Hardcore Anderson Silva fans are quick to justify their hero’s lackluster performance during the main event of the UFC 97 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.   Oh yes, Silva is the octagon’s finest artist (this is supposed to be grander that simply being a “martial artist”?)  He’s a champion.  He knows how to win.  How? By making sure he doesn’t lose?

You see, you can do it by avoiding a collision course against your opponent.  And that’s precisely what he did last April 18.  Oh yes, Silva was just showing his “technical skills” and a “smart fighter” doesn’t just attack and put himself in danger.  C’mon.  This is UFC, not some freakin’ chess tournament.  People go to watch action.  Why else would they be offered knockout bonuses?  To encourage the fighters to be more aggressive and show more action.

Yes, technical skills count, but this trait is supposed to make the fight more interesting – not boring.  If you want technical skill, running away is the best technical skill.

While Leites’ performance sucks, Silva’s was quite a letdown.  Silva’s defenders say, the pressure should be on the challenger to force the fight.  Normally, yes.  However, when things become obvious that Leites does not pose any danger, and that he was not even showing an aggressive campaign at snatching the champion’s belt, Silva should have stepped up his game plan.  While he intends to win, he should also not forget that fans would always want a spectacular win.  Why else would they pay to watch?

What he did was, “Oh, Leites doesn’t know how to snatch the championship belt on me.  Good.  I’ll just let the rounds pass by without breaking a sweat – without endangering myself – and i’m still sure of retaining my belt. And I’ll be UFC’s record-holder of the most number of consecutive wins.”  Well, that sucks.  That smacks of avoidance.  As I’ve said, this fight seems to say that you can keep your belt by avoiding contact.  No points earned by both dancers – er, fighters, the championship title doesn’t change names.

We expected more from Silva.  He IS Anderson Silva in the first place.  He even went back to Rio de Janiero to sharpen his BJJ skills, right?  When obviously, he wanted a stand-up fight and Leites proves to be less inclined, he should have changed his game plan.  But no, he wanted to play it “technical” and safe.  You call that a good showing?

Silva’s defenders say casual MMA fans do not understand the technicality of a fight.  They insist that Silva did a good showing.  Yes of course, and so does a chess player.  We seem to forget here that fans (especially the “ignorant” casual fans) didn’t come to see thinking, “technical” competitors;  the fans came to see gladiators – in a fight.  Again, being highly “technical” is a good trait of a fighter, but it should not get in the way of a good fight.  If you want “technical,” run around inside the octagon and avoid contact – that’s what happened to Silva’s kind of “technical” that night in Canada.

If you say it was a good fight “technically,” you’re missing the forest for the trees.  MMA thrives on its popularity, and its popularity depends on its being spectacular – it being a spectator sport.  As I keep on saying, mixed martial arts is still show business – minus the staged or theatrical nature of fights and further spiced up by antics and dramatics of the players in the world of professional wresting.

And the “casual fans” booed because they’re ignorant?  Think again.  These new, casual, ignorant fans are the future of MMA.  They are the ones we need. We need to get more new, albeit still uninitiated, fans to sustain the growth of this, still young, sport.