Anderson Silva spent most of the fight fooling around and not fighting, yet he still retained his UFC middleweight championship with a bizarre TKO of Patrick Cote on Saturday just 39 seconds into the third round at Allstate Arena.

Silva was running circles around the cage and generally goofing off for most of the time. Silva cut Cote with a knee in a dull first round in which little happened, and then did even less in a second round in which he seemed to want to play to the crowd rather than fight.

Cote tried to throw some kind of a leaping punch and as he did, his right knee gave way. He immediately collapsed in pain and was shrieking on the ground. Referee Herb Dean, who was initially confused, stopped the bout and gave Silva the victory.

“I want to apologize to everyone in the stadium and everyone in the arena,” said Silva, who urged the upset fans not to boo Cote.

Cote apologized to the fans, but it was Silva who had the explaining to do. Cote at least was the one who was trying to make the fight, but Silva was playing with him for much of the fight.

With the win, Silva tied the UFC record for consecutive wins with eight, matching Royce Gracie and Jon Fitch.

In the semifinal match, Thiago Alves made his case as the top contender for the welterweight title with a strong victory over a game Josh Koscheck. Alves imposed his will in the stand-up and was able to fend off takedown attempts by Koscheck, who is a former NCAA Division I wrestling champion. Alves won by unanimous decision, with scores of 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.

Guyana News-Vitali Klitschko has reclaimed the WBC belt and fulfilled a self-proclaimed dream to hold a heavyweight title at the same time as his brother, stopping Samuel Peter with a technical knockout on Saturday night. Peter chose not to come back out after eight rounds that saw him weaving and occasionally wobbling as Klitschko landed a persistent stream of heavy left jabs to his opponent’s head in front of more than 12,000 people at the new O2 World Arena. Read the full story

Canadian boxers Jean Pascal and Herman Ngoudjo are both up for world title fights this fall. Pascal (21-0, 14 knockouts) signed a deal this week to face Carl Froch (23-0, 19 KOs) for the vacant World Boxing Association super-middleweight title on Dec. 6 in Nottingham, England. Ngoudjo (17-2, 9 KOs) has been mandated by the International Boxing Federation to fight former champion Juan Urango (20-1, 16 KOs) for its vacant light welterweight belt. Negotiations are underway between Montreal promoter Groupe Yvon Michel and Warriors Boxing, who have worked together in the past, to set a date, place and purse for the bout. The 25-year-old Pascal will be in his first world title bout. Read the full story

Exactly 30 years ago today, the great Muhammad Ali boxed a rematch with the much younger Leon Spinks. Spinks had shocked the ageing Ali seven months earlier, by out-pointing the defending heavyweight king over fifteen unforeseen rounds . A huge underdog going into the bout held in Las Vegas in February of 1978, the gap-toothed, fun-loving 1976 Olympic gold medallist upset “The Greatest” via a split decision. In truth, the fight should have been scored as anything but a close win for Leon - he clearly won so thoroughly..
Ali, who had been lazy in his training for the fight, was almost as lazy in it. Only coming on late (too late as it turned out) when he knew his title was in danger, the 36-year-old lost fair and square - as Ali was man enough to admit afterwards. Read the full story

It’s a fight all of boxing wants to see; Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao Vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III. But it did seem as though the fight would never happen. Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions is certainly under the impression that the fight is doubtful, claiming recently that Pacquiao wants nothing more to do with the Mexican great who held him to a draw at featherweight and then took him 12 hard rounds in a super-featherweight return.. Read the full story

The lightweight division has seen some changes just lately. Juan Diaz, seen by many as the very best at 135, lost to Nate Campbell, who in turn declared he was #1 at lightweight. Then Manny Pacquiao moved up from 130-pounds and destroyed David Diaz, thus making believers of many that he was the king of the weight class. While last night in Las Vegas, Juan Manuel Marquez also moved up to 135 and became the first man to stop Cuba’s Joel Casamayor - who himself was seen by a good number of fans as the best at the weight after rejuvenating himself with a great win over the gutsy Michael Katsidis. So who’s the best lightweight on the planet now?

Guzman couldn’t make weight and though he tried in the waning moments before the fight, he was still a little more than three pounds over the contracted weight. While the defensively slick Guzman (28-0, 17 KO’s) has looked very good against mediocre opposition, it should be noted that he hasn’t scored a knockout since 2004. In a show of questionable heart, Guzman opted out of the fight after going back and forth throughout the day. Read the full story

Move over Oscar, There’s a New Mexican Hero! Dinamita is the new sheriff in town, but it was no easy task. The fight was very close until the dramatic eleventh round. In fact, several rounds could have gone either way, or been scored even. But, it was obvious Joel Casamayor was recipient of the most damaging blows. By the 5th round, he was bleeding from a cut above the right eye, and also from the nose. As always though, El Cepillo was still very dangerous.
The fight started in usual fashion for Joel Casamayor. He was warned for pushing Marquez’s head down. In fact, ringside announcer Ron Borges said that before the ring action started, “He (Casamayor) had already won the yapping end of the fight