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Jed I. Goodman, MMATorch Columnist 15, 359 attended UFC 90: Silva vs. Cote, a near sell out at the Allstate Arena near Chicago to watch Anderson Silva earn his eighth UFC victory in a row (tying the record for most consecutive wins inside the Octagon) against a better than expected, Patrick Cote. The live gate of 2.8 million breaks the previous record set by Wrestlemania 13 in 1997. This was also the first time I can recall the UFC having back to back weekend events. The show gave us plenty of surprises including the unfortunate ending to the main event. It's time once again for the Yes & No.
Yes to Anderson Silva (23-4, 8-0 UFC, 14(T)KOs, 4 Subs). This is a controversial "Yes" to many I'm sure. I know many fans felt perhaps Anderson Silva was cocky or took his opponent too lightly or didn't press the fight enough, but like his fellow training partner, Lyoto Machida , he is a counter fighter. It's hard to counter when someone is not throwing at you. Obviously the best style for Silva is a fighter that presses forward and takes it to him. That said, the brief exchanges they did have were advantage Silva. I had him winning both rounds and think he probably would have finished it by the fourth. There is talk of Silva fighting Chuck Liddell next which could make for a very tentative fight, two men waiting for the other to strike so they can counter.
Yes to Patrick Cote (13-5, 4-5 UFC, 6(T)KOs, 3 Subs). He said he would shock the world and he did, but not in the way we ever expected him to, suffering a knee injury early in the third round. He did, however, create some positive history for himself by becoming the first fighter to make it to the third round in the UFC with Silva. His granite chin was tested and he can still lay claim to having never been knocked down. He also exposed more of Silva's style and game plan than ever before. At the post fight press conference it didn't seem as though Dana White was enthused about a possible rematch. I would expect, if Cote wins a few after his knee injury heals, White will give us the rematch, perhaps on a Fight Night Live show, like he did with Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock after their controversial second fight.
No to the Chicago crowd . They booed everything. They booed when the fights went to the ground, when a fighter tried to size up his opponent or find his rhythm. They even booed many of the winners on the PPV portion of the show. Every time the UFC runs in a new market they have many casual fans who have not completely learned to appreciate the sweet science of the sport. The drunk fans want to see a BBQ fighter get knocked out in 14 seconds. I will be happy to see the UFC back in Las Vegas next month for UFC 91 when we'll have more fans educated to the sport in the crowd.
Yes to the Transporter 3 ad . I now realize why they have commercials on PPV...bathroom breaks.
No to Referee Todd Frederickson . Like Joe Rogan said, let them fight, don't let the crowd dictate the fight. I am a fan of well rounded fighters which include those having a solid ground game. It seemed when the crowed booed Rich Clementi and Gray Maynard , while they were on the ground, we had to hear the referee commenting every few seconds to keep working. What did it look like they were doing? Give the fighters a chance to improve their positions and if the crowd boos perhaps they should be watching boxing or kickboxing instead.
Yes to Thiago Alves (16-3, 9-2 UFC, 10(T)KOs, 1 Sub). He will probably get to face the winner of B.J. Penn and Georges St. Pierre after beating a very game Josh Koscheck. The most intriguing part of the fight was that he prevented the take down from a world class wrestler. If Koscheck can't take him down, will St. Pierre be able to?
Yes to Josh Koscheck (11-3, 9-3 UFC, 2(T)KOs, 4 Subs). He took the fight on two weeks notice and looked in great shape as he was already training for his December fight with Yoshiyuki Yoshida. He got rocked in the first round, but was able to "clear the cobwebs" and get back into the fight. He clearly lost, but will no doubt be back. I would match him up next with Karo Parisyan, one of the few top ten contenders he has yet to face.
Yes to Thales Leites (14-1, 5-1 UFC, 2(T)KOs, 9 Subs). He got nailed early on against, heavy handed opponent, Drew McFedries, but regrouped, took him down and submitted him with a rear naked choke, all in under ninety seconds. He now has a five fight win streak in the UFC and could be facing Anderson Silva sometime next fall.
