Anderson Silva defends title as Cote suffers injury

Anderson “The Spider” Silva defended his middleweight title at UFC 90 Saturday night in Chicago and while the official result was a TKO victory it was far from spectacular.  In fact, challenger Patrick Cote had lasted longer with the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/Muay Thai specialist than any of his other UFC opponents before suffering an injury that forced the fight to be stopped and the victory awarded to the champion.

Silva had won the first two rounds, but in far from dominant fashion.  Both fighters looked tentative as if they were prepared to “feel each other out” for a couple of rounds in preparation for a drawn out battle.  The first round had very little in the way of conflict at all as Cote bobbed and weaved and Silva circled on the outside.  It was essentially an even frame until the last minute when “The Spider” managed to land a kick and a couple of knee strikes that gave him the edge.

The 2nd round offered slightly more action, with Cote trying the strategy of mauling Silva against the cage wall.  Silva scored a takedown and looked for a submission briefly, but Cote landed some elbow strikes from the bottom that encouraged the champion to stand up and resume the striking exchange.  Once again, this round was closely contested with a couple of solid knee strikes by Silva making the difference on the scorecards.

The fight suddenly came to an end seconds after the horn for round three had sounded.  Cote headed to the center of the cage only to have his knee buckle beneath him.  Referee Herb Dean immediately waved off the contest, despite the protests of the tough Canadian who presumably wanted to continue the fight on one leg.  Color commentator Joe Rogan speculated that it was a torn ACL, but in postfight interviews Cote indicated that he had re-aggravated an old injury but gave no further details.

While the fans in attendance were clearly left unsatisfied by the fights dénouement, Silva showed considerable class in the aftermath.  “The Spider” allowed the referee to raise his hand, but did not celebrate his win at all due to the method in which it came about.  In his postfight interview he admonished the fans for booing Cote, praising the challenger’s heart and toughness and clearly indicating that he deserved a rematch.  Silva occasionally takes some heat for his aloofness and a perceived lack of commitment to the sport—a perception exacerbated by his talk of boxing and/or retirement.  Nevertheless, in this instance he conducted himself like a complete gentleman and displayed the class befitting a champion prizefighter.

No definitive diagnosis as to the extent of Cote’s injury will be forthcoming until after an MRI and medical examination on Monday.