Sonnen-Silva & the Lengthy Tradition of Trash Talk

Shinya Aoki file photo: Sherdog.com

The fights in this category deserve honorable mention and are noteworthy examples of good trash talk either hyping a fight or post-match smack adding to the attention it received.

The faceoff between the Dream and Sengoku champions had a lot on the line.

It’s bad enough when submission whiz Shinya Aoki gets you in a compromising position. It’s also bad when you won’t tap despite having no escape. It’s even worse when he breaks your arm, as he did against Hirota, then flips you the bird while you writhe in pain on the mat, then runs down the ramp like a kid on his way to the candy store.

That’s a lot of ouch.

Aoki’s display against Hirota was all the more stunning given the largely docile nature of Japanese crowds -- you can often hear corners yelling instructions, despite 60,000 fans watching. Aoki’s rant was definitely thinking out of the box and cemented his reputation as a wild card.

After a season of back-and-forth on two seasons of “The Ultimate Fighter,” the Long Islander met the Country Boy in a long-awaited showdown. Both were ex-champs and hungry for a win to reposition themselves in a division firmly ruled by mutual conqueror Georges St. Pierre.

The fight itself is an asterisk-laden letdown. After eating a nasty headbutt-punch combo in the opening moments, Hughes fought through a fog, scraping out a razor-thin decision. He was even lateral-dropped by Serra in the final round, something virtually unthinkable in his prime. The decision left few fans satisfied, and the fight proved largely anticlimactic, as neither guy was silenced after a long buildup.

Diaz could start a fight in an empty room, and I’m still not sure I’ve ever seen him smile. That said, the Stockton-born battler met his perfect stylistic counterpart in Sanchez, whose blend of fire and intensity seemed to merely piss Diaz off more.

Photo: Dave Mandel [Click to Enlarge]

Does Nick Diaz ever smile?

The two battled in the press with equally uncouth things to say about each other. The feud culminated with Diaz, according to Sanchez as reported in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, sending him harassing e-mails and even throwing a shoe at him in the dressing room prior to their fight.

If you like scrambles, head-spinning transitions and hardcore grappling, Diaz-Sanchez is a masterpiece. The two locked horns for three exhausting rounds at a pace that few fighters could sustain. Sanchez’s superior wrestling carried him to a convincing decision win, but it’s the kind of match you need to watch several times to truly appreciate the bevy of subtle techniques, counters and high-level skill on display. It’s also the kind of awesome grappling geek-fest that totally befuddles casual fans and something you secretly appreciate while watching MMA with the headhunter crowd -- it usually bums them out and sends them to the fridge for another beer while they ask when the heavyweight match is coming on.

This one could’ve been a classic given the endless episodes of smack these two talked while opposing coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Evans and Jackson were made for each other in terms of verbal repartee, both having a seemingly inexhaustible ability to jaw, often while mere inches apart with teammates at the ready in case it came to blows. The duo was definitely good at pushing each other to the edge without actually going off it.

The fight, however, was something of a dud given the buildup. Evans smartly game planned the bout, using his speed and varied striking to set up takedowns. Jackson, meanwhile, waited around for the big punch that only materialized in the final round, stunning Rashad, but he was unable to follow up. Evans took a decision win, with fans left in a head-scratching mode, wondering, “Was this what all the fuss was about?” Both will probably see better days against different opponents, but the main event of this card definitely did not live up to the hype.