No to Bruce Buffer. Wow, with each show it seems he gets more obnoxious. We get it, you have a mic in your hand, now tone it down.
Yes to Junior dos Santos (7-1, 1-0 UFC, 5(T)KOs, 2 Subs). Thank you for making me some money, the odds were too good not to bet on you. I had not seen him before, but looking at his record, I was surprised by the lack of credit he received coming into the fight. Perhaps it was more about the huge respect Fabricio Werdum had. The win by dos Santos now adds another heavyweight contender to the under-developed division. The UFC doesn't have top ten contenders like Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett, but they do have Randy Couture, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Frank Mir, along with up and comers Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, and now dos Santos.
Yes to Joe Rogan. In my last post I commented on his beard, making a joke of it. At the end of the broadcast, Rogan mentioned he wore the beard as a tribute to Evan Tanner. A nice way to honor the former middle weight champion.
Yes to Sean Sherk (33-3-1, 6-2 UFC, 8(T)KOs, 13 Subs) and Tyson Griffin (12-2, 5-2 UFC, 5(T)KOs, 3 Subs). They are the same height, same weight, virtually the same reach and both are tremendous wrestlers. It was the wrestling part that scared everyone who may have felt it would be a ground war, instead it was a slug fest. Three rounds of solid striking and kicks. Sherk has now rebounded from his title loss to B.J. Penn in May and with this big win and his steroid scandal behind him, hopefully he has regained some of the respect he once had from the fans. The lightweight division is becoming almost as stacked as the light heavyweight division. Sherk wants to continue facing the top young talent. I know he wants the winner of the Kenny Florian-Joe Stevenson fight, but I would match him up next with Clay Guida. For Griffin, he will rebound from this loss, perhaps he could fight Gray Maynard next.
Yes to the overall show. The show was very good up until the unfortunate happenings in the main event. A great opening, a big knock out and upset and even Rogan and Mike Goldberg were jelling once again. Was it worth $44.95? In my mind, yes.
Thank you for all the emails and to everyone that has supported this column. Again, I can be reached at jster74@aol.com. "Yes & No" will be back next month for UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar.
Consider this the post article. I wanted to get on my soapbox for a moment, if I could, and give a big NO to Yahoo! Sports.
This is to the so-called MMA experts at Yahoo! Sports, Kevin Iole and Steve Cofield. Iole is their lead MMA and boxing writer that likes to play devil's advocate, presumably to create the "Howar Stern scenario". You know, controversy equals cash and the more you hate someone, the more you listen or read their work to see what they will say or write next. Cofield does a blog which, most of the time, is a pessimistic take on the MMA world.
They both must have been cheating off each other's notes, as they referred to Silva's performance as "goofing off" and "clowning around". I have never seen a fighter with more respect than Anderson Silva. I think it's funny in our jaded society that a guy who is so respectful, literally bowing to the fans and his opponents, someone who actually offered his hand, is thought of as arrogant. Iole wrote an article earlier in the week entitled "Is Anderson Silva as good as his hype?" Silva has nothing to prove to you, me or anyone else. He is undefeated in the UFC and his performances have been incredible. He is the Tigers Wood and the Michael Jordan of MMA. Mr. Iole if watching Anderson Silva is not good enough for you, try another sport.
Cofield had this to say at the end of his so-called MMA Experts Blog "The show hadn't exactly delivered a night of fireworks prior to the main event." Are you kidding me? What show were you watching? It couldn't have been the first fight on the PPV ,that was easily a 4 out of 5 star match. It couldn't have been the heavyweight fight that had a huge upset. It couldn't' have been the Alves-Koscheck fight and it certainly wasn't Thales Leites minute and half clinic against McFedries. Cofield must have just watched the Gray Maynard-Rich Clementi fight that, admittedly, was not the most exciting fight or maybe he was just looking for more pictures he could put in his blog, yeah that must be it.
Anderson Silva has five more fights before his supposed retirement. Win, lose, or draw he has already had a hall of fame career and given the fans fights to remember for a lifetime. The next time he bows to us, maybe we should bow back.
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