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Originally Posted by lwbrewer  Rampage9712: you comment on people calling Andersons rib injury a lie. what did he ever do to prove it, was it in the suspensions after the fight even. He can't make a title defense due to injury but takes a fight at 205 instead. Anderson uses sceptical reasons why he can't fight that hurts his reputation. He wants to fight a fighter below his weight class that he hasn't faught at, but has done so a class above then makes excuss he won't fight that champ he's friends. Last but not least being connected to Soares doesn't help ones reputation either. |
I think you might be mixing up a few things.
I can't speak for rampage but I think one of the common concerns is this:
When Anderson looked like ass against sonnen, the initial word that soares broke was that he was injured going into the fight. That did nothing to quell the backlash against Silva, so within days that was upgraded to "his ribs were
broken" going into the fight. Which was nonsense.
But it set a precedent: you have fans of Silva on one side who believe the injury hampered his performance without any credit to sonnen; and you have haters who just want Anderson to suck and feel like this "proves" it.
So one side says "he was injured" and the other says "no, he wasn't" and each side makes the other try to disprove their foe by typing stuff. It doesn't work.
And then you have guys like me in the middle, who think his ribs were tender--as initially stated--and that sonnen then injured them and made them worse, and THAT hampered the performance.
That's entirely different from his claiming an injury and then fighting at 205. I don't know what you'd be referring to with that.
The only time I've been skeptical of his injuries where where he didn't want to honor the promised rematch Henderson earned after Dan KO'd Bisping. He and soares tried to discredit Hendo's position immediately, and jumped on a have-him-fight-Marquardt platform once Nate KO'd Maia a month later. When Henderson left over contract issues [mostly from getting boned on the promised rematch] that left Marquardt alone. But then Anderson needed a bit of a mysterious surgery, and nothing was ever published about it, so Nate needed to face--and consequently lose to--sonnen; freeing Anderson to come back and face the guy Nate had KO'd in Maia. His performance didn't help matters.
So for me it comes down to how skeptical you are: it could easily be explained that Anderson that Anderson needed the surgery for a long time, and that nothing was published about it because it's from a third-world nation and that Anderson is pretty private about his personal life. That's more than plausible, it's probable.
The wrench in the gears is the timing, that it seemed convenient to get him out of a rematch where he'd shown some vulnerability in the first bout; and another concern in soares, who will happily hold a press conference every time Anderson buys a new hat who didn't give any details about the injury or the surgery. Was it entirely elective to prevent a nagging injury [ala Weidman's recent issue] or was it something that needed to be done immediately. What was the issue at all? There are just enough holes to raise an eyebrow.
Again, if you really think Anderson is a fight-anyone/anytime/anywhere guy, you're going to dismiss the concerns. If you're not, they're enough to make you pause.
The only concern I had with him and fighting at 205 would be more recently, and didn't involve that surgery layoff--if I'm not mistaken, Anderson faced Forrest right after Hendo Hendo'd Bisping and before Nate KO'd Maia, like 3 PPV's in a row: Hendo, Anderson, Nate.
More recently, he simply said he wanted to take time off and wouldn't fight again in 2012. This prompted Weidman--who'd been announced as the #1 contender, but hadn't been offered a fight--to take an elective surgery on his elbow to get him back to 100% in preparation for a bout. Once Chris was off the table, Anderson offered to save
UCF 151: Un-sinkable, like the Titanic, and when that was declined, to bolster 153 when it was hampered by injuries.
It looks weak because Weidman probably wouldn't have taken the surgery if he thought Anderson would fight, and it gives loveblind Anderson guys the opportunity to say "Anderson totally would have fought, but Weidman wasn't available" [if they even acknowledge Chris's existence in the first place] but I don't think it was as bad as it seems.
In all reality, if a less than 100% Weidman had fought Anderson this fall, his chance of winning would be even less. He wouldn't have been favored, not even close, and a nagging injury just makes his long shot have to factor in heavy rain and windage. It's kind of weak, and it's pathetic when the anti-Weidman group tries to spackle over it and pretend that Chris took himself out of the running without any external factors, but it's really not bad.
I'm actually fine with the layoff, provided Chris actually gets his chance to face him, and Anderson doesn't chase vanity fights with GSP or Diaz; or end up beating up Bisping and retiring or something.
rh
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