Did Chael throw the fight?

[MMAProfessional]

I just watched the fight and Chael made quite a few odd decisions. The weirdest one was when he had Fedor's back and jumped over his shoulder. Fedor didn't even flip him over, Chael did that himself and put Fedor on top. Big John even said "I see what he was trying to do there" but never justified what he was doing. Instead of putting his hooks in it looked like he willingly let Fedor get on top. Then the finish was weird as well. Fedor was exhausted and getting taken down then Chael gets to his back and Fedor finishes him. Chael got caught early so maybe he was out of it the entire fight but man.

 

[AimedWithV]

The weirdest one was when he had Fedor's back and jumped over his shoulder. Fedor didn't even flip him over, Chael did that himself and put Fedor on top. Big John even said "I see what he was trying to do there" but never justified what he was doing. Instead of putting his hooks in it looked like he willingly let Fedor get on top.

The fact that after this moment Chael took Fedor down again, and actually spend some (very short) time on top of him, indicates that this moment was not an attempt to throw the fight.

 

[lukeuidswords]

I just watched the fight and Chael made quite a few odd decisions. The weirdest one was when he had Fedor's back and jumped over his shoulder. Fedor didn't even flip him over, Chael did that himself and put Fedor on top. Big John even said "I see what he was trying to do there" but never justified what he was doing. Instead of putting his hooks in it looked like he willingly let Fedor get on top. Then the finish was weird as well. Fedor was exhausted and getting taken down then Chael gets to his back and Fedor finishes him. Chael got caught early so maybe he was out of it the entire fight but man.

Chael tried a Leo Viera esque back take and botched it, then when he started getting hit again decided he'd had enough
Is normal

 

[Mob69]

Jack Slack was (sarcastically, I think) speculating on Twitter that the fight may have been fixed.

Don't see it, frankly. Still - Chael made some bad decisions, albeit after taking huge concussive punches. Good win for Fedor.

 

[Mentallooser]

Other people on here have said was he was trying to pull off. He got Fedor's back, but he knew he didn't have the strength to stay there by just getting some hooks in. He took a chance, but was too high up on his back.

I like that we have such a large and active forum for this sport. I would never think less of someone for having not really trained before, but the amount of people that go around accusing fights of being fixed that have absolutely no idea as to what they are watching(not directed at you TS) or the odd knee jerk reactions can get frustrating.

It is a complicated sport with a lot of small things going on that people rarely take note of. I give praise fo Chael for trying beyond the point where he'd normally have quit. I feel sad that Fedor cant really grapple anymore. His body clearly doesnt fo what he tells it to at this point.

I was glad to see Fedor get a win, and hope he can pull off one more miracle before going off into the sunset.

 

[gato sin techo]

From the clips I thought so
But actually watching the fight I feel like that jumpy bit didn’t affect the outcome.
The stopping was weird, chael said he was rope a doping Fedor and the punches really were landing on his arms but the ref told chael to do something else than cover up and chael didn’t

TLDR at first at thought so but rewatching I have my doubts

 

[TheGreatA]

Don't know. If he was, Fedor wasn't in on it, because he was throwing haymakers, some of which landed flush.

I think Sonnen is just a mediocre grappler, despite being a good wrestler. And he was thrown off by Fedor's explosiveness. He tried to do things that were above his skill level, against a guy like Fedor.

Also, apparently he was warned about the referee standing them up, so he panicked and did things on the ground in haste.

 

[podsox]

I don’t think so. Chael got rocked early and knew he was in trouble. When he got the 2 dominant positions he just rushed things and got reversed

 

[ragreynolds]

Every time Chael loses as of late it always looks like it was a fixed fight. I think a lot of it just comes down to Chael making very poor decisions during his fights. The spinning backfist against Anderson is a perfect example, or how he let go of a choke against Tito.

 

[codfather]

Sonnen got dropped heavily a few times, including in the first 10 seconds of the fight. He'd taken plenty of big shots and was looking for a way out.
You can't just turtle up and wait for your opponent to gas, the referee can't read your mind, he doesn't know how concussed or in pain you are. Also, it doesn't make for much of a spectacle.
Everyone knows that under the current ruleset that's the international symbol of "I've given up, referee please save me!"
In a real fight, they wouldn't have been wearing gloves and he would have been punching in the back of the head.

 

[Candy Routure]

That bomb that blew him off his feet 10 seconds in was all part of the ruse..

 

[HockeyBjj]

Just watched the fight this morning, I don't think he threw the fight, but I do feel he walked into it with 0 training for it. Certainly not a proper fight camp, just a few light gym sessions a couple weeks before at most.

He just had immensely sloppy takedown attempts, didnt try at all to use striking to mask them, and whenever he got into trouble at all he panic flopped to his back. That was the big tell to me it was someone having an "Oh shit" moment of how unprepared for an mma fight they were. 1st time was warranted as he got blasted. Later times it was the same as a boxer turning and running away to get out of there

Rusty doesn't begin to describe it

 

[tinobar]

No.

 

[Muay Thai #1]

Didnt throw the fight, but he did quit at the end of the 1st round

 

[LukeSkyrocker]

Did NONE of you dummies watch the post fight interview? He said it’s a wrestling move of some sort but he missed it.

 

[Mentallooser]

He tried fancy things because the basics wouldn't allow him to control Fedor the way he needed to. He flopped to his back because he wanted to try and bait Fedor into a sub, believing that he might be able to snatch something. Chael trained a couple of ideas for this fight and seemed to be a little surprised by Fedor's general strength. If Chael doesn't turtle up when he did, he gets knocked out in the second. I don't think Fedor would have lasted might longer, but I don't think he would have needed to.

 

[Limit Smasher]

Unfortunately Chael has a tendency to give up and quit in the face of adversity. The good thing though, is that he always owns the L's and never makes excuses.

 

[Slicks]

This is what Chael failed to do. Props for ingenuity but criticism for poor execution.

 

[Kudo]

If Chael was supposed to lose, it would have been more convenient just lay when he first was almost KO'd. That KD threw him off his plan, he tried to wrestle without success, then he knew he didn't have anything for Fedor and didn't want to stand up again so he gave up.

 

[MMAProfessional]

The fact that after this moment Chael took Fedor down again, and actually spend some (very short) time on top of him, indicates that this moment was not an attempt to throw the fight.

I just can't think of a reason why Chael lost Fedor's back without Fedor moving. He literally jumped Fedors back to give Fedor position.