Anderson Silva video on UFC 97 fight preparation and execution

Good comment heat. Of course Silva shares some of the blame for not finishing Leites but Leites KNEW he was going to lose that fight as the rounds started to run out and he did absolutely nothing about it! The funny part of it is that even though it seems that Silva did very little to engage with Leites, Leites’ face was a bloody mess when that fight was over. SO obviously damage was done.

I agree Alpha. And I wish they would ask Silva “Do you feel no obligation to be exciting for your fans?” A. Silva may very well care more about winning by any means than being entertaining. But that’s not a good idea from a business perspective.

Anyway, I think (hope) it’s a dead issue b/c I expect Dana will set him up aginst fighters who will push the pace from now on.

Exactly Alpha! As has been said already, Anderson’s behavior in the Cote fight probably makes MORE sense than how he fought Leites. Cote is a good striker with serious power in his hands, while Thales is primarily a BJJ threat. Why on earth would Anderson hold back against Thales while both were on their feet? I mean, I don’t think Leites even threw a jab the whole fight. If the guy “quit”, then why didn’t Anderson try to finish him? Even if he didn’t want to follow his opponent to the ground, where the hell were the awesome combos from Anderson we have all come to love and fear?
Oh, and nice one JJ. Honestly though, Silva definitely lost me as a fan after that last performance. Even realizing how tough a task it would be, now I really want someone to go in there and put it to him. Hopefully the guy to do that is GSP (and hopefully he makes it through Thiago).

Alpha and Canucklehead… good posts.

Luongo for the Conn Smythe!

Thanks man and generally I’m very much in agreement with your posts JJ, but that said, you totally ruined everything with that last line. ;)

I’m with OJR on this one. Anderson stuck to his game plan and retained the title. If we were not entertained so be it. Any fighters job has two components. 1.) Win the fight and 2.) entertain the fans. Number 1 always comes first from the fighters perspective.

Yeah! trow in $1400 bucks in that event and come back tell me the same,just for fun!!

I see what you’re saying Jeff, and I can assure you, I’m not some buffoon who demands that fighters throw caution to the wind and start swinging wildly at each other.

That being said, Silva completely outclassed Leites standing up, had him at his mercy, and for whatever reason, REFUSED TO PULL THE TRIGGER.

He also did a lot of disrespectful showboating and prancing, energy which could have been better utilized pounding Leites’ face in.

Whatever kind of message Silva is sending, I heard it loud and clear… not spending another dime to watch this guy fight.

I actually found it entertaining to watch anderson toy with him. I know it doesn’t mean anything to say this, because it’s a weird opinion, but I think it’s ridiculous that fans need a big finish to be satisfied.

How about we all stop pointing fingers at the fighters? Who cares if Anderson didn’t finish Lietes, the point is that Lietes should not have even been in the same ring as Silva. Who the hell has Lietes even beat? Nobody cause I don’t count the Marquardt fight, he got dominated. The only fighter other than Marquardt who is even in title contention that he fought was Kampman and he lost that one. WTF was Joe Silva thinking! I don’t even want to get started on why Cote shouldn’t have been in the same ring as Silva. I don’t guess being French should count for anything (joke). All I am asking is that they give Silva some real challenges. Make him worried that he’s going to lose. Man put him in the heavy weight division. Throw two guys against him. Let GSP fight him greased up. GIVE THE MAN A CHALLENGE DAMN!

Wordy Mcword Jeremyjackson.

Silva’s plan was to go int the championship rounds. He has never been able to show the ability to fight in the championship rounds or the UFC. Silva followed his gameplan, but just didnt get the finish…Im Fine with it! Not mad at all! If anything I am mad that Leites wasted such a great opportunity by fighting the way he sis!

Question: Is that a Brietling on Anderson’s wrist?

