Silva apologizes for UFC 90 show

Being highly regarded as the best pound for pound fighter on the planet doesn't give Anderson Silva much room for error whenever he fights because somehow the entire MMA world has questioned his performance in the win over Patrick Cote last Saturday night at UFC 90.

While many seemed to criticize Silva's performance, the champion was in complete control of the fight, landing the only real power shots of the bout.

If anything, Silva showed great composure and control to avoid an all out slugfest against a heavy handed opponent in Cote, and the 185-pound king said as much following the fight.

"I didn't come here to play. I didn't come here to put on a show. I came here to do my job," Silva stated at the UFC 90 post fight press conference. "I didn't become a champion and defend my title as many times as I have not doing my job or playing round. So, I hope everybody understands that. And I hope all my future opponents understand that. I'm not here to play. I'm here to win."

Following the lead of teammate and training partner Lyoto Machida, Silva used a counter striking clinic against Cote, but unfortunately for the duration of the two full rounds that happened in the fight, the Canadian played much of the same gameplan.

Regardless of the result, Silva's strategy worked as Cote never connected with any heavy shots, but the overall action was lacking throughout the contest.

"I came in here. I did my job. My strategy was working," Silva stated. "Patrick couldn't find me. And it's unfortunate that his knee went out."

The end of the fight could not have been predicted, as previously mentioned, Cote's knee buckled in the third round causing the fight to be stopped and Silva was declared the winner.

Despite picking up his eighth victory in the UFC, Silva still stayed humble and apologized to the Chicago crowd who did not get the performance out of the champion that they were hoping for.

"I apologized because I've trained really hard with my trainers for five rounds," said Silva. "I dropped down from 230 pounds to 205 pounds to 185 pounds. So, I worked my butt off. I had a long training camp to prepare myself for this fight. So I really feel like I owe everyone an apology for this fight. I owe you guys an apology; I owe the fans an apology and Dana (White).

As for a rematch between Silva and Cote, that remains to be seen. It's possible that Cote could be out for an extended period of time with the knee injury and Silva has been rumored to move back to 205 pounds for his next contest.