What was already a highly-anticipated main event for the UFC 148 fight card got even more intense on Tuesday, as UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and challenger Chael Sonnen exchanged pointed words, and then had to be physically separated during the photo-op portion of the program. Just in case there wasn't enough anticipation building for that fight after their epic confrontation two years ago and Silva's stunning change in demeanor during last week's conference call, Tuesday's Sonnen-Silva staredown gave MMA fans one more reason to be excited for the return engagement on Saturday.
Before Silva and Sonnen climb in the Octagon, however, there will be another middleweight battle between a championship fighter and a former No. 1 contender, and while the encounter between former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le and former No. 1 UFC middleweight contender Patrick Côté may not carry the same prestige or weight as the main event, it promises to be an intense encounter and a worthy appetizer for the evening's main event.
Le, who balances fighting with his movie career, may not be a title contender in the UFC, as his loss to Wanderlei Silva in November demonstrated, but the 40-year-old Sanshou master is adept at taking techniques that look like they belong in his movies and applying them inside the cage. That makes his battles must-see viewing, particularly when they accompany the most anticipated fight of the summer in Silva vs. Sonnen II.
Côté, meanwhile ran off five straight wins after his loss to Travis Lutter in the middleweight finals of the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, and was hanging in against Anderson Silva in a title bout at UFC 90 before his knee gave out. Even after more than 18 months away from the cage, Côté wasn't ready to be competitive in the UFC again, as his losses to Alan Belcher and Tom Lawlor showed, but after four consecutive wins on the independent circuit, Côté clearly has his form back, and was a smart pick to return to the UFC when Rich Franklin was pulled to face Wanderlei Silva at the UFC 147 fight card.
The UFC 148 fight card has suffered a bit since it was announced, with the move of the UFC (Interim) Bantamweight Title bout between Urijah Faber and Renan Barao to UFC 149 and the removal of a former UFC Middleweight Champion when Franklin was summoned to UFC 147. However, between the title bout in the main event, the retirement bout of Tito Ortiz (against Forrest Griffin) in the co-main event, and the Le-Côté fight, there's a lot to like about the fight card from top to bottom.