Amadi's Take
AMADI: Tough Crowd - Fickle Fan Response To Fighter Injuries Out Of Silva vs. Sonnen At UFC 117
Aug 17, 2010 - 3:30:25 PM AMADI: Tough Crowd - Fickle Fan Response To Fighter Injuries Out Of Silva vs. Sonnen At UFC 117

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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

More than a week has passed since Anderson Silva’s most challenging title defense, and critics of the UFC Middleweight Champion are still trying to determine the cause of his irregular performance against Chael Sonnen. While Sonnen has proven himself time and again to be a dominant fighter, there is no getting around the fact that Silva appeared to be unlike his usual self from the time DMX’s swear filled version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” hit the loud speakers.

Since the Sonnen fight, much of the post-fight focus has been centered on whether or not Silva has exited his prime, whether he is getting too old, whether or not his dominance has faded, and whether an aggressive fight is the key to unraveling the web of “The Spider.” Sensationalist headlines aside, we’ve been here before. Travis Lutter’s near finish of Anderson Silva in February of 2007 was the American public’s first glimpse of Silva’s humanity, and nine Octagon victories later, that fight is all but forgotten.

However, the common theme in both the Sonnen and Lutter fights (aside from Silva submitting both due to triangle choke) is pre-fight injury, the sworn enemy of mixed martial arts enthusiasts worldwide. Heading in to the fight with Travis Lutter, Anderson Silva was coming off double knee surgery 11 weeks prior to the fight. Lutter took full advantage, taking Silva down at will with sloppy takedowns, passing his guard - even achieving full mount for a time - before eventually succumbing to a triangle choke and elbow strikes in the second round.

Chael Sonnen’s performance three years later, against the once again untouchable Silva, was even more impressive due to the length of his control and the sheer volume of strikes he landed. However, much like in 2007, Silva’s latest curious performance can be partially explained away by injury.

Anderson Silva reportedly suffered a bruised rib in preparation for the fight against Chael Sonnen. During the course of his beating, Silva’s injury worsened, and his bruised rib became a fractured one. The fracture looks now as if it could keep him from competing until several months into 2011.

Resistance to the idea that a double knee surgery or a rib injury can hamper a person’s performance is textbook cynicism and delusional at best, but par for the course in mixed martial arts. MMA fans are likely so numb to violence and the overcoming of physical adversity that they can’t fathom that pain and bodily limitations are legitimate cause for under performing.

It is no secret that fans and fighter injury don’t get along, and understandably so. Fans who pay a small fortune to attend live shows or decide to add $44.95 to their cable bill every month don’t want to hear that what they paid for was invalidated by injury.

Tito Ortiz, for example, is often branded the sport’s most habitual excuse maker, but in fact Ortiz has been legitimately injured for years. The “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” has spent the majority of that time on the losing end of fights, but a disturbingly large percentage of fans refuse to make a correlation between severe injury and defeat.

Most fans seem to accept injury as being so common that they mistakenly make the conclusion that regardless of severity, all fighters are probably injured and thus are of equal advantage. Most fighters reserve the right to shield themselves from unjust criticism by explaining poor performance in order to assure fans of better performances in the future. However, by explaining legitimate injury, fighters can appear dismissive of poor showings and in doing so spurn paying customers, a la Tito Ortiz.

Mixed martial arts is a sport so intense that the actual training has a much higher finishing rate than any fighter actively competing. Virtually no fighter comes out of a lengthy training camp without expected bumps and bruises, or far worse.

But more interesting than any one victory or defeat is the reaction of fans to the performances of fighters stricken by injury who compete anyway for their entertainment and pay-per-view dollar.