I'd like to preface this piece by pointing on that I like Steve Cofield.  I live out in Vegas and listen to his radio show, and find it to be refreshing compared to the usual drabble of mid-afternoon sports talk hosts.  For the most part, I tend to agree with his opinions or at least can understand where he's coming from.

Unfortunately, Cofield has been one of the leading critics of Anderson Silva's performance at UFC 90.  To Cofield, Silva made a mockery of the sport and feels his routine would have been more appropriate on "Dancing With The Stars."  Steve and I can agree to disagree on our interpretation of what transpired a week ago, but then I saw this post from his Yahoo blog:

THE LEGION OF FIGHTERS CRITICIZING SILVA GROWS

Add Urijah Faber to list of fighters who say that Anderson Silva wasn't off his game at UFC 90. As Faber readies for his fight this week against Mike Brown in Ft. Lauderdale he sat down with Ariel Helwani of MMARated:

"I just think he was just confident knowing he was going to win. He probably could have done a little less clowning around but he is there to entertain and get people talking about him and everybody is talking about him so more power to him."

Faber said it was evident that Silva could've finished Cote whenever he wanted. The 'California Kid' also mentioned that pay-per-view is coming in 2009 for the WEC.

When I saw the headline, I expected Faber's quote to be a bit more inflammatory than it was.  Still, I could see how it could be seen as being critical of Anderson, so I checked out the interview for myself to provide some context and clarity.

Here's the full quote from Faber regarding UFC 90:

"I feel like, first off, Anderson Silva was on a different level than Cote talent-wise.  I don't think he felt threatened the least bit by him.  i think he was basically trying to pick his punches and end the fight in dramatic fashion. Cote's a tough guy, so it probably didn't pan out as planned, but when he landed his attacks they were devastating.  He barely missed the chin of Cote with a kick, split his forehead open, and he landed a switch knee that landed right on the chin. When he did strike, he put him in danger.  What he was basically doing was avoiding any kind of punishment while trying to take the guy out.

"Could he probably have finished it earlier?  Yes, but I don't think he was worried about having to do that.  I think he was confident knowing he would win.  He could maybe have done a little less clowning around, but he's there to entertain and get people talking about him, and everybody is talking about him now.  So, more power to him."

Maybe it's just me, but that quote combined with the tone and inflection in Faber's voice sounded more explanatory than anything else.  He talks about Anderson's clear skill advantage, the power shots he landed during the fight, and how it's important for a fighter to be entertaining.  I don't know how exactly Steve is interpreting the quote, but I think it's a bit disingenious to paint a picture of "legions" of fighters coming out against Anderson Silva and using this interview as an example.