Yeah, reckon he was injured in the first fight.
In the second when Chael throws the spinning backfist, I'm pretty sure that Anderson tripped him off it in a matrix meets Jackie Chan type moment of sheer awesome.
I accidentally voted you down op, sorry. Tried to vote you back up, wouldn't let me.
JOESONDO - Like Water was the AS documentary leading up to the fight (it was not shown until way after the fight) but it made no mention of an injury. He seemed to be training unhampered.
Please re-watch. You're absolutely incorrect.
twizzle97 - In the documentary , I could have sworn he had a rib injury.
He did. Joesondo is trolling.
He was clearly hurt, just watch the first round and you can see he could'nt move, no feet movement at all. Rib injuries are fking painfull!
Chael cheated 1st fight, andy cheated 2nd. Chael was on illegal roids, andy was on legal roids.
twizzle97 - In the documentary , I could have sworn he had a rib injury.
Yeah he went to the hospital the week of the fight. Couldn't breathe.
Letibleu -
hard to say but the first round of the second fight looked very familiar...
No, it didnt.
What Sonnen did better in R1, fight 2 was get mount. However, he had like zero GNP at all the entire time on the ground which imo was because Andy was able to hold Chael close and prevent him from posturing up. He was not able to do that at all in fight 1. Coincidence?
If you look at the Andy's posture and movement and general speed in fight 1, it simply was not the same as every other fight of his. People were saying it was Chael, well they fought again and it was different.
So to answer OP's question, yes, i think its pretty obvious he was.
Letibleu -hard to say but the first round of the second fight looked very familiar...
This is how I see it. Also very cool that Chael has beat Anderson 5 out of 7 total rounds lol
I dislocated a rib last year training BJJ. It affected my mobility in the oddest ways. I could flex my torso in some positions and would be afflicted with severe pain in others. Naturally, I was getting owned by white belts during that time, to say nothing of blues and purples.
This is pure conjecture obviously, but I'm guessing Anderson sustained a similar injury. It DOES NOT hurt when you breathe, as with a broken rib, and you can move around and even grapple. However your mobility will be limited, and this will screw with your game and your performance.
Willin - Healthy in the first, cheated in the second.
Oh man, you suck.
It sucks to win 5 rounds out of 7, and still not win either fight. Must be heartbreaking.
God any anderson fans remember how nervous you were during the first fight and before the second? Anderson is my favorite fighter and those are probably my favorite fights, in terms of how excited i was.
To answer the question i think anderson was hurt. Not seriously bad but anderson has fought seriously injured before and it doesn't surprise me that he would against chael.
JOESONDO - Like Water was the AS documentary leading up to the fight (it was not shown until way after the fight) but it made no mention of an injury. He seemed to be training unhampered.
This is not how I recall it. The documentary clearly implies that AS had a rib injury prior to the fight. If IIRC, the documentary implies Dan Dan may have hurt AS during sparring.
He was injured and chael had the test of 16 normal men.
Chael-0-2
Anderson-2-0
When inside the ring at the same time!!!!
Warriormmd -Letibleu -hard to say but the first round of the second fight looked very familiar...
This is how I see it. Also very cool that Chael has beat Anderson 5 out of 7 total rounds lol
Er.... Yeah.... Cool.....