Kryptonite: Chael Sonnen vs. Jeremy Horn

After the past several years every MMA fan knows who Chael Sonnen is, but far less of these will know long time journeyman Jeremy Horn. An active fighter since 1996, Horn is one of the sports most prolific fighters, with a current record of 89-21-5. Still fighting in smaller promotions across the world, Horn owns victories over UFC legends Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin, remaining the only man to ever submit Liddell after choking him out in 1999. One of Horn’s most impressive accolades however, is that he owns a clean sheet in three victories over Chael Sonnen, finishing him in all three fights.

An accomplished grappler, Horn was known for years for having one of the best chins in MMA. When you think about the fact it took a prime Chuck Liddell to be the first man to knock Horn down, in their 2005 rematch, it’s no surprise that Sonnen didn’t have the hands to knock him out in their encounters. When it comes to submissions Horn also had the edge there, as demonstrated pretty clearly by his two submission victories over Sonnen. The route to victory for Sonnen then seemed to be his usual one, controlling the fight, dominating his opponent and taking a unanimous decision at the end. This tactic just wouldn’t work against Horn however, as Sonnen never made it further than the second round.

Below is the second time that the two fought, only four months after Horn finished Sonnen by cuts in the first round of their first bout.

Watching the two fight we see Sonnen handling Horn early just like he usually does his opponents, taking him down at will and working to advance his position once they get to the ground. The difference between Horn and most of Sonnen’s other opponents just seems to be Horns level of control from the bottom. It seems inevitable that Horn will lock in a submission after looking for them the entire fight, and a second round guillotine shows that we weren’t wrong. Sonnen has had a career revival for the ages in the past several years, but even though his style is such that might see early success against someone like Horn, if these two fought again I would see it going the exact same way.

Horn is a kryptonite for Sonnen simply because he has the skills to neutralise Sonnen’s strengths while exploiting his weaknesses. I would love to see Sonnen try to get closure with another rematch, but even if he won, a 1-3 record against Horn would still be nothing to brag about. A hard pill to swallow, but if Sonnen end up winning the Light Heavyweight title from Jon Jones in April then he better hope Horn isn’t in the line of potential challengers.