Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva served up a tame sparring-pace exhibition bout in Brazil on Saturday night as the pair rolled back the years for a trilogy boxing bout.
Silva, who won their bouts at UFC 117 and UFC 148 by submission and knockout respectively, was celebrating his final fight in Brazil at the invite-only Spaten Fight Night. And he called on his greatest rival to be the man to help him close out his career in the country with an exhibition bout.
The pair, who are aged 49 and 47 respectively, both hung up their gloves from MMA over three years ago. But returned to the ring for a light-hearted exhibition of five, two-minute rounds that was unavailable to American and international audiences.
- NO MISTAKE: Chael Sonnen vows not to make the same mistake he did in MMA in his boxing fight against Anderson Silva
Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen serve up lacklustre exhibition in boxing trilogy
The pair felt each other out early as Chael Sonnen appeared to be throwing with almost no power. But Anderson Silva’s impressive movement was still on display, albeit at a half pace of how it would have been even the second time the pair met in July of 2012.
If you weren’t able to find a way to watch the bout, which was solely broadcast in Brazil, you didn’t miss much as neither man put on much of a pace. A Sonnen bloody nose and a slip were as much action as you could get, with the bout ultimately going without a score.
Silva had jokingly asked Sonnen to take it easy due to the exhibition nature of the bout during the build-up, and both men appeared to have obliged in the first and second. For his part, ‘The Bad Guy’ also lived up to his pre-fight promise to cheat as he regularly held his rival’s head down to find an uppercut.
By the third, Silva found himself in the drivers’ seat as his opponent struggled to keep up with his movement and speed even at the age of 49. As the round came to an end, his right hands were landing flush and at will, although the relaxed sparring pace meant Sonnen was able to stay in the fight.
And in the fourth the trademark showboating started as he began to steer ever so slowly through the gears, landing a big uppercut on a number of occasions. Sonnen even ended up on the ground with 20 seconds to go although it was ruled a slip.
The fifth round saw Silva really show off his range of skills as he landed a flurry of punches early and clearly indicated where his speed is at this age. Sonnen managed to stay up with his pressure game, but was left bleeding from the nose.
And after an impressive close from Silva, Sonnen managed to hear the final bell against his greatest rival for the first time in their over 40 minutes of competition.
Chael Sonnen insists he won boxing fight with Anderson Silva despite lack of result
With the event taking place solely as a fun exhibition between two retired pals, there was no scorecard and the boout was ruled a draw. This was clearly much more exciting to the cheeky Sonnen, who had vowed to cheat before the bout and has been generally enjoying returning to his ‘Bad Guy’ character.
Prior to the bout, the former middleweight and light-heavyweight UFC title contender had been making all sorts of claims about what would occur. And in the immediate aftermath, while not being given an official in-ring interview, he did insist that he had done enough to win three rounds to two.
Silva, for his part, appeared to call the few rounds ‘training’ as the pair embraced, while Sonnen cut a promo to an official who was filming on a phone. The pair’s feud ended long ago and they have been friends since, but the American had spoken pre-fight about his chance at redemption.
Ultimately, the pair were unable to dole out the same excitement as their counter-programming on Amazon Prime pay-per-view. In that PBC main event, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis knocked out Frank Martin within eight rounds to retain his WBA lightweight belt.
- SECRET SKILLS: MMA legend warns Anderson Silva of Chael Sonnen’s underestimated boxing skill ahead of trilogy fight