• UFC 117

UFC 117: 'Time bomb' Sonnen left 'heartbroken'

Following Saturday night's spectacular UFC 117 event, a handful of issues needed discussing after an event that saw Chael Sonnen left 'heartbroken', Anderson Silva victorious but battered, Matt Hughes revitalised, Junior Dos Santos 'super-excited', and Thiago Alves heavily derided.

Below ESPN.co.uk reflects on the night's best, and most important, post-fight quotes.

Chael Sonnen on his pre-fight trash talk and the disappointment of defeat:
"It's devastating, I can't sugar-coat it. I came home with the silver medal. I wrestled for the championship, I came in second, I fought for the WEC championship, I came in second, now I've fought in the UFC and again I'm a runner-up. It hurts really bad. He hit me really hard right off the bat, he kicked me right in the stomach and I've never been kicked like that. I'll walk through anything and then go and get stitched up at the end of the night, but he found a way to win and that's what champions do.

"When I go off, it's like a bomb, and anybody around me is going to get dirty. That's the way that it goes. I don't offer any apology for any of that stuff, and these guys need to get thicker skin. Second off, everybody in the UFC should issue an apology except me. If you stick a microphone in a guy's face and he calls out anybody but the champion, Joe Silva should fax him a pink slip right then.

"I'm never going to change. I'm going to go after No. 1, whoever it is, if it's Anderson or if I've got to go up after the guys at 205lbs or go on a diet and go after [WEC 145lb champion] Jose Aldo. It doesn't matter. If you've got the belt, I'm coming after you."

Anderson Silva on what he was thinking about before locking on the triangle:
"I've been training jiu-jitsu for a long time and out of respect for Nogueira I wanted to finish this fight by submission. This is not an excuse but about a week and a half ago I had a bad injury to my rib. The doctor told me not to fight, but I believe that the show must go on."

Dana White on Thiago Alves' failure to cut weight:
"He says, 'I'm sorry about that. I'll come back stronger.' I said, 'Yeah, at 185, you will.' He said, 'No, I want to stay at 170.'

"When you're in the UFC, your job is to make weight, period. End of story. Believe me, I don't think that Thiago didn't want to not make weight. He can't. Could he have cut that half of a pound? Maybe he couldn't have. Maybe he cut so much weight that mentally it would have broken him to cut that last half pound. That's ****. It's not fair to him. It's not fair to anybody for that to keep happening.

"It really screws things up. What happens if he did beat Fitch tonight to get a title shot and then doesn't make weight for the title fight? I know he can make 185. I guarantee you he can make 185 and will never have a problem with it. If you can't fight at 185, then I don't know what to tell you. You're too big."

Junior Dos Santos on Roy Nelson's heart and his newly-earned title shot:
"Man, that guy is tough. He is really tough.

"As soon as Dana announced that the winner of this would be the next guy for the title, it was super motivating."

Matt Hughes on his next fight, and the unorthodox submission:
"Early next year, I'll talk with the UFC, and we'll figure out what we're going to do.

"He (Ricardo Almeida) just got clipped, and I caught him in a submission that he's maybe never seen before. It was one of those things where I could get people to go unconscious back then, so it's just something I've always been good at. "The technique just works with me."

Dana White on why Jon Fitch might not be next in line for a title fight:
"He's not the exciting fighter you hope for, but the guy's so dominant, so what are you going to do? You've got to give him his respect. He's one of the best guys in the world. But tonight, out of the entire card, my Twitter followers were not too excited about Jon."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.