UFC 90: Not Shocking, But Strangely Satisfying

Once again our UFC event viewing was interrupted by a "cable accident" of an unexpected nature; this time it was my fault and not the cable company's.

Note to myself: Do not ever fold laundry while watching a UFC event with the remote control under an elbow.

Somehow, much to my dismay, a big blank black box appeared blotting out the middle of the TV screen during the Koschek vs Alves fight. Unbeknown-st to me or the rest of my family, I had somehow hit the Closed Caption button.

My son went through every option except the CC button, so we missed a lot of action while trying to retrieve the whole picture. Luckily he did hit the CC button before Anderson and Patrick fought.

Also fortunately for me at least, the whole program replayed at 12 AM, so except for a little frustration I finally saw everything.

I was so thrilled that Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffon had such an exciting fight. Seeing Sean win was a treat, since I have believed that he was innocent of the steroid charges that BJ Penn took such joy in shaming him over before their fight. He needed a shot at redemption and I hope this was it.

How to win the hearts of all his detractors is another problem and if I had been able to attend the event, I would have stood and cheered while others were busy booing.

When Junior Dos Santos won against Fabricio Werdum I was as elated as he and coach  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira were. He really made short work of the bigger more favored Werdum. What an amazing uppercut! Beautiful! Just like Joe Rogan remarked--Fabricio's ears wiggled, oh, my; what force he had behind that strike! Another spectacular fight.

Seeing Georges St. Pierre at ringside was a special treat, but it just didn't last long enough. It was also good to see Miguel Torres from WEC in the audience, he is a great fighter and all around good guy as well.

Matt Hughes was booed in his home state; I hope that Matt Serra was watching. As Joe and Goldie commented the response to Matt's presence was surprising. I expected him to be there, but would have thought more of his fans would be present as well.

The Gray Maynard vs Rich Clementi fight was also top notch in my opinion, but that may be just because I wanted Gray to win since he is not with BJ Penn any more. I know that for the rest of the world that is not a good reason. I am opinionated and not about to change. Being coached by Randy Couture is enough reason for me to want Gray to win.

Were Rogan, Goldie and I the only ones who were ticked off at the annoying referee who kept bugging Gray and Rich about "not working" when they were trading submission attempts on the ground in round three? They weren't layin' and prayin' down there; how could he think they weren't working? At least the judges got the decision right and the "Bully" did beat "No Love."

Hopefully the same or similar scenario will play out for crafty Coach Couture on November 15 with Brock Lesner.

A fight almost erupted at my house when Josh Koscheck and Thiago Alves fought. Of all things, my son wanted Alves to win "so Diego will be the one to beat him and not Josh." That really made no sense to me at all, because Alves will likely fight Georges before Diego gets a chance to fight Thiago. My son can be so silly at times! And he occasionally does pick a winner--obviously!

At least Josh was able to make a dramatic entrance when he outran his security guards and entourage on his way to the octagon. That and he did take a good beat down like a man. And he was in phenomenal shape coming into the fight with great cardio too.

When Rachelle Leah was introduced and reference was made to her being featured in Playboy magazine, my granddaughters got into a discussion about, "Oh, you know what that means." Unfortunately they sneered when I asked them to clue me in. So I am not sure now what eight year old young ladies know about Playboy. Darn my curiosity!

My hopes were so high that the All Access curse would help Patrick upset Anderson and of course I was chanting "Cote, Cote, Cote, Cote!"

When both opponents are such class acts and such gentlemen, it is hard to cheer for just one of them. Still, I figured Patrick was due and he is on my favorite Canadian fighter list, so of course I chose him. Ever since he fought Tito and knocked him down, I have thought he had untapped potential and a huge heart.

The fight was so interesting and Patrick was totally absorbing kicks and strikes to his famed jaw, that I was really feeling a win approaching. The rounds went so quickly for me that I couldn't believe it when the third round started; I had the feeling that Patrick's game plan was right on target.

Then tragedy struck, just as it did for me in a rodeo queen contest when I was 18 and lost the use of my right knee (another of my bad luck stories). Poor Patrick! As Joe said, I was entirely too familiar with the type of gut wrenching pain as well as the sinking sensation of knowing it is futile--there is no way it will turn out well from this point.

If only fate weren't so fickle. I was primed for Cote to shock the world; just not in that way. How disappointing and anticlimactic.

Anderson appeared unsettled and shocked when Patrick suddenly went down, falling backwards to the mat and writhing in pain. As far as emotions go I had the feeling that both men were totally devastated by the abrupt ending.

Being a closet romantic, I had hoped that Patrick would win and propose to his beautiful fiance in the middle of the octagon while wearing the gold belt. Even Anderson Silva would have been touched by that and I would have had the inspiration to write a poem for Patrick, since I haven't yet.

Oh the trials and tribulations of an MMA fan. Tonight brought unexpected suffering for so many of us and the headlined fighters as well.

There is always tomorrow, but what will it bring?