Silva not sharp in ‘weird’ win
Anderson Silva, among the best and most dominant strikers in mixed martial arts, went long stretches without doing much of anything against overmatched challenger Patrick Cote on Saturday night.
Early in the third round, Cote tore the meniscus in his right knee and the fight was stopped.
It was an odd conclusion to an otherwise solid fight card on the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first foray into the Chicago market.
Technically, the result was the ninth straight victory by stoppage for Silva, the UFC middleweight champion.
It certainly was the most bizarre fight of that stretch.
“I thought it was weird,” UFC president Dana White said Monday. “It made no sense to me.”
Silva landed some rattling shots during his brief moments of activity. The rest of the fight featured a combination of dancing, offering a hand to help up his downed opponent, and even a stretch of bizarre hand movements.
“I didn’t come here to play. I didn’t come here to put on a show,” Silva said through a translator afterward. “I came here to do my job and I didn’t become a champion and defend the title as many times as I have by not doing my job.”
Still, White said the Brazilian indicated he wants a chance to quickly erase the spotty performance.
“He’s flipping out. He wants to fight again, like, on Nov. 15,” White said. “He’s (upset) about his performance and he wants to fight again immediately.”
It’s unrealistic that White could put together a fight for one of the sport’s biggest stars by that date.
Also, it’s unknown at which weight class Silva will fight in his next bout. He has already moved up to light heavyweight for one fight, and White indicated he might do so again.
• ELITE XC FALLOUT — With EliteXC closing its doors, several high-profile fighters soon should be free agents.
“We’re starting to dig into that mess and figure out who can be salvaged,” White said.
The organization’s biggest star — though not its most talented — was Kimbo Slice.
White said if Slice wants to fight in the UFC, he can go about it the way many fighters have in recent years — by appearing on and winning the organization’s reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter.” It’s a feat White doesn’t think Slice could pull off.
“The guy thinks he’s a mixed martial artist and wants to be one. He’s not, and Seth Petruzelli proved that,” White said. “Even when you watch his YouTube fights, he gets dropped in almost every one of them. He fights some fat dude with dreadlocks and he gets dropped by him. Give me a (expletive) break.”
White was much more complimentary of Gina Carano, but doesn’t feel there are enough good women fighters to form an entire division, though he didn’t rule it out in the future.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.
