Blame for UFC 97 isn't all Silva's to bear-ESPN

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After a record-setting win Saturday, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva should be spending this week basking in praise. Instead, he finds himself again fending off criticism.

Silva is considered one of the world's top three mixed martial artists; many regard him as the best. He has built his reputation by easily handling the opposition. Saturday night at UFC 97 was no different.

For the ninth time in a row, Silva entered the Octagon and walked away victorious, with a unanimous decision over Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Thales Leites. No other fighter has accomplished that feat. Silva also defended his title a record-tying fifth time.

Heading into this bout, it was no secret that Leites' best chance to pull off the upset was to catch Silva in a submission. Taking into account Silva's all-around technical and physical skills -- hand speed, defensive elusiveness and reflexes -- the odds were stacked against Leites.

[+] EnlargeEd Mulholland/ESPN.com

Anderson Silva spent little time on the ground Saturday, but even when he was off his feet, the champion never was in danger.

Once the fight began, those odds got even longer. Silva, a talented counterpuncher, waited for Leites to attack. The challenger, however, refused to deliver a strike.

More than a minute passed before Silva finally unleashed a lazy left hook. A short time later, the boo birds began making their presence known. They directed their disapproval at Silva, as chants of "G-S-P" -- referring to Canadian and welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre -- filled the Bell Centre in Montreal.

The booing and sarcastic chants, however, were somewhat misdirected. A big reason for the fight's lack of action was Leites' unwillingness to take the title by any means necessary. Silva doesn't deserve all the blame.

"I don't think it is fair, for the fight not to be as exciting as people want, to put that blame on Anderson," Silva's manager, Ed Soares, told ESPN.com. "He attacked for all five rounds, but the guy kept going to the ground … Anderson isn't getting a fair shake from the media or the public."

Mixed martial arts is in its infancy, and despite its rapidly growing popularity, some old-school fighting philosophies still apply. One of those is that a challenger must be willing to take the champion's title.

Leites opted not to embrace this philosophy. Instead, he chose to wait -- often backing away from the stalking champion -- until an opportunity to fight on the ground presented itself.

Those opportunities rarely opened for Leites, who found it nearly impossible to get Silva off his feet. When Leites took Silva down for a brief moment in the second round, he was unable to capitalize.

From that point on, Leites needed to take another approach; winning the title from the ground had become highly unlikely. Leites had to go outside his comfort zone and take some risks. He needed to stand and fight.

Instead, Leites chose to play it safe. He threw a kick here and a punch there, but his aggressiveness was minimal. The submission expert lost his will to fight, and the champion allowed the clock to run out on him.

"You put a one-dimensional fighter against him, and now all of a sudden the champion has to fight that guy's game in order to have a fight?" Soares said. "Anderson went to the ground with him, and Leites didn't do anything. He passed his guard; Leites didn't do anything."

[+] EnlargeEd Mulholland for ESPN.com

Though Silva was criticized for inaction, Thales Leites was exceptionally cautious -- and still left the Octagon bloodied.

It takes two to tango, and Silva did much more dancing than Leites. But that doesn't fully absolve the champion from blame for the fight's boring development.

The 21,451 in attendance and the hundreds of thousands watching on pay-per-view were drawn to UFC 97 primarily to witness a champion many consider to be the sport's pound-for-pound champ. They expected to witness the best Silva has to offer.

Based on the sellout crowd's reaction, Silva wasn't nearly convincing enough. For this, he must shoulder some of the criticism. In these difficult economic times, people won't settle for less for their entertainment dollar.

The old-school adage of doing enough to win isn't acceptable today. Silva was the more aggressive fighter Saturday in Montreal, but he could have done more. When Leites quit after the third round, the champion should have attacked him viciously -- even if it meant putting himself at some risk.

This is a lot to ask of a titleholder, but Silva used his avoid-criticism card in October 2008 when he clowned around with Patrick Cote. After that fight, Silva apologized to fans and vowed they wouldn't see a similar performance from him again.

He failed to uphold that promise against Leites, yet he stands by his effort. Silva believes he gave his best, despite the slew of criticism.

"I am comfortable with people's opinions because they have a right to their opinions," Silva said. "But when I went out there, everything I [prepared for] in training, I felt I executed in the fight. I was unable to finish. Sometimes I'm able to finish guys and sometimes I'm not able to."

What comes into play now is Silva's integrity. If the champion isn't believed, his financial drawing power will take a major hit, and that isn't good news for the UFC. This has UFC president Dana White shifting into damage-control mode.

"I apologize," White said after the fight. "I personally apologize for what happened tonight. You guys know this isn't what the UFC was built on and this isn't the way the fights usually go.

"Listen, any night you can have an off night. When a guy is that talented and can literally end a fight whenever he wants to, wow."

White's disappointment is understandable. He has a business to operate, and its success has been built on action-packed fights. But no fighter, regardless of his skill set, can end a bout whenever the whim strikes him -- especially if the opponent is a top contender. The argument against Silva is that he should have tried harder to finish Leites.

UFC matchmaker Joe Silva takes pride in pitting quality opponents in the cage. He would not have placed Leites in the Octagon with the champion if he had thought it would result in a noncompetitive affair. Leites is a good fighter, but he excels in one area -- jiu-jitsu.

Which was why it was imperative that Leites put himself in positions to use his strength. When he failed to achieve that goal, Leites needed to fight as if there was no tomorrow and take whatever risks necessary to become champion. He didn't want to take those risks and deserves as much blame as Silva -- maybe more.

"They want these great fights to come? Then put us against fighters who aren't one-dimensional," Soares said. "Damian Maia -- he's one-dimensional, so basically what's going to happen?"