guard. Sonnen could probably have his way with Izzy on the ground if he's able to get him there.

Lastly, I want to point out that I think Izzy is a much better fighter than Sonnen overall. I just think Chael is the perfect counter stylistically, much like how Weidman was to Silva (he was dominating both fights before the flukish finishes) despite being an overall inferior fighter.

 

[Iron Nick]

The way some people talk about Anderson Silva gives the impression as if he was an ADCC winner and the same people speak about Izzy as if he never trained grappling (and especially TDD) a day in his life.

Fucking lol @ that.

Izzy has most certainly significantly better TDD than Silva had and his BJJ is probably not too far behind.

Izzy probably beats any version of Chael Sonnen - certainly if he was on the supplements Silva was on.

 

[pankrat]

Prime Sonnen barely beat Bisping. He himself thought he had lost the fight.
Marquardt also gave him a hell of a fight.

I think he would land some TDs on Israel but not sure if could stay away from Israel's precise strikes for 25 minuts

 

[Herwald]

Pre-USADA Chael probably wins. At worst, it looks like Izzy vs Vettori, considering Izzy's gotten better since then and could cancel out Chael more. But still. Chael was good at his thing.

Prime Sonnen barely beat Bisping.

Prime Bisping would beat Izzy.