The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), made its third stop in the Midwest in just two months as UFC 90: Silva vs. Cote went on in front of 15,359 fight fans at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. In a surprise ending to what could have ended up another Muy Thai clinic from Anderson “The Spider” Silva, Patrick “The Predator” Cote would lose by TKO after his knee appeared to pop out of place making it impossible to continue. “I think I did a good job,” said Cote. “I went to the third round with the best fighter in the world. It was an old injury that I thought was ok.” In the night’s main event, Anderson Silva, coming off a first round knockout over James Irvin a few months back, played a cat and mouse game with Cote. Silva danced around the ring, moving his hands to distract Cote landing few but very effective kicks. A hard knee found the nose of Cote in the second round and as Cote lay on the mat, Silva gave light kicks to the thighs and even offered his hand out to help up Cote which did not sit well with the fans watching. Round three picked up where the second left off but as Cote attempted a low kick, when planting his back foot, his knee popped out of place this giving the win to Silva also sending the fans home a little restless. Dana White had no comment on a rematch as he would have to wait to learn more about Cote’s injury.
The PPV portion of the night started off with fireworks as Tyson Griffin squared off with Sean “The Muscle-shark” Sherk. As both fighters had very similar fighting styles, a different Tyson Griffin showed up to fight as he displayed very heavy yet quick hands along with many kick-punch combinations. Sherk answered almost every time greeting his shots with hard left body and face punches. There was even a moment in the first round where Griffin appeared to get a surge of energy almost taunting Sherk to bring on more pain. Sherk would be victorious by a unanimous decision but on this night Tyson Griffin showed he can stand and trade with the best of them.
In what was supposed to be a matchup between Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves, UFC bad boy, Josh Koscheck stepped in to replace Sanchez with just two weeks notice. Diego was forced to withdraw from the fight because of torn rib cartilage. As round one began, both fighters came out trying to prove something. It would be Alves that would land the first hard shot being a high kick to the head that could have been a fight stopping shot, but Koscheck displayed a strong chin. After many takedown attempts, Alves continued to hack away at the leg of Koscheck eventually making it buckle. The sound that came about as Alves smacked his kicks to Koschecks inner and outer thighs made even the strongest stomached fight fan turn away. The eventual win for Alves posed many questions about his potential title shot in the future. “We are looking at the BJ Penn-St.Pierre fight first and then most likely get Thiago his title shot,” said UFC President Dana White.
In the undercards, Miletich Camp fighters, Spencer Fisher defeated Shannon Gugerty with a triangle in the 3rd round also getting himself Submission of the Night. Drew McFredries got caught in a guillotine early in the first by Thales Leites.
Fight of the Night went to Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin and Junior “Cigano” dos Santos won Knockout of the Night when he laid out Fabricio Werdum with an uppercut. The ever exiting Hermes Franca won a unanimous decision against fellow Brazilian Marcus Aurelio. Dan Miller won against Dan Horwich in a unanimous decision. Gray Maynard won against Rich Clementi in a unanimous decision as did Pete Sell against Josh Burkman.
When asked if his opinion on promoting female fights in the UFC had changed with the recent fall of Elite XC, making Gina Curano a free agent, Dana White answered, “Gina Curano should have been the main event of that last fight card. She is a great fighter and a great star. There just aren’t enough good women fighters out there to make a division yet.” On Kimbo Slice, “The offer is out there that if he wants to be in the UFC, he should go on The Ultimate Fighter (TV show) and earn his way in.” said Dana White. “But he won’t win it.”
At night’s end, Franca, Leites, dos Santos, Alves and Silva made it a big night for Chicago and an ever bigger night for Brazil.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF UFC
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