Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

Every now and then, you have to remind yourself that mixed martial arts is still in its infancy. You have to remind yourself that when the fans boo legitimate groundwork, when the promoters do dumb things and when the media writes things that make you woozy with disbelief.

Are we not advanced enough that we can't separate disappointment in the outcome of a fight from disappointment in the fighters themselves?

On Saturday night, Patrick Cote and Anderson Silva fought a fairly slow-paced main event, which was cut short when Cote suffered a knee injury that prevented him from continuing. Afterward, the criticism of Silva came quickly.

They said things like:

He's bored with the division.

He's protesting his salary.

He's unprepared.

Yahoo Sports, which likely serves more MMA fans than any other news outlet, blistered Silva.

Lead MMA writer Kevin Iole wrote that Silva made "a mockery of himself, his title and his sport." Steve Cofield wrote, "Silva came off as a big jerk." Maggie Hendricks followed up with, "...why did Silva decide to insult his opponent, ticket-buyers in Chicago, pay-per-view buyers, the media and the UFC with his farce of a fight on Saturday at UFC 90?"

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but it seems a little harsh stemming from just over 10 minutes of cagetime in a fight that was robbed of a proper conclusion.

Perhaps we've become a bit spoiled if we expect Silva to go out and be a human highlight reel every time out. It would be nice, of course. It would be nice, but not realistic.

He is, after all, a man with a long list of foes hoping to do him harm. Like any other professional athlete, he is going to have days where he is spectacular, and others where he doesn't have his "A" game. Unlike most professional athletes, the former will outnumber the latter by a significant margin. So certainly it's safe to say that Silva did not put forth a career-best performance on Saturday, but how does one draw so many general inferences from a specific outing?

Silva has always employed a style that emphasizes counterattacks. It is not and never has been his only mode of fighting, but it is when he is at his most comfortable. He waits for you to chase him, makes you miss, exposes your mistakes.

Similarly, his behavior in the cage was nothing new. He's shuffled his feet on many occasions. He's switched stances, dropped his hands, over-exaggerated his head movement to duck punches. We've seen him play to the crowd repeatedly in the UFC and in prior days. That was nothing new, but on Saturday, it allowed the disappointed to paint him a malcontent, as if it washed away the seven consecutive UFC fights he'd finished prior to stepping into the cage.

The worst part is, any criticism of Silva is also implicitly an attack on Cote.

Cote fought in accordance to his disciplined plan. He kept himself at long distance, trying to time his strikes and keep himself out of Silva's lengthy and powerful range. He moved into and out of Silva's range in a flash, kept changing his levels, kept his head moving side-to-side so Silva could not employ his laser-lock strikes. When he did get hit solidly, he took the shot, got out of harm's way and stayed composed.

INTERACTIVE UFC 90 action photos Check out action from all the matches during Saturday's event, including the disappointing finish for title challenger Patrick Cote.

Everyone eventually makes a mistake. That's how many fights are won and lost. Some fighters are risk-takers and will gamble, knowing it might well lead to a spectacular win or horrific loss. Neither man fought that way Saturday. The periods of interaction were short and stunted, each man determined to follow his own pace.

Eventually, Cote hurt his leg in the second round. He tried to continue after telling his corner he'd hurt it, came out in the third and made an effort before it buckled and popped and ended his night.

You can certainly understand the fans' disappointment with that scenario. In tough economic times, people shelled out their cash to watch in person or pay-per-view, and didn't get to see a true conclusion. But that's not the fault of either Cote or Silva. They were robbed, too. Cote was robbed of a shot to win a title, and Silva of a chance to change the headlines. Who knows how the fight would have played out had the injury not occurred?

Silva's been nothing but spectacular in the UFC prior to Saturday night. Perhaps his performance wasn't up to the sky-high standards we expect from him, but remember that he's the one who set the bar so high in the first place. Even for a great, it's not always reachable.

Other UFC 90 fallout

Props to Alves, Koscheck
Thiago Alves did all the things he was supposed to do this weekend. He made weight, beat a strong opponent and reaffirmed his status as the man who should get the next crack at the welterweight title (after champ Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn do battle in January). Most impressive was that Alves did not allow Koscheck to take him down a single time, and he managed to rock Koscheck several times.

On the flip side, Koscheck deserves tremendous credit for stepping up to fight a surging opponent and holding his own. Koscheck got hurt several times in the fight against a guy with great finishing ability, but he showed great recuperative power.

Alves looked more impressive against Koscheck than GSP did, and will give the eventual champion a real fight.

Dos Santos announces himself
The Brazilian wasn't a well-known commodity going into to debut fight with Fabricio Werdum, but a heavyweight with one-punch KO power is always a welcome addition to a roster. Dos Santos trains with Anderson Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, so perhaps it shouldn't have come as a huge shock, but not many picked him to win.

Dos Santos' ground game is reportedly well behind his striking, but working with a team like Silva and Nogueira makes him a promising prospect. Noticably, Werdum came into this fight at 255, much heavier than he's fought in the past.

Kimbo on Ultimate Fighter? Not likely
Not surprisingly, the subject of EliteXC's fall came up over the weekend, along with Kimbo Slice. Dana White somewhat facetiously offered Kimbo a shot on an upcoming edition of TUF.

"What's he done other than get 10 million hits on YouTube?," White asked. "What's the guy done to deserve to be in the UFC? Nothing. I don't consider him a real athlete or anything. He won't win The Ultimate Fighter. The offer's out there if he wants to take it, [but] he won't win it."

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