;Despite Sonnen doing one of the most brilliant promotional jobs in the history of sport, there was no greater demand than usual to see UFC 117 on Aug. 7, 2010, at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.
Silva put his middleweight title on the line against Sonnen that night and, despite an hilarious and completely unexpected verbal war waged by Sonnen in the pre-fight build-up, it did little to change minds. The fight was expected to be a one-sided rout when it was made and, despite Sonnen's best efforts, when the bell rang that night, most still believed that Silva would squash his loud-mouthed challenger.
The perception was that they were two different calibres of fighters and that Silva's skill would easily overshadow Sonnen's bombast.
Less than a minute into the fight, though, a straight left from Sonnen nearly floored Silva. About 100 seconds into the bout, Sonnen had landed four or five significant left hands, which left the champion reeling.
Halfway through the opening round, Sonnen was on top and driving his shoulder into Silva's head, bouncing it off the mat like a basketball.
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