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Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:01 pm EDT

Sonnen pulls the upset on internet fan favorite Okami

By Steve Cofield

He's been a persecuted man according to many mixed martial arts fans. Tonight, we saw why Yushin Okami in spite of a 7-1 mark in the UFC, has never been given a real shot at an Anderson Silva rematch. Okami, a one-trick pony with excellent grappling and little else, ran into a better grappler in Chael Sonnen. Sonnen set the pace early scoring a takedown in the first round and slamming Okami two times. Then surprisingly, Sonnen turned it into a standup fight. His arsenal was too much for Okami as Sonnen rolled to a unanimous decision (30-27 on all cards) victory.

Sonnen (23-10, 3-3 UFC) really seemed to throw off Okami by pushing forward the entire fight. Any reach advantage the 6-foot-2 Okami possessed was nullified by Sonnen's control of the distance. The former U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling alternate Sonnen, also did a great job with his kick-punch combos.

Okami (23-5, 7-2 UFC) beat Silva via disqualification during a 2006 Cage Rage welterweight fight. Silva upkicked Okami while he was on his knees.

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7 Comments

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  1. Jonathon
    1. Posted by Jonathon Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:08 pm EDT

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    bye bye Okami finally your weird inernet followers have to face the facts you aren't good enough to get in the ring with Silva again.
  2. Caligulus
    2. Posted by Caligulus Sun Oct 25, 2009 12:52 am EDT

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    Okami was a big time disappointment. He needs to work 12 months with a real boxing trainer. Chael did great, he wants it bad.
  3. meatpopcycle
    3. Posted by meatpopcycle Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:56 am EDT

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    dont know what fight caligulus was watching but okami lost a wrestling match. okami landed his jab at will so i dont think the boxing was the issue. okami got staight dominated on the wrestling side of things.
  4. swrestler
    4. Posted by swrestler Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:14 am EDT

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    Enough said about Okami...This just shows that the people coming out of their shells thinking Okami deserves a shot don't have a shred of common sense and don't understand how to really pick apart fighters or fights for that matter. Stats don't mean anything if you don't mingle them with common sense... Imaging Sonnen beating Okami for the middleweight title. Priceless...
  5. KJ-MMA Armchair
    5. Posted by KJ-MMA Armchair Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:12 am EDT

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    UFC must be loving it. They can finally get rid of an unmarketable, injury prone fighter. Okami was given the 'Huerta' treatment by putting him in there with a dominant wrestler to lay on him for 3 rounds.
  6. Steven W
    6. Posted by Steven W Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:58 am EDT

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    no meatpopcycle, he lost an mma match. besides landing his jab (not nearly at will) what else did okami do? get hit by jabs? get hit by right hooks? sonnen gave okami PLENTY of openings on the feet, did he take advantage? absolutely not.
  7. Rob
    7. Posted by Rob Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:29 pm EDT

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    Welcome to the Machida Error!
    Ultimate FIXING championship!!
    This sucks....an immediate rematch doesn't do this justice. Shogun ran his game plan to a tee. It WON'T AND WILL NOT work a 2nd time. Machida will beat Shogun 9 out of 10 times. This is Shoguns 1 perfect fight. That's a shame. A REAL shame.

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