John,john,john!sometimes…..Dude,did Anderson really show you is ability to go 5 rounds???Men,i can do 10 rounds with an opponent who refuse to fight,and don’t pushing the pace!That your mad at Leites wasting his shot is no brainer,every body are,plus we all know that you probably lost money on that fight cause of him.But the thing is this…If that was such a masterful performance that we saw the other night.Why Dana was embarest?Why the media,the fans are so upset?Why Anderson got to make a f..king interview to explain it?REALLY did you ever see a fight that got to have a explanation given after.Even the Arlovski/Sylvia 2 or Tito/Shamo was way,way better,than this.I never see Machida have to explain is strategy after a fight eather.Question:if the Lesnar/Mir fight at UFC 100,after 5 rounds of booing,turn out the same way.Are you gonna be happy of Brock performance also?Let’s face it that can be really plausible if Brock stick to his gameplan,refuse to go to the gound,and Mir to scared to get knockout.Then what you gonna say???That’s,normal it’s MMA and you don’t care that he waste your main event.

Dudde, it wasnt Anderson’s best performance by far…i just wasnt as mad about it as everyone else…Thats all. I dont think Dana should be embarressed, it really wasnt that bad. Thats all I am saying. This type of thing will always happen when you match up a Counterstriker against an opponent not willing to engage.

I dont want to defend it, because it seemed to bother a ton of people…Im just saying that I wasnt too bothered by the whole thing. THen again, I didnt pay $45 dollars to watch it cause I saw it at a bar.

Like the greasegate, Im over this crap! I dont like talking about all the fiasco’s sorrounding past fights, What I enjoy, is talking baout potential or up coming match ups. All that “extra crap” is starting to annoy me.

Anderson should not be just a “counterstriker”. To be the best in the world, you should not be afraid to play jiu jitsu with a guy of equal belt rank. Especially after the guy quit. The best P4P = not being scared to fight anywhere.

Fedor wasn’t scared to trade with Timmay early. He wasn’t scared getting his ass kicked by AA either.

He wouldn’t have been taking any risks.

He had Leites, a fighter with zero counterstriking capability, pinned up against the cage, WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE, for the last ten seconds of each roundd. What is Letites going to do, a flying armbar?

This is fighting. There are inherently risks involved. You can’t just refuse to throw a punch for four minutes because your opponent is scared of you and has no stand-up game. Leites is not an elite fighter or a champion, just because he doesn’t want to fight doesn’t mean you have to play along.

I don’t expect guys to go out and take dumb risks for my entertainment, especially if it will cost them the fight.

I DO expect them to have some semblance of a killer instinct, especially when they are the star attraction and they are coming off a fight where they were criticized for a similiar terrible performance.

i was never an anderson silva fan and after these two fights i will never be one… how bout that? he didnt even bother to apologize for his performance and wasting his fans’ money… failure

Everyone knows how “respectful” Canadian fans are, and we all heard their opinion. That said, can you imagine the jeers if it were in Jersey or Atlanta or California? LOL

if that happened in Philly, there would have been a riot!

Montreal is not exactly known for having “mellow” fans… particularly when it comes to hockey! You guys ever seen footage of the Maurice Richard riots back in the day? Crazy!

Guns’n’roses/Metallica in 92

Jeremy-

Women’s beach volleyball is more exciting !

:)

Haha, very true OJR.

liverpool darts? is that soccer or darts? either way, gay beast porn is more exciting!
anyways, I’m already bored with talking about this fight! 2 out of 9 fights in the octogon not finished (1 goes the distance) and he’s getting crucified! How does gray Maynard or roger huerta still have jobs? I can name 20+ fighters that have had CONSISTENTLY more boring fights than Silva’s last one! He won and Leites did nothing to challenge…enough said!

I guarantee you jeremyjackson has a Steelers shirt. And last year he had a Giants shirt. Catch my drift? I don’t doubt that you’ve watched MMA for 20 years, Jeremy. I’m just telling you that if you are a true fan of any fighter you don’t bail because the results of his last two fights didn’t work out for you.

You’re welcome.

Nope, I’ve only got one jersey.

It’s a Canucks jersey, and if you know anything about Vancouver’s hockey history you’ll know I have suffered with a losing team for thirty years.

If “sticking with your team through the tough times” is your measuring stick, well, been there doing that bud.

If you want to blindly kiss the Spider’s ass after another piss-poor performance, and then accept his explanation, which is basically “fans are ignorant”, go for it.

Guess I just have higher standards.

You really missing the point!!We are true fans,but also realistic.Compare to you blind followers.

