Patrick Cote’s Knee Gives Up, Anderson Silva Keeps His Title

Anderson “The Spider” Silva’s winning streak in the UFC extended to eight, but he was obviously not too happy with his latest win against Patrick “The Predator” Cote. Silva and Cote were the headliners for UFC 90, but the main event card ended in a weird and disappointing fashion. Cote busted his knee at the start of the third round forcing ref Herb Dean to stop the bout and declare Silva as the winner.

In the first two rounds, Cote looked determined to defeat Silva as he tried to throw some of his offensive bombs. Silva looked passive earlier as he just circled around the ring while Cote was busy doing his business.

In the third round, Cote tried to throw a leaping punch when his right knee gave up. He clutched his knee as he went down to the floor. Though it was a disappointing, the fight concluded with Silva getting the TKO win over the injured Cote.

At the post-fight interview with UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, Silva apologized to the fans in behalf of Cote for the bizarre outcome of the fight. “I want to apologize to everyone in the stadium and everyone in the arena.”

Anderson Silva improves to 23-4, including 8 straight wins in the UFC while Patrick Cote falls to 14-5.

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Josh Koscheck Goes Down Against Thiago “Pitbull” Alves

Thiago “Pitbull” Alves methodically defeated Josh Koscheck in the UFC 90 via unanimous decision making his case for a title shot bigger. Alves was set to fight Diego Sanchez but due to some unfortunate injuries, Sanchez had to back out of the fight. Koscheck stepped in for Sanchez to fight Alves with just a two-week notice.

Alves was clearly the upper hand in the game as he showcased his striking abilities including some well-timed leg kicks.

Koscheck on the other hand fought valiantly as he tried to fight back even though he was tagged pretty hard a couple of times. Koscheck also tried to bring Alves down to the ground, but he Alves’ defense was just too much for Koscheck.

Though Koscheck lost the fight, it wasn’t a really a let down because he took it on a two-week notice and he still performed pretty well. Koscheck did a lot of talking, but to his credit, I think he was able to walk it to.

Thiago Alves improves to 22-4 while Josh Koscheck drops to 13-3.

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Keith Jardine Scraps an SD Win over Brandon Vera

Brandon Vera suffered yet another setback in his MMA career at the hands of Keith Jardine last weekend. Vera and Jardine went the distance and fought the full 15-mintues in their co-main event card at the UFC 89 headlined by Michael Bisping and Chris Leben.

After three rounds of action, Jardine scraped the win via split decision with scores of 29-28, 28-29, and 29-28. Jardine lost his previous fight against Wanderlei Silva and the win against Vera immediately puts him back on the light heavyweight radar. Jardine holds notable wins against light heavyweight fighters Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell.

Vera on the on the other hand just went into a deeper hole. He lost three of his last 5 fights and the UFC brass seems to be losing confidence in him.

If Brandon Vera is to stay in the UFC, he needs to step up his game and bring his A-game each and every fight. Michael Bisping is a hometown hero in England the same way Vera is here in the Philippines. But being a part of the UFC roster is just not enough, it shouldn’t end there. Vera needs to strive harder to get to the top. I think in some ways, Vera needs to emulate Bisping and win his fights and make bigger impact in the MMA world. Win or lose, Vera will always be a hero for the Filipinos, but of course, it will always be better for all of us, especially to Brandon Vera if he wins his fights.

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