When The Best of the Best .... Isn't -- UFC 90 Results

Everyone who works at anything can have an off day ... or night .... and boy did Anderson Silva have one of those this past Saturday. The UFC middleweight champion and supposed best fighter on the planet appeared to have arrived on the wrong set and seemed to think that evening he was competing on Dancing With The Stars. The first two rounds saw "The Spider" dance around the cage like a Brazilian rumba king. Good smooth, entertaining dance though. He could have scored points had he been on the correct show. Unfortunately for us fans, we Thought we had tuned in to see the best FIGHTER in the world. Occasionally Silva would land a few leg kicks and knee strikes, just to remind people that he was capable of such action, but then he would segue right back into his ultra slick dance routine.

For his part, Patrick Cote did manage not to do an imitation of Florence Henderson and attempted to play his usual part of "The Predator". Unfortunately Silva's movement skills are so far above those of his young opponent that he left Patrick looking like a smallish Canadian bear pursuing an elusive prey across a very slippery iced over pond. The youthful Predator did manage to throw one entertaining spinning back fist, but mostly he just chased and chased and chased ....... and never managed to catch the dancing master.

The third round began with Cote celebrating the fact that he had actually lasted a couple rounds against Silva and apparently missing the fact that it had been a couple rounds of a dancing contest. Then he was right back to lumber .. lumber ... hop .. lumber --- never even approaching the Rumba King. Then thirty nine seconds into the round Cote's bum knee decided to end the dance and it was Hop --- Pop ... and the cartilage in Patrick's knee blew out like an old tire. The instant swelling made it obvious that the kid was really hurt and that the dance was over.

Anderson Silva seemed embarrassed by his cheap TKO victory. He was probably planning to pull off some kind of spectacular finish on his non threatening foe, but Cote's bad knee had robbed him of the chance and left him looking like a frustrated dancing contestant. I would imagine that "The Spider" will be out to pull the trigger quickly and regain his reputation in his next match ................. whenever that happens. Currently the UFC's dance card looks full all the way through next February.

Meanwhile, the welterweight match of the evening was a veritable War. Josh Koscheck may have come in as a late substitute for Diego Sanchez, but he came in shape and ready to win. Standing in his way was a vicious Pit Bull by the name of Thiago Alves who had decided that having just defeated the great Matt Hughes, no other welterweight was capable of blocking his path to a title shot. These cage warriors exhibited three full rounds of back and forth action that left the fans clamoring for more. Koscheck survived an early first round knock down and came back tough, working hard for take downs, which Alves was managing to stuff with perfect sprawls. The second round saw good stand up action with both men scoring, but Alves was still stopping Koscheck's take down attempts. In the third round the warriors traded accidental eye pokes with apologies all the way around and continued their stand up war. Alves' slamming leg kicks seemed to keep him a bit ahead of his determined foe. In the end Thiago Alves walked away with a unanimous decision, but both fighters had acquitted themselves admirably. Dana White declared Josh Koscheck to be the best wrestler in the UFC and noted that Pit Bull Alves will get a title shot at the winner of St. Pierre and Penn.

The lightweights of the evening, former champion Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk and young Tyson Griffin also put on a good show with another back and forth war. Both men are great wrestlers and their skills in that area almost cancelled each other out. Sherk did manage a couple take downs, but Tyson Griffin managed to get right back up each time. The resulting stand up war was close and fun to watch. These wrestlers may not have the striking finesse of boxing trained fighters, but when in good condition and evenly matched they sure can beat the hell out of one another in a thoroughly entertaining manner. Sherk walked away with the decision, probably based on his take downs, but we will see more of young Tyson Griffin. Sherk will have to wait and see if lightweight champion B. J. Penn is successful in his welterweight title rematch against Georges St. Pierre and if so, if B.J. decides to stay in the welterweight division. If that scenario plays out I imagine that Sherk will get the winner of Florian - Stephenson in a lightweight title match. Should Penn lose to GSP he will have Sherk or the "Ken Flo" - "Daddy" winner to chose from for his next lightweight title defense.

Fabricio Werdum entered his match with the unknown Jr. Dos Santos as a huge favorite and a heavyweight contender just waiting for a well deserved title shot. Werdum was at his heaviest carrying 256 pounds on his six foot four frame and making his 6'3", 234 LB. opponent look diminutive in comparison. Could Werdum have had Brock Lesnar on his mind? Where ever his mind was, it wasn't on Little Two Saints, which cost Fabricio his valued position in the heavyweight rankings. Just a little past a minute into the match Jr. threw a looping uppercut from way out side, just like the one that got Chuck Liddell got knocked out by throwing it at Rashad Evans ---------- but -- instead of meeting this sloppy attack with a crisp right counter punch as Evans had done ------- Werdum bobbed right into the shot --- and was knocked cold! Now Werdum will have to get back in line and work his way back towards a title shot and we'll get to see if Little Two saints, AKA: Jr. Dos Santos is a real contender ... or simply a lucky fighter.

Thales Leites smartly moved up the middleweight ladder by choking out veteran Drew McFriedres with in the first couple of minutes of the very first round of their match. Leites performance was flawless and left fans wondering how he might have done against the dancing middleweight champion on this lovely fall evening. A Leites vs. Anderson Silva match may be in our future, but the chances of the champ having another dancing performance night are pretty slim and Thales is likely to meet the Real Spider.

Randy Couture's fighter, the wrestler Gray Maynard put on a clinic of how to win ugly and lose fans. Maynard lived up to his moniker of "The Bully" as he completely controlled TUF vet Rich Clemente, taking him down almost at will and completely controlling Clemente on the ground. Although Maynard clearly deserved his decision win, he simply didn't have what it takes to finish an out classed opponent and left the fans feeling as if they had just experienced "fightus interuptus".

The next big show for the UFC will feature "The Next Big Thing" Brock Lesnar taking on the Timeless Champion, Randy "The Natural" Couture. Whatever the outcome, its a safe bet that this fight will be exciting!

Good Night - Good - Fight,
Frank "The Snake"