HD Net put tugether a pretty good, not great, "get to know Fedor" show "FEDOR: The Baddest Man on the Planet". It was good to have a few fighters that have fought Fedor and give him credit that he never takes himself. I was disappointed with the fact that there really wasn't that much "new" footage. A lot of the Fedor footage was taken right out of Pride FC's "Champions" series they did on Fedor, Nogueira, Sakuraba and Silva. BUT... this is one of the few Fedor specials that actually had him LAUGH. That's right, Fedor actually laughs and it was great to see some type of emotion out of him. If you missed the show on HD Net, go visit Afflictions website and watch their promo videos, they're pretty much the gist of the whole Fedor show and you get to see some Arlovski training as well. AND if you watch the press conference, you'll get to see the surprize "superstar" that Affliction unfortunately decided to deal with, Tito Ortiz, make a total fool and tool of himself and Affliction too. The dumbass can't even read a fight card and as usual reiterated to everyone that he can't present himself in any other manner other than pound his chest before fights and then get embarrased by his inability to fight any good. Thank you Lyoto Machida! You gave me one of the most satisfying experiences when you exposed Tito Ortiz for what he is - a one dimensional never-improving hack. I just hope Affliction didn't spend a lot of money on him or sign a multi deal contract. Who's next? Ken Shamrock, just for Tito?
Oh and I just found out that Fedor apparently has an instructional book too, Fedor: The Fighting System of the World's Undisputed King of MMA
Jay Hieron vs Jason High - Jay Hieron has been on a tear in IFL and looked great. Training at Xtreme Couture's has been great for him, as it is for any other fighter. Picking Hieron. (really though I just haven't seen Jason High fight. If he beats Hieron, he'll definitely be on everyone's radar)
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs Vladimir Matyushenko - hmm, kind of a tough one for me. Matyushenko rediscovered his MMA career in IFL and looked great recently. Noguiera on the other hand had a decent run in Pride but hasn't really shined. His brother's disappointing catatonic performance against Frank Mir (who's delusional by the way, Brock will TKO him and then break his leg off and then eat it) is kind of weighing on my judgement here, they're twins you know. I think the style that Nogueira's developed and used recently isn't cutting it any more and Matyushenko will hit harder standing and will most certainly get on top and then ground and pound him for decision. Picking Matyushenko.
Paul Buentello vs Kiril Sidelnikov - one of the things that kind of surprised me is that, at least according to the HD Net Fedor special i mentioned earlier, Kiril Sidelnikov is Fedor's main training partner. It's great for Sidelnikov on one hand because training with someone better than you always make you improve more, especially Fedor. On the other hand though, many times training with someone much better than you all the time may give you a false confidence. It has happened countless times before, a fighter comes from a huge famous fight camp and is fighting another fighter from a barely known camp. Then the fighter who's sparring partners are guys that don't even fight beats a fighter that can kinda hang with a group of pro fighters. I really hope that it will not be the case for Sidelikov. He's striking looks a lot like Fedors and ground will definitely be better than Buentello's, given his success in Combat Sambo tournaments. Buentello won't be a push over, his striking is dangerous and his KO's are a pretty good testament to that. Picking Sidelnikov by being smart and taking it to the ground.
Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs Thierry Sokoudjou - Sokoudjou made a huge splash in Pride FC's 205 division by KO'ing two top guys at the time, Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. His UFC's showings however quickly took the air out of the hype he quickly build for himself in Pride. Powerful and athletic he appears to be lacking stamina and heart. Picking Sobral to weather a few hard kicks and punches from Sokoudjou early on and take over by whatever he wants, striking or submissions.
Vitor Belfort vs Matt Linland - No matter how ugly sometimes Linlands fights turn out, I've always respected his tenacity, will to win and willingness to cross train. His striking may never be beautiful, but his jiu-jitsu is coming along very nicely. Too bad he lost a few years of fighting because of the self absorbed Dana White and is getting up there in age. Belfort's been hot and cold for years now and while still young will probably never get up to the hype level he initially garnered. Picking Linland by outworking Belfort and breaking his will and body. Hopefully beating Belfort will get Linland a couple more good and high profile fights.
Josh Barnett vs Gilbert Yvel - Barnett finally avenged his loss to Pedro Rizzo in a so so fight. Barnett did pretty damn good in Pride FC's last heavyweight Grand Prix getting to the finals, especially after a long stint in japanese pro-wrestling. So another win is a win. Affliction must have spend a bunch of cash on Barnett liking his quirky personality and are giving him a gift fight to set him up with the winner of Fedor vs Arlovski. Yvel has near zero chance to beat Barnett, if Barnett just takes him down and doesn't goof off standing up. Picking Barnett with one hand behind his back.
Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski - historic fight this may be not, but a huge mega fight it sure is! Everyone is waiting for Fedor to finally to succumb to the reality of MMA - everyone loses and it's ok. There are just too many variables and ways to win that at some point you get caught. This will be a tough fight. Arlovski looked great against Rothwell, but I really think Rothwell made Arlovski look good. Sometimes certain bodytypes/styles make the same fighter look better than others. After his second loss to Sylvia, Arlovski didn't look all that great against Jake O'Brian, PeDepano or that other boring brazilian dude that trains with CroCop that made Gonzaga give up before their fight even started. So one fight where Arlovski kinda let go and looked like the former aggressive self made him into the guy that can beat Fedor? Almost everyone that fought Fedor could have beaten him, not that Heath Herring hack though. Even Tim Sylvia, while not landing a single shot on Fedor, still had a good chance of beating him. It just hasn't happened yet. Arlovski does look awesome in training, very fast, he's got a new famous boxing coach. Fedor? Fedor still trained in Starii Oskol with a handful of trainers and Kiril Sidelnikov who he just beats on. He's just special like that. I'm picking Fedor to beat Arlovski after Arlovski will put up a pretty good fight, though I think it will go to the ground where Arlovski isn't that good and Fedor really shines.
I also have to say that it's VERY PETTY of UFC to run Brock Lesnar vs Randy Couture's UFC for free tonight on Spike. D$ck move. I'm sure fans are getting tired of all the UFC cards one after another and are itching for some even a little different. I think Affliction will pull through this and continue on their decent card and if they manage to have Fedor on each one, they'll be even better. I'd always pick Fedor's PPV vs Rich Franklin or Henderson, no offense to Rich.
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