Dana White’s UFC 90 video blog 10/25/08 – Watch more free videos
(The final UFC 90 video blog installment, just to wrap it all up.)

Who’s up? Who’s down? Who’s baffling us all with his performance? Who got drunk after the fight and let his entourage talk him into thinking that he did really well? Don’t worry, we stayed up all weekend crunching the non-existent numbers, and here’s what we came up with.

Anderson Silva: -3

Okay, so “The Spider” did not improve his public image on Saturday night, but at the same time he didn’t look at all vulnerable. When the most prevalent criticism suggests he was toying with his opponent, which implies he could have put him away at will, what does that even mean for the champ’s status? The Index is befuddled, but it still believes Silva is the world’s best fighter, even on an off night.

Patrick Cote: +5.6

The only thing Cote proved was something we already suspected: he has a solid chin. This alone might have bumped him up higher if only he hadn’t been caught on film during a post-fight delusion of grandeur. You did not fuck anyone up. If your friends really cared about you, they would tell you that.

Junior Dos Santos: +378

The night’s biggest underdog scores the night’s only knockout, and a brutal one at that. Out of nowhere and into the heavyweight spotlight. We’ll need to see him again before we can be sure it wasn’t just a lucky punch, but preliminary indications suggest this guy might have a real future in the UFC.

Thiago Alves: +113

Dominated Koscheck and showed the diversity of his skills in the process. An impressive, though not altogether unexpected performance. A title shot has to be next, once this superfight madness gets sorted out.

Josh Koscheck: -20

Kos apologists will point to the two-week notice on which he took this fight, and we’ll buy that excuse to a certain degree. But Koscheck still doesn’t look like championship material. More like a very effective gatekeeper who is a beast when he can enforce his game plan on you, but is at a loss for offense when he runs into a good takedown defense.

Gray Maynard: -72

Yes, he won. No, apologizing after a boring fight doesn’t work when boring fights have become your calling card. At least make a few token attempts at finishing the fight. You’re playing into the wrestler stereotype just a little too perfectly so far.

Sean Sherk: +17

Sherk’s stand-up has improved. He put on more of a show against Griffin than most of us expected, which isn’t saying all that much. The UFC still doesn’t want him screwing up potential lightweight title fights by beating top contenders, so where does he go from here?

Thales Leites: +30

An appropriately one-sided victory over the very mediocre McFedries, though that’s far from a step-up after the controversial split decision win over Nate Marquardt. We like what Leites has shown, but we need to see a rematch against Nate the Great to know if he’s for real.

Wrestler-heavy cards: -45

You put guys like Maynard, Koscheck, Griffin, and Sherk all on the same card together and you get what you deserve: a ton of decisions and a crowd that’s pissed off by the end.

Silva/Cote rematch talk: -157

Just because it was a freak ending doesn’t mean we need to see them go at it again. Cote showed he can take a shot, but since when is that alone the basis for a rematch? Please, let’s cut our losses here and move on before Silva retires.