THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
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.
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP