Anderson Silva's Manager Has a Point, But It Doesn't Matter

Right on. This is like porn. Noone wants to see average people fucking in the missionary position for 25 minutes. We all want to see switching positions, anal, and all the spicy shit that makes it exciting. Pretty soon nobody will buy the ppv's with anderson on them. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

He's a superlative fighter. As fight fans we should be able to appreciate the skill and dominating performances he gives us. Not every MMA fight needs to be a bloody, ugly, brutal knockout.

The same thing will happen when Machida gets the belt, get over your fucking simian urge for blood and appreciate the art and science of it

For the love of God make GSP vs Silva happen.

Leites was 95% responsible for that horse crap.

Andersons other opponents actually came out to fight and win, Leites went into the cage and just wanted to survive. try fighting someone who really doesn't want to fight back

Just wondering. Is it the same people that's bitching about Silva right now the same ones that usually bitch about Machida?

oh yes we want a monster truck show or wwe, WOW GREAT POINTS. wow people who have diff opinions than you just got put in our place, ouch.

sigh

as perverted and disgusting as your comment sounds, i could not think of a better way to put it.

however, if you're going to compare silva's performance against that of st pierre, or his performances against hendo and franklin, you also have to see how those guys were fighting as well. they were willing to trade with silva (hendo and franklin) and it seemed as if fitch was trying to win the fight by "engaging" with st pierre and not lying on his back everytime he got within 5 feet of him. it's been said over and over and over again...MATCHUPS MAKE FIGHTS and this was a boneheaded stupid matchup made by joe silva and approved by dana white and the powers that be. and when the fuck is yushin okami going to get a rematch with silva?

I disagree with you. I found the Silva/Leites fight to be extremely entertaining. You could see the tension build up between the two of them since Silva couldn't get find a way to "crack the defense" of Leites and likewise, you could see Leites losing hope and eventually breaking and giving up.

One major theme that I thought made this fight great was the question of whether or not Silva would get tempted into jumping into Leites' guard and this was a great source of excitement.

Perhaps you need to learn more about the MMA game or at least learn to appreciate the mental aspect of it. This fight literally kept my friends and I on the edge of our seats.

The fucked up thing is exciting fast paced fights are what made this sport popular and profitable. All you people defending the actions of guys like Machida and Silva should just go and watch some karate point fighting. If you don't like it go somewhere else and sit on your high horses. The thing about most of us who don't give a shit about martial arts is it's exactly that. Martial arts are boring and old, thats why we watch mixed martial arts we like seeing people get hurt and knocked out and fucked up. Isn't that why the majority of us watch it?

Silva is there to defend his belt. Leitis should not be allowed to compete in the UFC again PERIOD.

This is all wrong. Anderson is a counter fighter and he only KOs aggressive fighters. This was his usual style. Leites is to blame for the boring fight, he was undeserving of the shot at the belt anyway.

Blame UFC matchmakers for this one.

I find the fight hilarious. Normally when submission guys take on kickboxers, you see alot of the submission guy holding the kickboxer down for 25 minutes. In this fight, you see the kickboxer trying to get the submission guy off the ground to strike for 25 minutes.

People don't pay $50 to watch the best p4p fighter in the world do just enough to NOT LOSE. Especially to a guy who poses little to no threat.

Not Lose = Win?

If I remember correctly, Anderson punched Thales in the foot... it's like instead of kicking the guy's ass, he was saying "hey, look at the silly crap I can do in the Octogon and still not get scratched!" - of course, Ed Soares would have to translate that for us.

I assume that Anderson didn't need to wait for the roudn to end to have Ed translate the crowd's chants of "BOOOOO!", "BULLSHIT!", and "GSP!!" Some things are universal.

Anderson, if you're reading this... ahem.. I mean Ed, if you are reading this, please translate the following message to Anderson:

Your job is not to avoid a loss, it's to COMPETE. Chuck competed harder in his loss than you did in your win.

You have to earn that belt EVERY time. And now you have to earn back our respect!

@WUWU (and everyone else defending Silva's performance)

The vast majority of people want fighters who try and finish. It's not about blood or gore for most fans. Despite you, or anyone else's, appreciation for this type of fight, if every fighter decides to fight this "perfect" fight, MMA will fail. There simply isn't enough of an audience of people who enjoy watching fighters outpoint their opponents without even trying to finish.

It's the same reason "lay & pray" opponents get booed all the time. No one, I repeat, NO ONE, has the right to complain about lay & pray if they try and defend Silva. Think about it: lay & pray fighters completely overwhelm their opponents and make them look foolish, take little to no damage themselves, do minimal damage to their opponents, but completely control the fight. Are lay & pray fighters executing a perfect match, of which we should appreciate the art and science?

People don't want to appreciate the art and science of outpointing an opponent. They want to appreciate the art and science of finishing, or at least attempting to finish an opponent.

Yay, Chuck competed! And got knocked out... again. And his reaction time has become noticeably slower after each ko. He probably wont be able to talk coherently in ten years, but at least he tried! What kind of fool thinks being physically punished over and over again is better than.... y'know being an amazingly skilled athelete? Give me a break.

@ k Says...