I hated that fight as well. Never was a big Silva fan, and I’ve wanted him to lose for a while now. Nothing about this fight will change my opinion. I’m still not a big fan, and I acknowledge his skills and achievements, but I will watch every time he fights so I can see him get beat live or bitch about his next piss poor performance.

This goes for every MMA fight.

And I stick by my fighters! Go Matt Hughes! One last run for Welterweight gold!! (lol)

As much as I think OJR is a total WANKER, I have to say he’s right on this. I watched the fight again and made too quick a judgement because I started to think after the Cote fight that he showboated and it went to his head. If anything I have resolved to respect him even more after the Leites fight.

I have to admit it. I have to do it to cleanse my soul. I was wrong. It’s more a confession to myself than anything else, but here’s why:

It didn’t sit well with me, my point of view. I had to get to the bottom of it, to know 100 per cent, removed from bias and disillusion.

Bisping said Leites "probably won the first two rounds but nothing happened in the fight."

Bisping was wrong.

Upon watching it again I realized three things: (1) Silva won all five rounds; (2) the fight was actually not really that bad, even entertaining; (3) Silva is his own man.

In round one Silva controlled the round. He maintained complete octagon control. Leites had him against the fence close to the last 30 seconds but did nothing. Silva’s round easily.

Round two, Leites managed to take Silva down but he did no damage; Silva did more damage from the bottom. Silva once again controlled the octagon and the fight.

Round three. Leites kept famously falling to the ground. Admittedly, at one stage he did get poked in the eye which the ref didn’t see, but it had no significant impact on the fight. Silva’s round again. Easily.

Round four. Silva, doing what he could despite Leites’ reluctance, started to shimmy and showboat to do something to either provoke Leites to attack or to appease the crowd. Leites, noticeably, didn’t really commit to his strikes and couldn’t get the takedown. Silva’s round once again.

Round five, Silva keeps trying different moves for the hell of it, to make things more interesting despite the worthless crowd chanting "bullsh-t".

Silva won decisively. No contest.

Upon reassessing, I respect Silva so much more because in spite of the crowd booing he still raised his hands, jumped on the fence and accepted the victory like all the rest. And he deserved it.

I fear he will succumb to the crowd and try to please them next time and lose as a consequence. I really, really hope not. I hope he stays as he is and fights just as he has been.

I’ve learnt another thing. I think the better fans are the ones who enjoy watching the fighters try to work each other out, the ones who don’t necessarily recklessly abandon their bread and butter and think and strategize how to conquer their opponent. The people who watch the fight for, as Joe Rogan says, "fast-food fighting" are the kind of people who corrupt the sport, rarify it and pervert it. I hate even succumbing to anything close to how they think. It sickens me as much as Mr. Smith is sickened by the human race in the Matrix.

I made the mistake of criticizing Silva when he didn’t deserve it. I’ve never been the type to get bored of a fight just because it isn’t such a fast pace. And despite my initial dissatisfaction of this fight, I was never bored by it. Silva is a great whether he loses, whether the crowd hates him, or whether someone discovers he’s a secret pedophile who has chained a bunch of immigrant kids under his house.

Long live Silva!

Well I don’t agree with your post, but I sure enjoyed reading it!

ojr aint no wanker~ he is from chicago not the uk!..silly billy.

imo~ andy silva could have~ and should have finished both fights.

there is no way either fight should have seen the 3rd round.

andy was just trying to be fancy or something..

Its all good Stinky-

Just like kevin, john or even you, once I start seeing the insults I know its the end of the road for these fools and their arguments.

Name calling is the last resort of a desperate argument.

Johnny,

Thanks for agreeing with the obvious. Mighty kind of you!

Have a nice day, pendejo! :)

What are you talking about? If anything, I was conceding that two people who mostly disagree can agree at times. You have desperate arguments all the time. You’re even worse, you stick to childish cliches like “Obviously you haven’t watched much fights,” and crap like that. You think that isn’t rude and desperate? How is that a case for argument? One word: Pathetic.

this was a fight where two guys didn’t seem to want to fight… reminds me of klitschko vs sultan ibragamov

No, we suffer from “Where the fuck is my $50.00 PPV value” syndrome.

