Cote Game, but Knee Injury Ends His Night against Silva

By Thomas Gerbasi

ROSEMONT, IL, October 25 – As expected, Anderson Silva successfully defended his UFC middleweight title against heavy underdog Patrick Cote in the UFC 90 main event Saturday night at Allstate Arena. What no one saw coming was the ending, as a competitive fight ended prematurely when Cote blew out his knee in the third round, awarding the bout to Silva via TKO.

The win was Silva’s eighth in the UFC against no losses, and his fourth successful title defense. And contrary to what oddsmakers believed prior to the match, Cote was no easy mark for the pound for pound king.

Cote shot out a few range-finding leg kicks to open the bout. Silva calmly used the Octagon, keeping his distance until he got his rhythm. Cote calmly stalked, moving his head side to side to avoid getting hit with a quick KO punch or kick.. Two minutes in, Cote tried a head kick that Silva easily pulled away from, and the champion looked like he was starting to get his own offense in gear. With under two minutes left, the crowd and Cote started getting restless, and the Canadian attacked wildly. Silva avoided serious trouble and fired back with a knee to the chin that Cote took well. Silva continued to use all the Octagon real estate in the final minute, only landing a quick head kick just before the bell that left Cote bleeding from a cut over his right eye.

Silva struck early in round two, first with a jarring left to the head. Moments later the two briefly locked up against the fence, but after breaking, Silva kept the pressure on, eventually forcing Cote to the canvas. While there, Cote stayed busy with strikes from the bottom, and the two stood up seconds later. In an ensuing exchange, Cote appeared to hurt his foot, but he kept trudging forward. Silva was seemingly toying with the challenger, but Cote was all business as he shot for two takedowns, both of which were rebuffed. By the end of the round, Silva had scored with a couple of knees to the body at close range, but neither did any significant damage.

Both fighters closed the distance quickly to start round three, but just as suddenly, as Cote planted his foot to move in on the champion, he buckled his right knee and fell to the canvas in pain. After making an attempt to rise, he fell again, and referee Herb Dean had no choice but to stop the fight at the 39 second mark.

"We were putting on the fight that the world wanted to see," said SIlva. "It was a fun fight, but unfortunately it ended the way it did. We’ll be back again."

With the win, Silva improves to 23-4; Cote falls to 14-5.