Did Anderson Silva Disrespect the Fans and Patrick Cote?
by Kid Nate on Oct 26, 2008 3:26 PM EDT
in MMA News
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Kevin Iole jumps his case:
In a lame attempt at humor, Silva made a mockery of himself, his title and his sport in one of the most bizarre matches in UFC history.
"I think I’m living in an alternate universe," a befuddled UFC president Dana White said, shaking his head. "That was bizarro world."
Silva retained the belt when Cote collapsed in agony 39 seconds into the third round as he went to throw a punch. He later said he aggravated an old knee injury and was heading to the hospital, believing he had damaged the meniscus in his right knee. The near-sellout crowd of 15,359 booed Cote roundly, but it was Silva who really deserved its wrath.
There was no fighting in the match, largely because Silva opted not to fight. On the rare occasions Silva chose to engage, he got far better of the few exchanges.
Steve Cofield jumps in as well:
...the story of the night was Silva (23-4, 8-0 UFC) turning off the crowd by clowning around for the first 10 minutes. Between dancing around the ring, twirling his hands, bowing disrespectfully towards Cote at the end of the first and at one point offering a hand to help Cote off the floor, Silva came off as a big jerk. He went from displaying a Muhammed Ali-like playful aura early in the fight to looking like he was sticking it to the UFC for matching him up against such a longshot.
Iole is presumably in his usual role of Dana White's mouthpiece but Cofield is known as an independent voice.
While I was as bummed as the next guy when Cote's knee blew out, I'm certainly not ready to start hating on Anderson Silva. If Dana White can't find worthy opponents for the "greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the sport" then he shouldn't be surprised when things go awry.
Put Silva in the cage with Chuck Liddell ASAP. Resign Matt Lindland. Give Henderson or Marquardt another shot. Sign Gegard Mousasi, Jacare, Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, Robbie Lawler, somebody! Let Anderson box Roy Jones, Jr.
Give the man some challenges worthy of his abilities.
The man's talking about retirement for a reason. He's totally bored out of his mind. When a competitor of his skill and ability is put in the cage with an opponent he can toy with, no one should be surprised when that's what he does.
Sam Caplan agrees:
I did not see an unmotivated Silva take it easy last night and try to take liberties with Cote. I did not see a champion fight with over-confidence. Rather, I saw Silva fight with extreme caution. I saw a man who did everything in his power to avoid a repeat occurrence of the UFC 69 upset of then-welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre against the underdog of underdogs, Matt Serra.
I saw a man who respected Cote’s punching power and had enough respect for him not to present his chin on a silver platter, much like Chuck Liddell did to Rashad Evans last month at UFC 88. Granted, there were times where Silva dropped his hands, but he was always out of striking distance when he did so. The way I saw it, Silva didn’t want to press Cote and risk a knockout and instead wanted to take advantage of his reach by making Cote push the pace so that he could counter.
I didn’t see Silva take his opponent lightly; I saw a fighter in Cote who absorbed some tremendous combinations from Silva and barely winced after absorbing knees to the face.
-- Gif by Smoogy.
[UPDATE] by Nick Thomas - Patrick Cote and Dana White talk UFC 90; audio thanks to Steve Cofield and ESPN1100:
HT: Yahoo MMA Experts Blog
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What was so wrong with how he fought?
Its a long fight. 5 rounds lets you feel out your opponent as long as you wish if you are elusive enough. He was crisp on his exchanges and he was waiting for Cote to make mistakes. It was a matter of time until he caught him. It was fighting careful against a guy who’s only real weapon is that he packs a lot of flash KO power. If it had played out and Anderson had KOed him in the 3rd or 4th then it would have been great strategy.
Also, I didn’t see the bow at the end of the round or helping Cote up as disrespectful, just playful.
Well..
When in a fight, dancing around and being goofy is saying, “Hi opponent. You’re not worth my being serious over, so I’m going to be ‘playful’ with you. teehee.” You can’t see how that could be construed as disrespectful?
Do you think that Frank Shamrock and Cung Le were being disrespectful to each other when they fought and gestured to each other? I feel like the cases are similar. Also, as I said above, I disagree with you when you say he was dancing. People also say Rashaad Evans and Machida dance but they both insist it is part of their fighting style to throw off opponents timing.
by EazyEismydad on Oct 26, 2008 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions
Shamrock and Cung? Rashad and Machida? Will you be bringing up every fighter to ever fight in order to avoid talking about the two fighters we are supposed to be talking about? The fight was between Anderson Silva and Patrick Cote.
Also, I missed the “to each other” part. Seemed to be coming from one guy only.
Cung and Shamrock was totally different
Those guys were each throwing bombs and giving as good as they got. Context is everything.
