Was Anderson Silva Really Goofing Off?
Posted by Dave Walsh on October 27th, 2008
The fallout over Anderson Silva vs. Patrick Cote continues on. There is debate pretty much everywhere, with fans and journalists alike taking their sides and sticking to it. I’ve made my voice heard in the matter, as have an Irate Kevin Iole, an embarassed Fightlinker, and, well, just look for yourself, it is endless.
Everybody has an opinion on if Anderson Silva embarassed himself, shamed his family, has forced Dana White’s hand, if he was disrespecting Patrick Cote, if he was afraid of Patrick Cote. Is Anderson Silva simply a prima-donna and looking to move his career on to greener pastures? While I do not think this will be settled until we see Anderson Silva in the ring again, duking it out (hopefully soon?), we can have a look at the numbers for this fight and see what they tell us.
For what was throw in this fight, and who was leading who, it is clear that Anderson Silva was unchallenged. Question the method all that you want, but stats are telling the story that we all saw. I have to wonder, if Silva scored a leg kick right before Cote buckled, or even a nasty kick that ended the fight, would any of this backlash exist? Probably not.
Update: Good article on this subject posted by Mike Chiappetta of NBC Sports — Is Silva worthy of criticism for Cote fight?
Also how about some Compustrike stats?
October 27th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
How quickly we’ve all forgotten Anderson’s hands-at-the-waist bobbing and weaving against Franklin, a guy he repeatedly claimed to greatly respect. I do not find it at all surprising or strange that he’s a nice guy before and after the fight, and likes to have some fun and frustrate his opponents during. There certainly wouldn’t be any of this brouhaha had Cote not injured his knee, assuming that Silva would have eventually finished him (a safe assumption, no doubt).
October 27th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Yeah, even I’m a little baffled by the reaction here… especially Jon’s bizzare racial invective.
Silva spent a little longer than usual, and that’s about it. It was a totally dominant performance from one of the sport’s best, and there’s absolutely no need for a rematch.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Well, Silva is a martial artist and a showman. I think he can respect his opponent while still showing his abilities.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
He didn’t respect his opponent and the idea that he is a “nice guy” is pure projection by his fans.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I didn’t intend that as a racial invective, but see that it can be viewed that way. What I think is that people are confusing Anderson Silva with the guy from RedBelt or something.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Well, there is no Tim Allen to corrupt and abandon Anderson, is there? Maybe the Fertitas?
October 28th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
If MMA awarded a red belt, Silva earned his.
“There are many people saying I was disrespecting Cote, but this is absolutely not true,” Silva told Sherdog.com. “My game plan since the beginning was fight five rounds, inducing him to commit mistakes and capitalize on that during the first three rounds and look for the knockout during the fourth and fifth rounds. It was working, and the biggest proof of that is that I almost didn’t waste any blows. I connected with a couple of good punches and knees, but unfortunately he got hurt and the fight was over. This is not my fault.”
http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/silva-on-disrespecting-cote-absolutely-not-true-14938
Anderson is just too far ahead of the game for some of you and that is NOT HIS FAULT
TH
October 28th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Dancing around and refusing to engage is not an advancement. He didn’t train hard, is mad at the UFC for keeping him from getting embarrassed in the boxing ring, couldn’t find Cote, and his inner jackass came out.
October 28th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
His gameplan was to go five rounds with Patrick Cote? After never going into the third round before? Sell me another one please! His story shifted multiple times that night post fight. This is another spin.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
You’re the one with the spin. First he was hurting Cote, now he couldn’t find him?
Please. If the idea was to “get some rounds” and take a bout the distance against a lesser opponent (something which I’m sure Alan will remind us is not uncommon in the boxing world), it was working — he outlanded his opponent by a two to one margin.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I think it is plausible that he was attempting something different. I mean, really, this is all speculation unless we can go back in time to Saturday night, freeze time, crack open his skull and analyze his brain waves.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Cote was moving around and making it hard for Silva to land. It didn’t help that Anderson was being uncharacteristically passive. When he did hit him, it was hard.
These things are not contradictory for anyone but the simplest of simpletons.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
He obviously didn’t make it terribly hard for Silva to land, or Silva wouldn’t have won both rounds easily and outlanded Cote at a two to one clip.
It was a totally dominant performance, with no need for a rematch, and clearly it’s time for Silva to move up.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Outlanded at a 2-1 clip! Neither guy landed much of anything! That’s pretty misleading. Both guys had shitty performances. The fact that Silva landed 9 punches in 12 minutes and Cote landed 7 punches in the same time, isn’t an indication of dominance. It just means he was marginally less bad.
The arguments here were funny when Dave was being tongue in cheek. It’s still funny when you do it to, but in a different way, as you are clearly serious that what we saw was a dominant performance! He didn’t throw any punches or kicks at all for minutes at a time!
October 28th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Clearly your reading comprehension isn’t any better than your fight analysis. Silva landed 28 times total in the bout’s twelve minutes.
Did you have $$ on Cote? Poor Jon. Back to the stripper pole for you
October 28th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Total-LOL.com
October 28th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Yeah for real. Do we need to do this here?
October 28th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I had Silva winning the fight 20-18. It just wasn’t a great performance.
I would never bet on a fight, but even if I did I would never have to stoop to an embarrassing profession like stripper or hotel bellboy.