The Weekly Wrap: Oct. 25 – Oct.31

Quoteworthy

“There are many people saying I was disrespecting Cote, but this is absolutely not true. My game plan since the beginning was fight five rounds, inducing him to commit mistakes and capitalize on that during the first three rounds and look for the knockout during the fourth and fifth rounds. It was working.” -- Middleweight champion Anderson Silva discussing his UFC 90 performance against Patrick Cote at UFC 90

“The way this sport has evolved, I’m just as rookie as the rest of them. They’ve got amateurs out here that can just hand me a beating in different styles.” -- Jens Pulver on the Sherdog Radio Network talking about preparation with trainer Matt Hume, as he readies for his fight with Leonard Garcia at WEC 36 on Nov. 5

“Unfortunately -- and I don’t know if this is the case or not -- the UFC has tons of stars. There are a lot of organizations that don’t have any stars. A guy like [Robbie] Lawler might be worth a lot more money to someone else other than the UFC. It’s supply and demand.” -- Monte Cox talking to Sherdog.com about Lawler’s situation in wake of the EliteXC collapse

“I’m a free agent right now, and it’s a good time to be ranked in the top five in the world.” -- Eddie Alvarez to Sherdog.com on his status after EliteXC’s demise

“I hope they do 10 million viewers next week. Have you heard me say a bad word about Strikeforce? I wish them all the luck in the world. I have nothing bad to say about guys who are running the right promotion.” -- UFC President Dana White discussing Strikeforce in a USA Today piece about the void left by EliteXC’s folding

“Pride died over the course of 12 months -- it was a slow death. With Pro Elite, the feeling was completely different. We blew it. We had a lot of money. We had a rare opportunity to make some noise, and we blew it. I don’t know how anyone could say anything differently.” -- Turi Altavilla, who worked for both Pride USA and EliteXC, in an interview with Sherdog.com

The Week Ahead
One of the best cards put forward to date by Japan’s World Victory Road kicks off the week. Sengoku “Sixth Battle” on Saturday features the final rounds of both a lightweight and middleweight tournament, with the winners advancing to face Takanori Gomi and Kazuo Misaki on Jan. 4.

The latest World Extreme Cagefighting show will follow the Sengoku event on Nov. 5. WEC 36 features a featherweight title bout between champion Urijah Faber and Mike Thomas Brown, along with a middleweight championship clash between titleholder Paulo Filho and Chael Sonnen. The show, postponed by Hurricane Ike in September, will be carried live on Versus. With WEC officials discussing the possibility of doing a pay-per-view event in 2009, a win at WEC 36 seems particularly important for Faber, the brand’s top draw and the man who would almost certainly headline any pay TV effort.