The Joke’s on Paulo

There have been a lot of people (deservedly, I might add) clowning Paulo Filho for his performance at WEC 36. Not only did Paulo not look like himself, he didn’t even look like a fighter. He looked like a confused three year old with a crowd yelling at him; constantly distracted, confused and, frankly, completely ridiculous.

As a professional, you should never show up to a fight intoxicated, but at least when Nick Diaz showed up to fight Gomi after smoking four or five joints the guy still looked like a competitor. At least when Eddie Bravo rolls he’s still a technical S.O.B.

Filho may not have been intoxicated (though I am suspicious, and waiting for his screening results to come back, as he’s sure to be “randomly” selected), but he looked terrible, and as a professional athlete I expected a little more.

It’s one thing to lose. It’s another to look like an idiot as you chase ghosts around the ring.

I was a Paulo Filho fan, and I defended his drug issue as a side effect of stress and wrote it off to general stupidity that would be corrected by lessons learned. Now I’m not so sure.

I can’t stand unprofessional fighters, even when they are notable athletes and impressive warriors most of the time. If you don’t make weight, that’s unprofessional. If you look like you’re on a bad acid trip in the cage, then you just have issues. Filho, it seems, is both.