Okay, so Patrick Cote didn’t pull off the upset of UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva that I predicted. But after two strong rounds of fighting Saturday night in Chicago, there were plenty of people upset they couldn’t see more.
Really, who could have predicted that of all things to end this bout, it would be a freak injury in the third round? Silva wasn't ever in any trouble in the first two rounds, but who knows what would have happened had it gone another three.
Considering Cote took everything Silva gave him -- and returned some shots of his own -- it's pretty safe to say he did about as well as anyone against the UFC title-holder.
For one, Cote is now the only man to ever take Silva into the third round in the Octagon. Cote also managed another rare accomplishment: Silva couldn’t knock him off his feet.
A few other things to consider from the fight:
-- Silva did manage to score a takedown of Cote, but he didn’t manage too much damage. In fact, Cote landed a few shots of his own from the guard, including a very nice elbow in the second round. Silva actually gave up on trying to work him on the ground and invited Cote to stand.
-- The champion showed a lot of respect for the challenger’s ability. I loved the sportsmanship -- especially when Silva offered his hand to help Cote off the ground. Of course, Cote wasn’t taking any chances that it was a trick; he shook his head until the referee made sure he could stand up without danger.
-- Cote appeared to have taken something from Silva’s last fight against James Irvin, who was knocked out early when he tried to catch one of Silva’s leg kicks. In this one, Cote waited for it late in the second, then caught the leg, but he kept his head pointed down so Silva couldn’t catch him with a punch the same way he did against Irvin.
-- In my opinion, Cote won the first round, simply because he was the aggressor (one judge agreed). Silva did land a few more shots and probably more damage, but you can’t spend most of the round back-pedalling, side-peddling and dancing and win it unless you really dominate with your select striking and I don’t believe he did.
-- Silva won the second round hands down. But near the end of it, Cote forced Silva to the cage and with a grasp on his leg tried for a takedown. You could hear Cote’s trainer Mark DellaGrotte shout he’d win the round if he could get the takedown. I don’t agree -- that would have only evened the round in terms of takedowns and Silva had done more damage overall. But it goes to show how close Cote was keeping the fight.
-- Just before the third round began, Cote knew exactly what he had accomplished as he held up three fingers to the crowd. Unfortunately, 39 seconds later Cote was on the mat through no fault of his own and nothing Silva did. That’s not to say Silva didn’t earn the win -- likely one of his leg kicks precipitated the reoccurrence of what Cote called a previous injury. But it was just disappointing for the fight to end that way.
I agree with Mike Goldberg’s assertion immediately afterward that Cote’s performance should earn him a rematch. But as much as I’d like to see it as soon as possible -- as I’m sure others would -- I don’t think the UFC should give it to him right away.
The UFC can’t risk the same thing happening to Cote’s knee. Cote needs to take a fight with someone else and as long as he makes it through that one clear -- and assuming he wins -- then he gets his rematch. I would like to see Cote fight another top contender; perhaps Thales Leites, who was a quick winner over Drew McFedries, and, if possible, by the end of the year.
In the meantime, Silva should take on Yushin Okami -- this fight that was supposed to happen before Okami got injured. I don’t think Okami would beat Silva, which would allow for the Cote-Silva rematch. But this would also allow Okami to have the title shot he deserved. Not to mention allow Silva to make up for one of only four career losses as he was disqualified in a 2006 fight outside the UFC.
A lot of people didn’t give Cote much of a chance in this title fight. At the beginning of the pay-per-view telecast, they showed the viewer vote totals on the main event and only 20 per cent were picking Cote to win. However, by the time the main event was about to begin that number had moved dramatically -- up to 36 per cent. I’m not sure what happened during those two hours to make more viewers pick Cote (perhaps they read my seven reasons… probably not). But they seemed to realize it won’t be such a cakewalk for Silva after all.
And after two solid rounds, I think The Predator made believers out of plenty of people. Maybe even The Spider himself.
