Winners and Losers: UFC 90

1. Patrick Cote

Free advice to all you aspiring mixed martial artists: When you luck into a title shot, don’t go wasting it by bouncing around and playing a glorified game of tag with the guy you should be trying to turn into a ceiling ornament. Simple advice that Cote never got based on his unfocused approach to tackling the riddle that is Anderson Silva, as evidenced by the fact that, despite being down two rounds, Cote seemed genuinely pleased going into the third round based on nothing more than having survived that long. I hope Cote enjoyed his time in the spotlight. It doesn’t look he’ll be back in it anytime soon.

2. Josh Koscheck

Like a gambler down to his bottom dollar, Koscheck made the risky move of doubling down and risking his string of UFC success by stepping in for Diego Sanchez on short notice against Thiago Alves. After walking away from the bout with another loss on his record and leg welts the size of coconuts, Koscheck’s risky move now seems downright suicidal as his path to the welterweight title is looking more tangled than the Bourne series. Maybe sticking to the schedule and just fighting Yoshiyuki Yoshida was the right plan after all.

3. Gray Maynard

Sometimes the cost of a win makes it worse than a loss. A paradox that Maynard is likely to learn in the coming months as his dreadfully conservative decision win over Rich Clementi probably lost him any fans he had in the state of Illinois, never mind the pay-per-view audience. After starting out in the UFC as a dynamic wrestler, Maynard has shed the dynamic part of the equation lately and simply been content to grind out stultifying decision wins. That may keep Maynard’s record nice and shiny, but it won’t do him any favors in the wildly competitive lightweight division.

4. The Middleweights

Good news first for any UFC middleweight not named Anderson Silva: It is possible to survive more than 10 minutes in the cage with the UFC titleholder. Bad news: Patrick Cote managed to break the 10-minute barrier and his knee promptly exploded. Never mind the fact that Cote couldn’t manage to win either of the rounds he survived. Things are looking increasingly bleak for any middleweight with designs on Silva’s prize and, at this point, it looks as if their best hope for relief is Silva reversing course and moving to the light heavyweight division. You know times are tough when the only solution to your problem is hoping for the cause to magically disappear.

5. Bad Blood Brawls

Hermes Franca and Marcus Aurelio supposedly hate each other. I mean, we all saw them use mean words in their prefight video interviews and engage in the usual testosterone-fueled antics that mark a bad blood brawl. Of course, the part of a bad blood brawl that fans enjoy is the brawl, something that Franca and Aurelio failed to deliver. Thankfully, the pay-per-view audience was spared the sight of the uncommon bad blood three-round decision. Here’s hoping this doesn’t become the latest MMA trend.