Silva’s UFC reign continues

OAKLAND, Calif. – Anderson Silva shook off a slow start and used a triangle choke to get Chael Sonnen to tap out late in the fifth round of their middleweight championship bout in the main event of UFC 117 on Saturday.

Silva wasn’t able to mount much of an offensive attack before locking Sonnen’s arm into the submission hold with 1:50 remaining in the fight. It was Silva’s seventh title defense of the belt he has held for nearly four years.

Sonnen, who spent the days leading up to the fight criticizing and belittling Silva, controlled the bout and was the aggressor most of the night. He repeatedly took the champion to the mat and landed numerous unanswered punches to Silva’s head, but was unable to finish the job.

Earlier, Jon Fitch beat Thiago Alves by unanimous decision in the co-main event.

Neither fighter landed many blows in the lackluster fight and they spent most of the bout grappling on the mat. Fitch, who grew up in nearby San Jose, won 30-27 on all three scorecards.

Fitch (26-3) is now in line for a possible rematch against welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.

It was Alves’ first fight following a 13-month layoff, but was hardly the showcase bout he was looking for to use as a springboard to a possible tight fight. He was unable to make weight at Friday’s weigh-in and had to forfeit 20 percent of his purse.

Alves (22-6) didn’t do much to help himself in the fight, either.

Fitch was content to keep the fight on the mat. He repeatedly took Alves down in the first two rounds but each time the Brazilian escaped.

Alves tried to open things up in the third round and landed a kick to the right side of Fitch’s head. It turned out to be the hardest blow of the fight.

Fitch, who defeated Alves by a second-round TKO in 2006, took Alves down again and the two fighters remained locked up on the ground for nearly all the final few minutes. Alves stood up for the final 10 seconds but wasn’t able to land anything.

The fight was postponed twice after originally being scheduled for UFC 111. The second delay came after doctors found an abnormality in Alves’ brain which required surgery.

In an earlier fight Junior Dos Santos outlasted Roy Nelson to continue his climb into contention in the heavyweight division. Dos Santos (12-1) repeatedly stunned Nelson (16-5) with a series of right uppercuts in the first round but couldn’t put away the 265-pound Nelson and won by decision.

Matt Hughes (45-7) choked out Ricardo Almeida (12-4) 3:15 into the first round of their welterweight bout. It was Hughes’ first since being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this past May. Clay Guida (27-8) won his lightweight match against Rafael Dos Anjos when Dos Anjos (14-5) tapped out in the third round because of a possible broken jaw.

All five bouts on the main card featured Brazilian fighters against Americans.

The crowd at Oracle Arena included former light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and MC Hammer.