And you guys appear to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. You, know the one where you start to empathize with your tormentor because he’s all you recognize anymore? Yeah, that one.

And so what if he does destroy his next opponent? It won’t change what a bitch he’s fought like twice in a row, as a headliner no less. It won’t change the fact that he doesn’t acknowledge any fan displeasure as being anything but ignorance.

You guys act like you’re fucking dating these guys or something.

Yeah OJR, it’s either that or it takes more than a few terrible fights to shake the “huggers” from a particular fighter’s nuts.
Look man, I respect the fact that you are a fan of Anderson’s (and probably have been for a long time) and won’t drop your support for him (likely for any reason).
It’s just that in the case of this fight (and the Cote fight for that matter) the garbage we all saw in the cage on Saturday was indefensible. I mean, the Champ went for foot punches. God damned foot punches. And we all thought that foot stomps were the most pointless strike in MMA.
Oh and to compare Kenflo’s “strategic” fight against Huerta to this one is just dumb. “Strategically” fighting a brawler with an attacking style makes sense. But when arguably the best striker in MMA fights “strategically” against a guy with no standup, something is up.

also the same Ken-Flo who openly admits to wanting to finish a fight.Remeber that use to be what he would yell after he would win “I finish my fights” but it does not matter

i remeber him yelling that after din thomas blew out his knee :)

Thats the only fight I’ve ever seen where the crowd was yelling “BULLSH!T; BULLSH!T” that alone speaks for itself as to how bad of a performance this was. If the game plan is to fight not to lose, instead of fighting to win; then you have to accept that a lot of fans aren’t gonna appreciate that. No guts no glory, no risk no reward, etc etc..

You haven’t seen too many fights, then. Tons of boring fights worse than this one. Its just that A. Silva set the bar so high that this looks “bad.”

No, it looked “bad” because it was bad. Regardless of who was fighting I would have thought that was bullshit.

Name one, and link the video plz; don’t bother with Tim vs Arlovski 3. And there’s no defending this performance, is Anderson a great fighter? yes, I’m not taking away from his accomplishments. Was this a bad showing? Definatley. There’s no getting around that.

And you can piss off OJR, with your “you haven’t seen too many fights then” and other bs derrogatory comments you like to post to me. I don’t know why you bother responding to anything I post, cept maybe out of spite. F*k you.

regards,

Wow. You obviously can’t have a constructive debate with anybody. None of my comments were a personal blast against you. Read most of my posts. I don’t attack people unless provoked.

Jeremy and I disagree and you don’t see us typing out F’ you’s to each other.

You are very immature and thin skinned.

Learn to argue without getting emotional.

Have a nice day and stay in school—-you definitely need it.

o stfu, you’re one of the rudest most immature posters on this site, just wait till you get the opportunity to spit on someones good name again and you’ll be all over it. Anyone else that wants to debate/discuss with me, I’m fine with. But scr3w you.

to jump in this,to defend odhgc,they did a story on bloody elbow breaking fights down by events and this fight the least amount of events out of any main event that went to decision in UFC history,but it is going to happen ,not all fights are going to be exciting,but like have said for days now ,let it go,nothing is going to bring your 45 dollars back

Sorry Scott.. guess I’m still in shock, thats $45.00 I’m never gonna see again, and I just can’t believe its gone.. It just hasn’t set in yet, I keep thinking I’m going to come home from work walk in the door.. and those minty fresh cash bills, will be sitting on the coffee table, waiting for me. I’m trying to cope but its difficult.. Thanks man.

QJR, be a realist, not a fan. Silva’s unprofessional performance can never be justified by your blind love.

Haha, OJR you preach to people on how to argue. You say “learn to argue without getting emotional”, you should learn to argue without being an A-HOLE. What a hypocrite.

I think dana will have some good free fights

Johnny-

I will add you to my list of fans.

Gracias, maricon!

LOL. Which fans? Your mother who’s serving up lunch – between her legs?

Yeah, I was actually looking forward to a Silva/Maia fight, although I’m sure Silva would/could destroy him.

But after this performance (and I use that term loosely), I think it’s safe to say that fight is not going to happen in the forseeable future.

Hear

I do appreciate the argument that he didn’t finish, but I just disagree because I think we sometimes expect too much from him.