FanHouse Patrick Cote

PHILADELPHIA -- Anderson Silva walked into UFC 101 surrounded by boos, a goat, and left bathed in adulation, the G.O.A.T., or at least something close.

Needing a highlight-reel worthy performance to quiet the sudden doubts emanating from two straight lackluster performances, Silva -- fighting for only the second time at 205 pounds -- toyed with former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin before putting him away with a stunning short right in just 3:23 of the first round.

PHILADELPHIA -- From the beginning, he's been the underdog. You want to talk about taking the hard road? In his first professional fight, Forrest Griffin didn't face a fellow rookie. He didn't even compete against a hot prospect. The first time he stepped into a cage, Griffin fought Dan "the Beast" Severn, an ex-UFC tournament champion in his 58th career fight.

Most fighters don't have 58 fights in their entire career, so Griffin was literally fighting a guy with two careers worth of experience on him. Proposed bouts with such an experience disparity would not even be sanctioned today. Though he lost, he showed the toughness that would become his trademark, taking Severn to a decision. So Griffin isn't exactly intimidated at the prospect of facing UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, a winner of 10 straight who is moving up to 205 pounds to face Griffin in a non-title bout at UFC 101.

"There's the old saying, 'If you're going to be stupid, you better be tough,'" he said. "Well, I've been a lot of both. I'm trying to be maybe a little smart and tough. We'll see how that works out for me."

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PHILADELPHIA -- During every UFC pre-fight press conference, the organization brings up the head of the state athletic commission to address the media and the fighters. Almost every time, the executive says little of substance, essentially welcoming the promotion and the fighters and talking about the general economic impact of the event. But Pennsylania Commission executive director Greg Sirb had his own agenda at UFC 101, and that was warning the fighters about the notorious Philly fans.

Patrick Cote is not scheduled to face Yushin Okami at UFC 103 in September. Recent online reports have indicated that the UFC middleweight bout has been offered to both fighters. However, Cote told FanHouse on Thursday that not only has that fight not been offered to him, he won't even be ready to return to action by then.

"I don't know where this rumor is coming from," Cote said. " My target fight is UFC 104 on October 24 in Los Angeles."

Yushin Okami is often viewed as the forgotten man in the UFC's middleweight division. Some -- including myself -- have him listed as the second-best 185-pound fighter in the world, yet his name is hardly mentioned when discussing future challengers for the current middleweight champion, Anderson Silva.

Well, after learning that Okami has pulled out of his upcoming UFC 98 fight against Dan Miller due to a torn knee ligament, I am officially denouncing him as my No. 1 contender in the UFC's middleweight division. Harsh, perhaps, but at this point, it needs to be done.

If Anderson Silva beats Thales Leites on Saturday night at UFC 97, he'll set a new UFC record for the most consecutive wins, with nine. But as impressive as that is, Silva's manager says there's more to it than that.

In an interview with MMA Weekly, manager Ed Soares defended Silva's most recent performance, a third-round TKO win over Patrick Cote, and pointed out that Silva's 8-0 UFC record consists of eight wins in which he stopped his opponents before the fight had even reached its halfway point.

As much as I enjoy watching Anderson Silva fight, I've been disappointed with the UFC's decisions on his opponents. Silva's last middleweight title defense came against Patrick Cote in October at UFC 90, and his next title defense comes on April 18, at UFC 97, against Thales Leites.

I just don't think either Cote or Leites is in the same class as Silva, and I'd rather see Silva take on Yushin Okami at 185 pounds and then move up to 205 pounds to try to win the light heavyweight title. Silva, however, says that Leites has earned the opportunity to fight for the middleweight belt, and the Spider considers Leites a worthy challenger.

In Anderson Silva's first seven fights in the UFC, he so thoroughly dominated his opponents -- including great fighters like former UFC champ Rich Franklin and former Pride champ Dan Henderson -- that no one even made it past the second round with him. But Silva's eighth fight in the Octagon went a little differently.

The latest installment of MMA Live takes a look back at UFC 90:

They talk about Anderson Silva's win, Patrick Cote's injury, Thiago Alves becoming the No. 1 welterweight contender, Sean Sherk getting back on the winning track, Junior "Cigano" dos Santos becoming a heavyweight sensation, and more.