"It's like a flying knuckle sandwich." --Rogan
"And many men have eaten it." -- Goldy
by thetakeover on Oct 26, 2008 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions
Shamrock and Cung also
were sparring partners and go way way back as I remember. They are/were friends with some issues to sort out. That was sporting disrespect. Anderson was being cocky. Which was funny because he never hurt Cote at all.
When I first watched the match, I was initially enjoying it, finding Silva’s antics playful. But as it wore on into the second, I kept thinking, “WTF is he doing?” I felt he could put Cote away but I almost felt like he was choosing not to. This was just a feeling I was getting and I didn’t like it. After the match was over, I was miffed and a little offended. I know Silva is bored, but he gets paid to fight and I didn’t think he was giving it his all. Now that I’ve had time to sleep on it, I’m not angry with the match as I was last night. I’m just mildly disappointed in Silva because the truth is, he has no competition. I know I don’t give 100% sometimes when I’m bored too at my job, so I get it.. I also respect Cote for his granite chin because even though Silva only exchanged a few times, he nailed Cote with shots that normally dropped previous opponents and Cote still looked fine. Kid Nate is right: Dana has to sign some better people, and he has to quit dicking around guys like Henderson and Marquart who should be allowed a second shot asap. it would be a shame to see a fighter of Anderson’s caliber retiring because his boss can’t or won’t provide better match-ups.
It’s a little unfair to bash Silva over one fight. Cote took some pretty hard shots, but Silva could have done more. However, I think it’s totally ridiculous to attack Slva in such a hostile manner over one performance. Criticizing it is fine, but I think some are getting way too outraged over this. Silva has been a consistent performer until last night; I’ll give him some leeway just because of that. The perception that most fans dig long slugfests probably played into Silva’s actions. That’s not the way he fights. Silva may have been trying to inject some excitement into the match. I don’t like it,, but I fear the reality is that people value lots of back and forth over a show of technical superiority.
Put Silva in with the top light heavyweights. There’s not much left for him to do within the UFC’s middleweight division.
by Cannon Jacques on Oct 26, 2008 10:08 AM EDT reply actions
Anderson Silva should definitely leave 185
Dana White needs to start matching AS up against the 205 superstars. Keeping him at 185 is a bit stupid considering all the retirement talk.
Or Maybe
The UFC should bring in any of the guys mentioned above. Let Anderson dance and play like that against Melvin Manhoef and he’ll wake up in the locker room lighter his belt. Thats the REAL most dangerous striker in MMA.
is it possible to get off Chucks nuts?
The guy is 1-3 in his last four fights, Cote was 4-0 in his last four (before last night). Whats all this “Cote not worthy, but Unlucky Chucky is” nonsense?
Liddell's bigger
moving up in weight class is actually a disadvantage believe it or not and more than that Liddell is the biggest draw in the UFC (except for Brock Lesnar). That kind of stage would motivate Silva IMO.
If Silva is so great then have him fight someone either on their way up, or at the top. Not someone crashing down.
The other huge +500 underdog of the night won...
I thought he was respecting Cote’s power and didn’t want to underestimate his opponent.
Same.
There is A LOT of overreacting going on today, but I don’t know why that surprises me anymore…
by Chris Nelson on Oct 26, 2008 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions
silva
appearantly, you cant go out of the second round and be considered champion enough anymore. What people fail to understand is silva’s fighting style. he dances around as such as to see cotes response to movement in each direction. he watches chest movement to see how his body moves, wether he be throwing a punch or shooting for a takedown. As for the mocking, lets start with patrick cote’s mockery of his leading foot shuffle or the shoulder shrug at the end of the first round. Silva only toyed with mockery after it had been put on him. Oh and what is it with the contender laying on the ground after silva got up, after 10 seconds on the ground i would have extended my hand as a gesture to welcome them back to the fight. All in all, he should have taken the helping hand cause about 1 minute later he collapsed on the ground. Silva is the best pound for pound fighter in the world, you find someone to disprove such a theory. He takes one fight out of the second round and everyone turns against the champ. im pretty sure george st. pierre just had a fight go to decision against an unworthy opponent in jon fitch. The ufc, made the mistake, cote is not the next best on paper, obviously isnt even in condition to be in the fight and in my mind i would be simply embarassed. if i were dana, i’d say see ya. he did the same to arlovski for less of an embarassment.
Jon Fitch was not an unworthy opponent
Yes, he was dominated by one of the best fighters in the world, but Fitch also put on one of the bravest displays of heart I’ve seen in the UFC. Having seen the fight from cage side and then seen Fitch show up at the press conference afterwards when he was supposed to go to the hospital, I think describing him as “unworthy” is the height of disrespect.
