My Take On MMA 10.27.08: Final UFC 90 – Silva vs. Cote (10.25.08) Thoughts
Posted by Larry Csonka on 10.27.2008
Thiago Alves lays claim to a Welterweight Title shot, Fabricio Werdum gets a Heavyweight Title shot knocked out of him, Anderson Silva wins again but the question is, was this event worth your money?
WELCOME~!:
It's Monday, there was an MMA show this weekend so that means only one thing, it's time once again for another edition of My Take On MMA! That's right, for the second straight week the UFC has brought us a "PPV" event, while last week was free on SPIKE, this week we hade to pay for a show that many figured would be called, "The Death of Patrick Cote." Well Patrick Cote didn't die, but he blew out his knee. You'd think that the fact that he blew his knee out would be the big news, instead it is Anderson Silva and whether or not he was being disrespectful during the main event. We'll discuss that and more in this week's edition of the column.
Upcoming Events:
- 11.05 - WEC: Faber vs. Brown
- 11.15 - UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar
- 11.21 - Strikeforce: Destruction
- 12.03 - WEC: Tapia vs. Torres
- 12.10 - UFC Fights For The Troops
- 12.13 - The Ultimate Fighter Finale
- 12.27 - UFC 92: Griffin vs. Evans
What did we learn at UFC 90?:
- Thiago Alves lays claim to a Welterweight Title shot…
- Thiago Alves really should be fighting at 185…
- Josh Koscheck showed a ton of heart and recovery skill…
- Joe Rogan's beard is great…
- Sean Sherk may be a douche bag, but he is a pretty good striker…
- Fabricio Werdum gets a Heavyweight Title shot knocked out of him…
- Drew McFedries is calling Affliction and Strikeforce today looking for work…
- Gray Maynard fights like Josh Koscheck used too…
- Anderson Silva is so good that he made a man's knee explode by doing a wacky voodoo dance…
~Final UFC 89 – Silva vs. Cote (10.25.08) Thoughts~
The Fight: Lightweight Bout: Sean Sherk (36-3-1) vs. Tyson Griffin (12-1): My Pick: Griffin, Decision The Result: Sean Sherk via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) Final Thoughts: I will freely admit that I figured that Sherk would win the fight. But the fact is that I dislike Sean Sherk, and I had to pick against him; I think you understand. The former lightweight champion was looking to prove that he wasn't done and that he could get back into the mix. With Griffin being 12-1, and 5-1 in the UFC a win here would do that. Conversely a win for Griffin would make a case that he needed to be in the top 3-4 in the division. The first two rounds were Sherk using his striking as well as a few takedowns to completely control Griffin. Sherk even had the back of Griffin to times in the first round, but Griffin was able to walk him around and escape both times. Unfortunately those were his main highlights as Sherk controlled and Griffin appeared to be very tired. He did make good in round three I felt as Sherk was uncharacteristically tired. Sherk just seemed to coast and leave his hands low, but he still walked away with the victory. We have Stevens vs. Ken Flo coming up. Ken Flo seems to be the default #1 contender, and a loss there would open the division wide open. There is a lot of hype for Nate Diaz right now, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Sherk and he face off early in 2009. This was a great opening fight, and completely different than I thought it would be. I honestly expected a lot of this to be on the ground. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 8.5
The Fight: Heavyweight Bout: Fabricio Werdum (11-3-1) vs. Junior dos Santos (6-1): My Pick: Fabricio Werdum, SUB, RD2 The Result: Junior dos Santos (1:20) KO Final Thoughts: Fabricio Werdum was a guy that felt as if he was left on the outside when Randy Couture came back to the UFC. Randy means money to the UFC. Brock has meant money to the UFC already in his career. They already had NOG vs. MIR set and the Ultimate Fighter lined up, so he became guy #5. If he kept winning, he would have gotten a shot at the final four winner. The thing is that I NEVER understood why he felt as if he was entitled to a shot or why so many people felt he deserved one. If the UFC said he was getting a shot and then changed their mind, that's their right. Get that shit on paper buddy. Follow me here, Fabricio Werdum was 2-1 in the UFC. He lost to Arlovski (no shame) and then beat Gonzaga (one hit wonder) and Vera (overrated) and is he isn't a PPV draw. What has he done to bitch so much? Well I guess it doesn't matter because Junior dos Santos jacked his jaw, wiggled his ears and knocked him the FUCK out in the first round. Hey Fabricio Werdum, shut you trap; if you can't beat BIG NOG'S boy, you can't beat BIG NOG. This was spectacular just because it shut Fabricio Werdum the hell up. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 8.0
The Fight: Lightweight Bout: Gray Maynard (6-0-1) vs. Rich Clementi (40-12-1): My Pick: Rich Clementi, Decision The Result: Gray Maynard via Unanimous Decision (30-27 Across the Cards) Final Thoughts: When the fight was over, I think it went as many expected. Maynard worked his takedowns, didn't do much with them, but controlled the fight and took the decision. Clementi just never offered much here. In the first he looked like he was feeling out Maynard, which I get. But quite honestly he just never got into his game. I thought that Clementi's experience would be a big factor here and that as the fight went on he would gain an advantage, it just never happened. When it was all said and done, Maynard got the big win in a less than interesting fight. On a side note, official Todd Frederickson is an idiot. Telling guys to work when they ARE working is bullshit. I understand that the crowd was restless due to seeing so many decisions, but that should not influence the official. Finally I do understand Joe Rogan's frustrations with him, but dude, calm down. Seriously we didn't need to hear you vocalize it so many times. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 5.0
