UFC 90...give him a hand

What, Anderson? You can help a guy up when you knock him down, but not when his knee blows out?
My brother and some friends met up to watch UFC 90 at a bar here in town. It was relatively full of mostly people watching the show. Woodies is an OK venue, even though the TVs in typical bar fashion are a little high up, so you have to get a sore neck or sit really far away. Also, the bar staff was hot, and the bar patrons were horrible, horrible sacks of the fried food they served.
I'm pretty bummed out that since Anderson Silva is claiming he's retiring at the end of his current contract, (every 185 pound fighter in the world suppresses a joyous leap and giggle combo at that news) this bout with Cote was one of the final six. You get the feeling you're witnessing something special with Silva...it blows that there's no special opponents, at least not right now, to challenge him. It's like the Bulls after the Lakers fell apart at the beginning of the '90's.
Is Fabricio Werdum more like GSP, Cro Cop, or Jens Pulver? I'm going with Cro Cop, as they were trying to keep him a legit title contender for next year after their little tourney plays out. What a punch! Welcome to the UFC, Junior dos Santos. Thanks for fucking up my fantasy picks.
Initially I thought that the Maynard-Clementi fight was promoted from the undercard to the main card, but Eric at MMARatings said nah, it was added as a main card fight. Ok. Still, I wish we could have seen Spencer Fischer vs. Shannon Gugerty instead. "The King" has sure fallen into the middle of the lightweight pack. Some tough losses, to Franca and Edgar, have put the title shot he was so close to seemingly out of reach. Will he get his shot before time erodes his skills? I hope so! I'm a huge Fischer fan.
Drew McFedries is an exciting fighter to watch, but is he UFC-level talent? He's like a huge Melvin Guillard, minus the idiocy of course. He can hit hard enough to knock out a moose, but his grappling is suspect. Of course, Leites isn't an average grappler. Here's an idea: Get Houston Alexander to drop down, or Drew to go up, and match those two. Slugfests are fun!
Speaking of which, I thought the Sherk fight was judged right on. My friend thought Tyson Griffin won, which made me question his sobriety.




Pic property o' the National Post.

I thought Thiago Alves did a great job, and he made weight, which erases some concerns I'd had. It still blows me away that that guy makes 170lbs. He's fucking enormous. Josh Koscheck, I hate to say it, impressed me with his toughness and his heavy hands. The leg kicks Alves deployed may have taken down a weaker man. As much as I think Kos is an assclown, he is one tough fuckin' assclown. Congratulations to Alves for a good fight against a very game opponent.
Hermes Franca picked up a unanimous decision in a bad blood fight against Marcus Aurelio.
Overall, I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. Go rate it yourself over at MMARatings.net, I write some articles there (my last one was "Does Werdum Deserve a Title Shot Yet?" Hah, no, no he doesn't).
Also, I added my friend Esther Lin's photography site to the links at the left. If you need someone to give a huge bag of money to in exchange for the best fight photos you can get, call her up. She is willing to have blood sprayed on her head to get the shot. Are you that dedicated? I didn't fuckin' think so.