I went back this morning and re-watched the UFC 97 main event, and I have to say that although Thales Leites became the first person to go the distance with Anderson Silva in the Octagon, Leites also made himself look silly. For much of the fight, especially in the third and fifth rounds, Leites's favorite move was to fall on his back -- so frequently that referee Yves Lavigne stood Leites up a stunning 14 times in the fight.
It was particularly egregious in the third round, when Lavigne stood Leites up seven times -- it basically worked out to once every 45 seconds or so, throughout the round. On the fifth of those stand-ups, Leites simply fell to his back without Silva touching him. That's not fighting, it's flopping.
Personally, I think Lavigne should have deducted at least one point from Leites for avoiding contact with Silva. I don't have any problem with a Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist like Leites trying to take the fight to the ground, but I have a huge problem with a fighter refusing to fight. And that's what Leites was doing for much of the fight.
Silva is far from blameless for the way the fight went: He was far too passive, and the Silva we've seen in his last two fights is nothing like the Silva we saw in his first seven appearances in the Octagon. But it's not Silva's fault that he was fighting an opponent who had to be stood up 14 times. At one point during the pay-per-view broadcast, UFC announcers Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan compared Silva to Muhammad Ali. If Silva is Ali, Leites is Antonio Inoki:
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lavigne definitely should have docked Leites a point. Refs need to be way more vigilant about calling that foul. The sport is about fighting, not avoiding a fight.
I don't know what to say about this fight, other than the fact that both men obviously could've done so much better. As far as Inoki vs. Ali, what the hell???
I agree w/ the philosophy of docking a point eventually, but that's just a concession for what it takes to keep MMA action going as a sport. When it comes to the philosophy of how it emulates combat, it's just as much a mistake to hold the standing fighter blameless.
Silva had a weakness--albeit a slight one--exposed: his ground-and-pound needs to be picked up a bit. Back flop or not, an opponent w/ top ground-and-pound will take up the submission specialist's challenge most of the time, rendering any controversy moot and keeping things exciting. Silva is both good enough at grappling in general and a good enough striker that this should've been the case.
(Which also makes Angelo Dundee's commentary about Ali "would've knocked out" Inoki a joke. In a mixed match Ali could've gone down on top of Inoki to strike--and Ali was being just as cowardly for not doing it as Inoki was for "canvasbacking.")
UFC needs to do what Pride used to do, give him a yellow-card and deduct 10% of his pay. If he does it again, another yellow-card and no money. The rules in Pride were much better than UFC, and that's why the fights in Pride were much better.
To solve all the PROBLEMS of UFC, only the WINNER gets paid, think about that one,more
evenly matched fights, and everbody tries a little herder.
Bring out the yellow card!!! and have the refs shouting ACTION!!! into the mic. and bring back the helmet cam on the refs too. that isht was hot.