Photo via Orange County Register
So, I'm going to get the negatives of the show right out of the way because it was mostly good and this can be just nitpicking, though a lot of casual fans agreed with me on these:
- Tito Ortiz is a dumbass. He embarrased Affliction at the pre fight press conferences and continued on with crappy commentating and post fight interviews. You can put lipstick on a pig, it'll still be a pig though. I don't know if he completely blocked out his embarassing exit from the UFC but he was very pretentious in his comments through out the show. I wonder if Donald Trump got him the gig. He is a joke and I hope he get a shot at Babalu so Babalu could embarras him yet again and send him off to whereever Sokoudjou will go. WEC?
- The "Rabid" commentator that went behind the scenes to show Babalu relaxing before the fight and kept calling Babalu "intense" and "rabid". Too bad Babalu was yawning throughout. Where the hell did he come from? Get rid of that joker!
- Extensive public display of poor Matt Linland's waking up after a brutal KO. On thing UFC does good if someone get badly KO'd is not show their wake up process until the fighter is ok and can stand on his own. There was no reason to show all that, especially when it was clear that Linland wasn't waking up well at all.
On to the good of the show.
- Production was just fine. There were plenty of replays and the show moved along at a good pace.
- John McCarthy - I was very happy to see him and that he is still an active MMA referee. I guess his retirement was only from UFC. Good for him, I'm sure he is being treated better and doesn't have to deal with Dana White. That along be huge in my book!
- The "Fight Quest" alumni was a decent commentator and should definitely be a mainstay for Affliction.
On to the fights.
Paul Buentello vs Kiril Sidelnikov - well I was right about one thing, just cause you can hang with Fedor in training doesn't mean you can beat everyone else. Sidelnikov also did not take it to the ground where he most certainly would have done better than Buentello. Why? He only tried for one takedown and it was when it was already too late for him in mid round 2. With a big debut like that, his coaches let him down or may be he just didn't listen to them. I am also questioning his training. Was he just helping Fedor with Fedor's fight and getting beat on by Fedor mostly, or was anyone actually helping him train for his fight? I'm leaning towards the first. Hopefully next time when the Russian promoters pretend they're in it to promote other younger fighters, they actually bring a huge camp of fighters to Starii Oskol, if that where Fedor must train, and concentrate on their improvement and preparation and not just Fedor.
Buentello did ok but seemed to be very apprehensive about throwing more than just a jab. He won so that's all that counts for him. Superstar he is not though. Beating an overweight Fedor's very young training partner is not exactly impressive, especially on the heels of three round decision over Gary Goodridge. Who decisions Gary Goodridge? Not a lot of fighters, they usually beat him very quickly.
Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs Thierry Sokoudjou - this one I was exactly right about. If there was any doubt that Sokoudjou had a few great wins early but folds everytime the going gets tough, he folding to Babalu should have cemented his lack of heart and ability to keep any stamina past round one. Yet again another example of how he gives incredibly hard time to Team Quest luminaries like Dan Henderson, but that doesn't mean he can beat other guys. Not sure where he goes from here, he may get another chance in Affliction, may be. If it's anyone decent, he may very well choke again. Then what? Japan? WEC if he is lucky?
Babalu leveraged his experience and weathered everything Sokoudjou had for him and easily took over in round two. It was pretty painful to watch him going through "show and tell" D'arce choke drill in the middle of the fight cause his opponent just sat there already given up. Great win for Babalu and his confidence. I guess stupid Tito was challenging him during the post fight interview. I think it'll be a good fight for Babalu, what can Tito do to him? Babalu's punching is better, wrestling is probably better and definite edge in submissions.
Vitor Belfort vs Matt Linland -Matt Lindland didn't get a chance to out work Vitor Belfort like I thought he would. Belfort took advantage of the very first exchange and Linland's striking weakness. A precise left straight from Belfort put Linland on the floor and Belfort did great capitalizing on the downed Linland. Four punches later fight was stopped with Linland laying almost lifelessly on the floor except for the uncontrollably shaking left leg. He got cought and should have been way more careful than rushing in with his weak sloppy striking against some one like Belfort.
Though the fight didn't show much, Belfort did what he had to do and didn't waste a single opportunity to exploit Linland's weakness. He looked fast, precise and showed good reflexes to get in there and finish the fight. It was interesting to see K-1's showman Ray Sefo in his corner. Nice to see him keep sharp.
Josh Barnett vs Gilbert Yvel - wow, what a huge disappointment! Barnett looked aweful! Three rounds to finish a huge underachiver and non-crosstraining lazy striker in Gilbert Yvel!? Barnett's corner should have left him in the ring to celebrate his disappointing win by himself. He disrespected their time and efforts by just sitting on top of Yvel for almost 2 full round and not finishing him. What was that? How dared he do his "throat cutting" win gesture after that? Anyways, if he thinks he has a chance against either Fedor or Arlovski with that type of fighting....he probably doesn't though. I just hope he can snap out of his depression in time to get good training in before those fights. Oh, and how stupid was his excuse/give away about his poor nose bleeding and making him choke? I think very. Watch his nose being busted first thing in any of his future fights.
Gilbert Yvel was the winner in my book. Not like a winner in a sense that he'll amount to anything after this display of toughness. But he kind of redeemed himself for all those cowardly times he tapped out at the first sign of trouble. If only he was this tenatious when he was younger and more popolar. May be he earned another fight with that? Gilbert Yvel vs Paul Buentello? That could actually be a good fight, given how Buentello has self admittedly never initiated a take down in his whole career.
Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski - News flash!!!!! Fedor again looked very beatable and human! This isn't really news by now, is it? Definitely not.
- Fujita had Fedor sliding on ice when he rocked him
- Nogueira reversed him and got on top
- Coleman had his back and was on top
- Randleman damn near killed him when he slammed him on his head
- Mirko CroCop bloodied him up and landed a bunch on him
- Mark Hunt out of all people was on top
- Hong Man Choi stuffed his takedowns
He almost always looks beatable. Well in this fight against Andrei Arlovski he looked very beatable again. Arlovski was bigger, a little faster and was actually landing some glancing shots. Why was it such a big deal though? Because Sylvia didn't land any? CroCop did, Fujita did, Mark Hunt did. It's a fight, you're going to get hit! But as long as you don't get rocked or KO's or get hit too many times it's ok. That front kick that Arlovski landed towards the end that pushed Fedor back looked ok, but it wasn't like it doubled Fedor over. I'm sure that if the fight went on longer Fedor would have adjusted to Arlovski's timing and would have found his rhythm.
Arlovski's jump for the flying knee was aweful! Looked like he was going to do an olympic board diving jump. WTF was that? Per his own words he truly did dump his chance down the toilet. Fedor stood calm and capitalized on the first opportunity Arlovski gave him and finished the fight. Is that his magic? May be.
All I know is that I can't wait to see it again. Affliction together with it's great allies in Trump and Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Productions should strike again while the iron is still hot and promote yet another Fedor headliner event. Hopefully in another six months. I wish they wouldn't give Barnett a chance at Fedor because while it will be entertaining I think it won't have that "this is the fight Fedor may finally lose" type hype. Arlovski vs Fedor 2 would garner more attention and may be Arlovski won't go to boxing just yet. Arlovski is just so much more marketable than Barnett - he is Russian, very hairy, thick beard and those vampire/werewolf teeth gimmick will just sell tickets and PPV buys. We'll see what happens. Until then Fedor is KING!
Check out and learn Fedor's MMA style from his new book: Fedor: The Fighting System of the World's Undisputed King of MMA
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