July 19, 2009, at 11:32 pm
Yushin “Thunder” Okami is a fighter that many people claim Dana White is holding down due to his boring fighting style. At UFC 104, he’ll have a chance to prove himself against another wrestler in former WEC “middleweight champion” Chael Sonnen.
Sonnen stepped in for Okami at UFC 98 when the Japanese wrestler couldn’t go because of a knee injury. In his place, Sonnen dominated New Jersey’s Jim Miller and earned a little respect by raising his UFC record to 2-3. If you notice, I put his WEC middleweight title reign in quotes because he never actually won the title. He fought Paulo Filho, who then didn’t make weight. As a result, the title wasn’t up for grabs, and Sonnen destroyed Filho. Thus, I’m calling him the “real WEC Middleweight champ.”
Before his injury, Okami was on of the top contenders in the middleweight division. He’s 7-1 in the UFC, and has victories over Jason McDonald, Mike Swick, Dean Lister and the late Evan Tanner. He’s won most of his fights via decision, but has finished on a couple of different occasions in the UFC. Okami will have to really impress to get back into title contention. He’s got some time because Anderson Silva is fighting next month, and Dan Henderson probably has the next shot.
This is an interesting fight. Okami has a lot to lose here, because outside of the real hardcores, no one really thinks anything of Chael Sonnen. However, if Sonnen wins, he will likely have to take a couple more fights to get himself back in the hunt.
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