The Fight: Welterweight Bout: Thiago Alves (21-4) vs. Josh Koscheck (13-2): My Pick: Thiago Alves, Decision The Result: Thiago Alves via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) Final Thoughts: With Diego Sanchez out due to an injury, Josh Koscheck stepped up on two-weeks notice and agreed to tale on Thiago Alves in a welterweight battle with much importance. Alves was coming off of the destruction of Matt Hughes, and this fight would either get him a welterweight title shot or close to it. Josh Koscheck was hoping for a win here, as well as hoping to keep his December match-up; and if he could get the back-to-back wins would have been in line for a title shot as well. Alves almost finished Koscheck early in round one, but Koscheck showed a great ability to recover and stayed alive. Alves took round one with good aggression, the near stoppage and his ability to chops down Koscheck with leg kicks. Round two was close as Koscheck worked hard, but more leg kicks from Alves were keeping him in control and weakening Koscheck badly. Round three was all Alves. Koscheck was throwing bombs and going for the win, but Alves just destroyed him with leg kicks and again came close to ending it. Alves gets a huge win here over a game opponent, and he has to be in line to face the winner of Penn vs. GSP. Koscheck showed a lot of heart and an ability to recover, and by taking this fight on short notice and delivering such a good performance has earned bonus points with the UFC. I think Koscheck is doubtful for his December fight now as he leg was getting destroyed with the kicks. But if Koscheck has any say, he'll still fight in December. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 8.0
Dane White when asked about the fight said, "If you don't know him and you showed up for the first time, you'd think that guy was goofing around, he was acting arrogant and cocky and trying to play with Cote like he was a little kid. That is not this guy's style, that's not his personality, that's not who he is." That may very well be the case, and as I mentioned Silva treated this as a sparring session. I am not going to go wild and bash Silva here, although I do feel that his performance was bullshit. It's one thing to be playful, to be a showman and entertain; but he just showed no interest in the fight. Silva finished people and does it well, that is why he is in the position he is in. Dana and Joe need to sit down and figure out what can motivate Silva and get it done. This shit isn't going to make money, it will turn people off of the product.
As for Cote, it's unfortunate. I hope that he recovers well and makes his way back to the UFC and does well for himself. Many people have been asking if they should do a rematch here, since it was a fluke injury and on some scorecards the fight was one round to one. In my opinion, and no disrespect to Patrick Cote here, there should be no rematch. This was a sparring session for Silva, he treated it as such and Cote didn't offer up anything to change my mind about that. Let's all move on and forget this main event ever happened. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 2.0
The Fight: Middleweight Bout: Thales Leites (13-1) vs. Drew McFedries (7-4): My Pick: Thales Leites, Submission, Rd 2 The Result: Thales Leites via RD1 (1:18) Submission Final Thoughts: This was our extra bout of the evening, and it was a fight that Drew McFedries needed to win because he was a very average 3-3 in the UFC. After losing his first UFC fight, Leites had won four straight and was looking for five. McFedries looked good in the opening seconds, but it did not last as Leites got the slam, worked for and got the back and it was all over as he worked the choke on McFedries. I would not be surprised to not see McFedries for a long time in the UFC as he moves to 3-4 with the company. Leites now moves to 14-1 overall and 5-1 in the UFC. He has to be getting close to a title shot, and a Leites vs. Bisping match might be a good contenders match in January or so. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0
The 411
Best Fight(s): Lightweight Bout: Sean Sherk (36-3-1) vs. Tyson Griffin (12-1) 8.5
Final Thoughts: At the end of the night I felt as if this was just another show. While I feel the company can get away with a PPV and Fight Night, and hell even a WEC thrown into the mix, trying to run two "PPV caliber events," especially in back to back weeks isn't a good idea. For the most part, as I write this the day after the UFC 90, both events just run together in my mind and other than the Silva dance-fest, nothing really stands out to me.
On a side note, I also think that the company did a poor job of hyping the Couture vs. Lesnar show on November 15th. This is a huge show and it will likely do a very big number PPV wise, but they should have been in supreme hype mode here. Randy was even there cornering some of his boys, there is NO reason that they couldn't have got a live interview with him. If they weren't going to fly Brock in for the show, they should have had a pre-taped interview or done something via Satellite. I think that the lack of attention to that show could come back to bite them in the end as far as the buys go. This fight should have 5-times the hype of Hughes vs. Gracie, and it barely has a 1/5th of it, and that's a shame.
The responds to the Silva/Cote fight have been ridiculously frustrating. Silva wasn't treating this lightly at all. Cote merely wasn't like his other opponents. He has a lot of power in both hands with the ability to use them and HAD NEVER BEEN KNOCKED DOWN. People just brought into their own hype about Silva's style, but a lot of it is mental and he likes to counter, but Cote simply has the chin to withstand it. Anderson nearly took his head off with two wicked shots, but he just wouldn't fall. Cote didn't get scared mid-way through the first round like Franklin nor did he ever appear overwhelmed. The hand movements were an attempt to confuse him and when he offered to help him up, he was serious. There was no hidden agenda to Silva's behavior.
Posted By: William (Guest) on October 27, 2008 at 05:33 AM
Anyone that bought this PPV will already be getting UFC91, look out for a huge campaign over the next 3 weeks.
Posted By: Stealer (Guest) on October 27, 2008 at 08:10 AM
the chicago crowd was one of the worst crowds i have ever seen.... the ufc should never go there again, because every fan in that place sucked.
Posted By: just (Guest) on October 27, 2008 at 05:26 PM
