UFC 90: What Happened and What it Means
By Josh Stein on Oct 26, 2008
Now, I’ll go into a little bit of detail on some of these issues in the mmaopinion video blog. I’ll share some thoughts and some opinion then to be sure, but this is the long version. So be warned.
The undercard, realistically, meant little. We saw that Drew McFedries failed to learn from his last loss and that Thales Leites knows how to exploit that weakness. It means nothing, overall, to the middleweight division, and that is the tone of the undercard. We learned a good deal about the fighters, both winners and losers, and we saw little impact on the future of the sport by way of the first five fights.
The Sean Sherk fight can be brushed off too, as it only reestablished what we already know about both Sherk and Tyson Griffin. It reaffirmed that Griffin is not quite at the point where he can be called a title contender and that Sherk is still not capable of finishing at 155 pounds. While this may sound harsh, it doesn’t change that Sherk remains, beyond dispute, the #2 lightheavyweight in the UFC.
Fabricio Werdum made one of the stupidest mistakes of his career, and he fought an opponent with the ability to punish him for it. This win will not catapult Dos Santos into the top tier (though it gives him some leverage in putting together a nice long term contract), but it does seriously cripple any chance that Werdum has of becoming a top heavyweight contender.
The mistake, of course, is choosing to stand and trade. Joe Rogan mentioned that Werdum’s standup is improving, and while that’s true, it seems that Rogan (at least for a moment) and Werdum actually believed that Werdum’s striking is good. Better is not good, but it’s an improvement over nothing. Werdum looked good for a little while, but he should have looked for that takedown as soon as possible.
Gray Maynard’s win over Rich Clementi will establish him a little better, but I don’t think he’s not at the level he needs to be in order to claim a title shot, and nobody believes that. Still, he’s becoming an interesting fighter in a division full of wrestlers, and we hope that he evolves into a substantial fighter with some good all around skills.
Alves’ win over Josh Koscheck established Alves as the top contender for the welterweight title, and now the debates over whether Alves has a chance against St. Pierre will open up. If Alves had knocked Koscheck out, I would be inclined to say he had a huge chance against St. Pierre, but as the debate unfolds, I think you’ll see a lot of people cite the decision as a reason why he’ll struggle with the top welterweight in the world.
Anderson Silva didn’t look like the fighter we know, and there’s a lot to be said for Cote as a tough opponent. Cote took his time throwing a lot of jabs, which he usually does, but he waited a lot longer to make any sort of move (which is why the first round felt like a millenia).
This will set up a rematch, which may very well be in Canada (perhaps on the same card as Georges St. Pierre), but the fight will go down, inevitably, as controversial, and it should be. I gave the first two rounds, unenthuastically, to Silva, but no fighter should be handed a victory as the result of an injury. It happens, Silva got the W, but we will see a lot of dispute over it soon.
Overall, I hope Anderson shows up in the next installment and shows a little bit more aggression.
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Josh, as usual a freaking long response.
First. Griffin did lose the fight, but he can definitely hang with his older clone Sean Sherk. He threw better combinations but could not stop Sherk’s earlier takedowns. His punches were sharper and harder than Sherk’s. He snapped his head back often. I think that fight propelled Griffin as real contender for the LW belt. I don’t think anyone is going to finish Griffin.
Silva versus Cote. Anderson and his camp obviously respects Cote’s power and ability. And Cote obviously respected the champ. Neither were going to rush in and throw bombs. Unfortunately there were very few exchanges as we would like but some times that’s the game. Unless you’re Leben or one of my favorites in Lytle. Both fighters adjusted their position for better leverage.
I understand that some fans felt Anderson was showing off too much or whatever, but the dude has ALWAYS done that in his fights. Definitely the same fighter. He’s a creative striker as Rogan would like to say. He gets major props. Cote was prepared, maintained his discipline and patience. Cote defense cause Silva to adjust and reposition himself often. Of course I would have loved to see more action but neither fighter wants to get KTFO. Some of Silva’s moves were comical, others like his capoeira was interesting. Did you see Silva’s takedown defense?? The quick change in level and switch??
If either guy pressed the action in the 1st and 2nd I really doubted there would be a 3rd round. Silva’s knees at the end of the 2nd round really hurt Cote and I’m sure his leg kicks had something to do with Cote’s freak injury as Mark DeLaGrotte stated.
The prayer is the song and the fight is the dance!
Cote was completely outclassed the entire fight..nothing new there…what was surprising was the champ’s unwillingness to push forward and try to finish the fight. People paid lots of money to see the striking of Silva on display. He could have finished Cote at anytime during the fight. it makes me wonder if there was a knee injury before the fight and he was taking it easy on him because of it….
Vee,
On Tyson Griffin: I refuse to call anyone a “serious lightweight contender” in the wake of a loss. That said, I agree that Griffin did well, but he was outclassed and beaten.
I have no problem with Anderson being flashy. Personally, I see it as a way he draws his opponent out to make stupid mistakes.
I agree that Cote’s leg injury had something to do with the leg kicks, but I think that people will see it as enough of a freak accident to claim a rematch for Cote, perhaps immediately (given the lack of other contenders, in my opinion).
I’ll say this. Griffin was game and did well. Outclassed by Sherk, I don’t know about that. Beaten? By points, but not necessarily beaten in the sense that he was beat up like Alves beat up Koscheck.
Hey, here’s a great article I think you guys should read.
http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/10/26/silvas-friends-in-high-places-prove-to-be-fair-weather/
I couldn’t have said better myself.
Sam’s article is interesting. I have to say I agree with him that Anderson’s fans have been fair weather in the wake of his loss, and that is disappointing. I have always agreed with Sam that Anderson got a lot of hype that had to be looked at a little more objectively than it often was, and he was one of the better critics on that issue.
Definitely a good piece, Vee.
I’m not sure if this works but I found this gif a Cote twisting his knees.
http://i38.tinypic.com/2rhxs37.gif
I’ll scratch any delusion of Anderson hurting Cote’s knee.