No... people like Silva who are too good to be touched are to be respected for their skill and dedication to the sport. Whether the casual fan acknowledges that person or not is insignificant. Silva is the best at 185 whether the PPV buy rates or fan satisfaction indicate as much.

If you want to be exciting or aggressive in a fight that's one thing, but it isn't always the smart thing to do. Smart = victory.

The UFC has never come out and condemed a fighter for lay and pray. Never came out and said they were embarrassed by a fight, especially not by a champion (Randy Couture beating Tim Sylvia comes to mind), and the blogosphere of so called "journalists" have never come down on a fighter like they have for Silva in his last two outings.

Who cares!!! any more, let it go people. it's done and over nothing can be done about it they fought ugly yes....it sure was better that the Shamrock and Diaz fight or the Shamrock and Dan "the Beast" fight...

Lay and pray argument is good, but not perfect. A Clay Guida lay and pray is sometimes they dumbest thing ive ever seen. The lay and pray that im talking about is where there is no hitting or anything, just sitting. Anderson was doing his gameplan showing skill, striking, threw about 200+ strikes and damaged thales. Lay and Pray shows no skill whatsoever, just being lazy on the ground not doin shit. So i have every right to complain against the Lay And Pray fuckers that im talking about. Silva has nothing to prove. some of you so called fans think there should be knockouts every fight. As i would appreciate that too, i dont go watching UFC looking for KO's or submissions. I watch for a good fight. Thats it. Its like you guys just watch "Bloodsport" and think that is what should happen all the time in UFC.

This is bullshit:

"This was a case of the champ fighting with a sense of entitlement, and absolutely no sense of obligation to put on a show for the fans."

It's written with the premise that Silva owes the fans something, when he doesn't. Silva has more than proved his worth in the cage and in the ring, and if the UFC wants to put on crap matchups he shouldn't be expected to cater to one-dimensional fighters in order to satisfy anyone other than himself.

Look how much criticism Koscheck has recently garnered for chasing the KO and abandoning wrestling. Anderson would have gotten a similar reaction if he'd followed Lietes to the ground and gotten subbed, and he's got much more at risk than Koscheck ever will.

I don't know anything more than any other fan does, but I'm guessing Anderson is tired of the UFC, he's tired of not getting exciting fights, and he's really tired of a restricitive contract. As soon as he finishes contractual obligations, he stands to make more in an hour standing with RJJ than he did in his entire MMA career...and that payday can be jeopardized by even one loss in the eyes of a fickle audience. Personally, I think Jones will destroy him, but I can't fault Anderson for wanting to get on with what probably appear to him as bigger and better things.

But I think the premise that any fighter owes the audience anything is absolute bullshit, from the ground up.

rh

@ NateGetsIrate:

It was a very interesting series of wipes from the face to the body he made just after the Vaseline was applied. Can't really think the intention was to spread it around but you never know.

Ok does anyone remember the Marquart fight? Anderson takes Nate down with a beautiful switch, then proceeds to pound his face out. What was the difference with this fight? Was anderson so scare3d of Thales' guard? Was thales not clinching like Nate was?

I dunno if you ask me after 3 rounds Anderson should have realized that Thales had nothing for him, attacked more on the feet and attacked more on the ground.

You know im been extremely upset with Cagepotato and the other MMA blogs...All these high expectations and youre incompetent disapointment in that fight. Silva is the champion, its his job to keep the title. That challenger is the one that needs to work for it. Thales did nothing but fall on his back. It doesnt work like that. Thales needed to do more that flop to his back any time anderson throws a punch. Its amazing how you guys dont even give Thales the hard time like youre giving Silva. How can you expect the Champion to play into your game? If youre a BJJ guy and fighting a Muay Thai guy like Silva, you need to take him down and do youre submission. I was more pissed at Thales for being a pussy and flopping to his back. Silva did everything right, its not his fault his opponet wouldnt challenge him. Its not Silva's fault that the dude didnt have a better game plan than layin on his back. Not everytime Silva steps into the cage is he going to knock someone's head off. Silva feels people out in the first round. Thales obvioulsy was waiting for silva to start the round off. It doesnt work like that. Once again the Challenger needs to be hungry for that belt, and layin on the ground just shows he didnt want it. I swear if Thales is ever on a main card again i WILL NOT buy the event. Silva hasnt lost any of my respect. Thales deserves to be on the undercard for the rest of his contract. He's a pussy. Straight up. Go back to brazil and do your JJ their.

Another thought: Maybe Anderson just didn't want to hurt this guy. I mean seriously, Leites just comes across as the nicest dude, and he wasn't really trying to hurt Silva all that much. Why should Anderson kill some kid who's got a baby on the way and was clearly being thrown to the wolves? Both men knew that one of them had no business being in the octagon that night, but if you're Leites, would you turn down an opportunity like that? Fuck no. And despite all the crowd's boos and chants, Silva took the high road and never gave up on his core values: that martial arts are to be used for self-defense only.

Think about how deeply humble and respectful Silva has always been to his opponents. I think this definitely had something to do with his lack of aggression when pitted against a hapless Leites.

Both men went out there and did the best they could with a BS situation. If you need to blame someone, point the finger at the ones who booked the fight - not the guys who are contractually obligated to perform when called upon.