One of the common themes coming out of the UFC 110 aftermath was the rise of Cain Velasquez and the fall of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. In fact, in the MMA4Real rankings posted yesterday, Nogueira and Velasquez essentially switched spots. However, Nogueira's manager had some choice words for the 'keyboard' warriors out there as he spoke with MMAJunkie:
It's a breath of fresh air to see a guy like Cain moving up the ranks," Soares said. "I see a lot of similarities in him and Nogueira as far as their work ethic and how humble they are. He's a great guy, and congratulations to him. He fought a great fight and came in with a great strategy.
"He gets back on the horse and fights some more people," Soares said. "It could happen to anybody."
"What are you talking about?" Soares asked. "Six months ago, Nogueira's back, and now he's done again?
"It's really easy to talk about these people when you're not the one putting your ass on the line and stepping into the octagon. Anybody that steps into the octagon, that can happen to."
"It's easy for you to sit being your computer with a fake name and write stuff about people and say that 'he's done.' These people, for as much as they love the sport, they should be a little more compassionate about the people that go in there and put their ass on their line."
The focus should be on respect for both competitors, he said.
"Nogueira is a legend and Cain is a legend in the making," Soares said. "I'm upset that Nogueira lost, but to see Cain beat him and the respect that Cain gave him, you've gotta take your hat off to both of those guys."
On one hand it's great to see Soares give Velasquez the credit he deserves for his performance at UFC 110. On the other hand, Soares must understand that ALL sports fans play armchair quarterback from time to time. That's part of being a fan, giving your opinion and stating how you about what you just witnessed. After all, you just paid your hard earned money to watch the event(most of us anyway). Being an athlete myself, if I performed poorly, I accepted whatever criticism was thrown my way just as I accepted the praise I got when I performed well. I wouldn't say that Big Nog is done just yet as I think there are some winnable fights out there. However, I think his days of contending for a major championship are over.