"It's like a flying knuckle sandwich." --Rogan
"And many men have eaten it." -- Goldy
by thetakeover on Oct 26, 2008 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions
Don't forget...
That Silva didn’t do anything for one minute versus Irvin until the counter strike which ended the night. Out of 1:20 or so, he only punched for 3 seconds which all landed. People only remember the KO’s but never the rest of the fight. Silva has always been a timer and a counter striker. He isn’t a go for broke striker.
1) It’s one fight. Everyone needs to chill out.
2) If Cote’s knee doesn’t die and Silva finishes him, we aren’t talking about this.
3) I appreciate the clowning. It’s entertaining to me. I also am madly in love with Lyoto Machida, so maybe I’m just cut out of a different cloth.
4) It’s ONE FIGHT. CHILL OUT.
I am disappointed in Silva’s Performance, but yeah, you’re right, it’s just one fight. So we should be giving Silva the benefit of doubt, I admit. I love Machida too, but Machida doesn’t clown around. I don’t think what Anderson did and what Machida does can be considered the same thing or even similar.
Agreed.
If Silva does this stuff again, we may have something to be pissed off about. The guy has done some amazing things, and he always goes for the finish. I’m not going to discount his entire body of work, because he strayed from the strategy that has made him great on one night. The whole thing backfired on Silva because Cote got hurt. If he had gone out and destroyed Cote later in the third round, I’d say that there wouldn’t be this ground swell of overreaction.
by Cannon Jacques on Oct 26, 2008 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions
The Scary Thing about Anderson Silva
I am right there with most everyone who saw the fight and said “WTF”!
But the scary thing is we have yet to see Silva fight anything but a conservative fight. If that man really lets loose he would shock the world all over again.
Yeah what about franklin… Silva was just doing his thing. Silva has fought to win! This man had mad skills and if there was no belt just a fight it would be a mind blowing experience. Watch the Ultimate Fighter show that he was on. You see a side of him that is scary. He is just toying with everyone like Bruce Lee. He is fast and I would love to see him be furious!
He could have finished Cote in 2 mins. why he decided to prolong the fight is beyond me but I am sure it is not beyond the UFC. Oh well who is next?
Maybe St. P should come up and fight him, then Silva could go up and fight forest. Who knows what is in store for the Champ but I thought the dancing with the Stars was a good suggestion.
All the best,
WARRIOR LIVE
bowing disrespectfully towards Cote at the end of the first and at one point offering a hand to help Cote off the floor
How is that disrespectful?
I don’t know what Cofield’s going on about. The bow was clearly respectful – didn’t Cote bow back?? And whether the hand up was legit or a little bit of gamesmanship, who cares?
by Chris Nelson on Oct 26, 2008 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions
You know...
An Anderson Silva v. Roy Jones Jr. boxing match all of a sudden looks interesting (sarcasm), apperantly Silva has been watching RJJ fight footage and picked of some of his cockyness too. But I bet RJJ was proud!!!
He wasn’t respecting Cote…
He had a high probability for ending the fight when he was on the ground on top… so if he was afraid why didn’t he at least take that opportunity? COte has no guard game…
Their are other reasons why he was behaving the way he was… he wanted to remain in the spot light longer, he wanted to give the fans more, he was bored and wanted to end the fight with some super move…. I have no fuckin idea. But the bottom line is it wasn’t because he respected Cote and Anderson needs to realize a few things:
People don’t pay to watch a sparring match… especially when its a debut in a new market. (chicago… which happens to also be the best ppv market for the UFC).
This is not fuckin boxing… the fans of this sport grew up being exposed to over 30,000 to 300,000 advertising messages per day as opposed to 30…
The fans of this sport don’t need you to carry anyone. They have ADD.
The UFC also lost out here… but this fight was a crescendo and an experiment for building a ppv draw… so giving him an easy fight was a risk but a prudent one.
UFC is trying to quickly rematch this ortiz-ken shamrock style free on spike. .. Unless Cote’s knee doesn’t allow it.
I just didn’t see all this disrespect that people keep talking about, I even went back and watched the fight a second time because I thought I missed something. Yea it wasn’t a great fight and yea they both seemed to keep their distance striking but I didn’t see anything at all that made me think disrespect and I didn’t see where Cote showed anything except the ability to absorb some damage. I think a lot of times people get upset when they don’t see what they expect to see from a fight and anything that didn’t include Cote going unconscious was going to be a letdown. I do agree that MMA fans have ADD, they didn’t get what they wanted this fight so it’s time to throw Silva under the bus.
HEADLINE ON YAHOO...
