Filho, Sonnen To Rematch In September at WEC 36
WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho and Chael Sonnen will rematch for the 185-pound title in September at WEC 36 according to Tatame.com.
Filho (16-0), undefeated in sixteen professional MMA bouts, won the vacant WEC middleweight title with a first-round TKO of UFC veteran Joe Doerksen at WEC 29. In his controversial first title defense, Filho defeated Sonnen in December at WEC 31 via second-round submission. The bout was halted late in the round despite Sonnen never submitting and just five-seconds remaining in the frame.
A rematch was originally scheduled to headline WEC 34 but was postponed after Filho checked into a substance abuse facility for an undisclosed chemical dependency.
Sonnen (20-9-1) defeated Bryan Baker via unanimous decision at WEC 33 after his rematch with Filho was postponed. He has won six of his last seven bouts.
Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest WEC rumors.
Tags: Chael Sonnen, Paulo Filho
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Why was it stopped if he never submitted? Did the guy tap or not? I must have missed that fight. I don’t recall a controversial decision involving Filho. I do hope he gets better though. We need someone to take down the Spider! Filho isn’t ready yet…but perhaps in 5 or 6 more fights he will be!
u kinda answered my question there dannyboy, i dont no much about filho but with a 16-0 record he must be pritty dam good, any1 think he can take the spider down?
I watched the fight.. I didn’t hear Sonnen say anything or see him tap.. From what i heard from the official it was stopped to prevent Sonnen’s arm from being broken.
I heard the same, it was to protect the fighter. But shouldn’t the ref wait for a tapout? The fighters knows his extent of flexibility.
It was a bad call. Sonnen was winning the fight…should be a great re-match.
filho and spider have said that they wont fight each other because they train together
I saw it and i’m in agreement with Sean that he didn’t tap physically or verbally. He did shout ‘no’ that he was fine and if i’m not mistaken it was Mazzagoti reffing who -like i have said before- has a history of stopping fights early. Personally, i think Filho is over rated. I have heard people refer to him as a top middleweight, i couldn’t disagree more. I would put (in no particular order) Silva, Henderson, Franklin, Lutter, Marquadt, Bisping and maybe a couple of others above him.
would you honestly put lutter ahead of him? the man has about a dollar worth of gas in his tank…
Did any of you guys see the fight????? Sonnen was yelling in pain. Sure, he never tapped..that’s true, but the guy was screaming in pain. The ref kinda took that as I need help…get him off of me!!! The ref called it a “verbal tap”. And true, Sonnen did seem very P.O. at the ref for stopping the fight. He immediately started protesting the stoppage and was all in the ref’s face (he and his camp). Now, put yourself in the ref’s shoes…Filho is WELL known for his submission skill (Ultra World Class) and he has Sonnen in an arm bar and Sonnen is yelling like crazy, what you think? I’m sure I would have thought the samething as the ref. I need to rescue this guy, he’s screaming! What would you guys do????
I will say this though, Sonnen was picking Filho apart in the stand up. Sonnen owned Filho in the stand up and was making it look REALLY easy, but once it went to the ground, that’s when Filho caught him in that Arm bar. I think the early his early success made him a little over confident and I think he saw he had Filho in trouble went in for the kill and Filho almost tore his arm in half as a result!
Filho is undefeated, against REAL competition. He is from the old PrideFC and was taking everyone out by submission left and right. He was next in line for a shot at Dan Hendersen for the Pride MW Title prior to ZUFFA buying the company. After the buy out, Filho resurfaced in the WEC (also owned by ZUFFA).
Filho has some REALLY heavy hands but his stand up skills just aren’t up to pair right now. He really needs to work on his stand up skills. If the he faced The Spider right now, Andersen would take him out in the stand up game! He’s big and muscular and STRONG ( a bigger version of Thiago Alves but without the striking skills). But for the 185 division, he is short (only 5′8)As far has JJ, I don’t know if anyone in MMA can match his JJ skills. Sherdog currently has Filho ranked #2 in the world in the 185 division.
First of all. I must acknowledge the greatest cameo of the year. The one and only Rickson Gracie teaches Dr Banner to cantrol his anger by controlling his breath in the Hulk movie. Too bad they list him as an Aikido instructor. Still fun way to beat the heat.
Now this is a fight I have been dying to see. Chael is in serious trouble here. I was on the floor of the joint last December. Chael was yelling no. This isn’t good because Chael has this kind of do over attitude when fighting Jiu-jitsu guys. Review the Horn fights and you will see what I mean. Take that with the promise Filho made to hold Chael accountable in the ring for the constant ad hominum attacks Chael made leading up to the fight and you have the perfect storm for an incident. And lets not forget that bush league he’s out garbage on the first takedown. You have to give the champ a chance to recover . I might try to rewrite this later. I am kind of sick right now….Sorry
Fihlo is good for the WEC. Send one of top 10 UFC MWs down and see what happens. Even Bisping could probably kick Fihlo’s a$$. I am afraid to judge some early stoppages because I am not the ref and maybe the TV camera angle doesn’t help me judge any better. I can’t hear the fighter’s screams, moans, grunts and ligaments popping. Fighter safety should be first but maybe….just maybe….Mazagotti could pause a second or two longer from now on before stopping a match. Just think about what he’s doing a second longer. I have a problem with thinking to fast and then acting on it too fast so I can relate. He has to calm down just a hair. Even if someone’s arm is going to break. What is it, a big f-n deal?
champagggggne your a stupid his arm would have broken off
nev-o,
Thank you. Now I know I am okay.
Forget filho fighting silva, the real matchup at 185 for him would be roussimar palhares.
I am sorry i haven’t finished the post. I come on here and do a couple and get sick. I will finish it though.
picking up on this…Filho won’t fight anderson so this fight might very well determine the last challenge for WEC at Middleweight if Dana is going to bring the leagues together. I would rather see Chael and Marshall fight it out as I feel like Marshall has gotten a bad break with WEC matchups. Look at Gandulla (juiced up )and Stann ( I think he might have taken something in the past but I give him the benefit of the doubt) What I do not believe is that he deserved the title shot in the first place. Take a look at the previous fight(s). He hit the guy flush on the back of the head while he was on the mat. The warriors code he is marketed by should have required hime to own up to it. (Just one opinion)
Put Filho in a Grand Prix mix with the winner of this and who ever is reigning at 185(Is Anderson pulling a Vera or will he let it go). That will be more fun and more profitable for the Company. Still coughing and typing like I have add so forgiveness please…
Team Link ROCKS!!!!!!!!!