“Joke of a fight”
ouch. Not that I put all my belief in what is written on yahoo, but that is seen by a lot of people.
http://eliotmarshall.com/
^Typical UFC Fight
Maybe Yahoo employees should have DREAM events streamed live into the office all day at some point so they can see what real MMA events where people show up to fight are like.
Griffen vs Sherk should have been on a DREAM card – it was too good for UFC
I don’t think this is worthy of its own article, but Steve Cofield posted this little tidbit:
“Cote was told that the early diagnosis was a torn meniscus not an ACL or MCL. He trailed 20-18 on two scorecards and was even 19-19 on the other starting the third round.”
Can someone find the 19-19 judge and beat him with a stick? I don’t understand how anyone can score either round for Cote.
He’s finished every UFC fight hes even been a part of. His unorthodox hand and head movement is part of what makes him so difficult to beat. Did he fight his hardest? Probably not. Has he earned some leeway from the MMA community? Damn straight.
Were all his fights last night? Wowzers, he IS impressive!
Now that we have the dick out of the way, if you want to discuss seriously, start being serious. He looked like a showboating dipshit last night. Sorry if me saying that about HIM offends YOU, wannabe. I try very hard not to be a hypocrite, so since I felt it was wrong when Rashad did it, I also felt it was wrong that Silva did it.
Now, whether or not you can understand that is none of my business. I tried to avoid the subject and let people who pretend that this is some important issue douche it out so don’t drag me in, and don’t pretend I’m one of the many reporters and journalists making a huge issue of this.
In other words pick a fight with someone who cares, and /shoo.
I’m pretty sure I was serious up until the fun little eyes hitting the back of your head comment. I think you should try a little harder not to be a hypocrite if you are going to complain that I wasn’t serious enough in my discussion with you.
I’m not exactly sure where you got the idea that I was offended by your opinion but just so we’re clear, I’m not offended by that or your anonymous internet name calling. I am more than happy to have a legitimate conversation and I do apologize if anything I said set off that little tantrum.
This is unreal
The guy has finished EVERY UFC fight he has been of in spectacular fashion. Did you see how happy Cote was just to make it to the third round? Some of you need to get some perspective on the situation.
Amazing isn't it?
The GSP fans are crawling out of the woodwork like roaches trying to attack Silva for seemingly bizarre reasons. For some reason, in their twisted mind, a Silva fight that didn’t end in the first round became a negative…. yet a grind it out LnP victory over tough opponents are considered “domination.”
It's hard to see
What the Silva defenders are seeing in him fighting this one seriously. I’m not saying they’re wrong, but I’ve watched it twice and I can’t see it. Anderson in real life is a fun loving playful cat that everyone likes and enjoys. When Anderson is in the cage he’s a fighter and he’s all business—except against Cote. He went in there the goofball he is normally instead of the focused fighter. He fought him like a dad wrestles with his toddler.
The rap about other fighters like Hendo and GSP is completely useless, and I don’t understand why people on these bloody sites can’t let someone have their opinion if it differs from their own. Sometimes people disagree, stop trying to change the other.
Put Silva in the cage with Chuck Liddell ASAP. Resign Matt Lindland. Give Henderson or Marquardt another shot. Sign Gegard Mousasi, Jacare, Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, Robbie Lawler, somebody! Let Anderson box Roy Jones, Jr.
Give the man some challenges worthy of his abilities.
The man’s talking about retirement for a reason. He’s totally bored out of his mind. When a competitor of his skill and ability is put in the cage with an opponent he can toy with, no one should be surprised when that’s what he does.
So let me get this straight we are supposed to accept a guy being bored and not wanting to fight because his opponent isn’t a big name because why?. If Silva is too bored to fight a guy that he himself claimed he did, then Anderson is getting off easy today from all the fans because they should be ripping him apart.
But the real story here is that Cote took some of his best shots and wasn’t hurt or rocked or anything and that took Silva right out of his gameplan. Cote executed his gameplan and made it clear from the start that he wasn’t going anywhere, it’s too bad that you Anderson apologist are too busy liking in your dream world to see facts instead of your own delusional ideas. Cote fought Silva even through 2 rounds and would’ve made it a hell of a fight for the rest of the night until his freak injury, Silva didn’t look great because Patrick didn’t allow him to it’s that simple.
If his gameplan was...
to not land any significant strikes of his own and eat big shots (you don’t win simply by not getting knocked out) than yeah. He TOTALLY had Silva where he wanted him
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Oct 27, 2008 7:49 AM EDT up reply actions
I watched the fight
and never thought Silva offering Cote a hand to get up was disrespectful nor did I think so when he bowed to him. I think it is truly hard for people to believe that someone is geniunely a nice guy so any time they see this behavior they automatically assume he is being a dick. He has always completely respected every single opponent he faced in the UFC.
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