Fedor vs. Andrei Arlovski for Affliction 2

Fedor Emelianenko will face off against Andrei Arlovski Oct. 11. AP photos

Anyone who saw the Affliction card last Sat. night (I watched it online later) saw two dominating, scratch that, three dominating performances from heavyweights: Fedor, Arlovski and Barnett. Well, Barnett has fought and lost to Fedor before, but Arlovski hasn't, and Arlovski is such a dynamic, quick HW that I immediately thought, "Hey, why don't they match up the Russian (Fedor) with the Belarussian. In my opinion, Andrei could at least threaten Fedor, although I don't see anyone defeating "The Last Emperor" any time soon. He's just too good! In fact, I easily put Fedor as best PNPnder in the world followed by Anderson Silva and then Georges St. Pierre. Other contenders for the holy grail of rankings IMHO include BJ Penn and Uriah Faber to name just two. Check out Sherdog's rankings here. I'll likely post about them soon and discuss the implications.

I am going to pick Fedor in this battle but I can imagine him losing IF he were to catch a quick punch and get KO'd, but if what Fedor has been doing to people lately is any indication of the outcome of this fight, I say Fedor r. 1 submission.

Fedor's record FYI:

Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location
Win	SylviaTim Sylvia	Submission (rear naked choke)	Affliction: Banned	02008-07-19 19 July 2008	1	0:36	Anaheim, California, United States
Win	ChoiHong-Man Choi	Submission (armbar)	Yarennoka!	02007-12-31 31 December 2007	1	1:54	Saitama, Japan
Win	LindlandMatt Lindland	Submission (armbar)	BodogFIGHT - Clash of the Nations	02007-04-14 14 April 2007	1	2:58	St. Petersburg, Russia
Win	HuntMark Hunt	Submission (kimura)	PRIDE Shockwave 2006	02006-12-31 31 December 2006	1	8:16	Saitama, Japan
Win	Coleman 2Mark Coleman	Submission (armbar)	PRIDE 32: The Real Deal	02006-10-21 21 October 2006	2	1:15	Las Vegas, United States
Win	ZuluzinhoZuluzinho	Submission (strikes)	PRIDE Shockwave 2005	02005-12-31 31 December 2005	1	0:26	Saitama, Japan
Win	FilipovićMirko Filipović	Decision (unanimous)	PRIDE Final Conflict 2005	02005-08-28 28 August 2005	3	5:00	Saitama, Japan
Win	Kohsaka 2Tsuyoshi Kohsaka	TKO (doctor stoppage)	PRIDE Bushido 6	02005-04-03 3 April 2005	1	10:00	Yokohama, Japan
Win	Nogueira 3Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	Decision (unanimous)	PRIDE Shockwave 2004	02004-12-31 31 December 2004	3	5:00	Saitama, Japan
zNC	Nogueira 2Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	No contest (accidental headbutt)	PRIDE Final Conflict 2004	02004-08-15 15 August 2004	1	3:52	Saitama, Japan
Win	OgawaNaoya Ogawa	Submission (armbar)	PRIDE Final Conflict 2004	02004-08-14 14 August 2004August 15, 2004	1	0:54	Saitinokiama, Japan
Win	RandlemanKevin Randleman	Submission (kimura)	PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004	02004-06-20 20 June 2004	1	1:33	Saitama, Japan
Win	Coleman 1Mark Coleman	Submission (armbar)	PRIDE Total Elimination 2004	02004-04-25 25 April 2004	1	2:11	Saitama, Japan
Win	NagataYuji Nagata	TKO (punches)	Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003	02003-12-31 31 December 2003	1	1:02	Kobe, Japan
Win	GoodridgeGary Goodridge	TKO (strikes)	PRIDE Total Elimination 2003	02003-08-10 10 August 2003	1	1:09	Saitama, Japan
Win	FujitaKazuyuki Fujita	Submission (rear naked choke)	PRIDE 26: Bad to the Bone	02003-06-08 8 June 2003	1	4:17	Tokyo, Japan
Win	ValaviciusEgidijus Valavicius	Submission (kimura)	RINGS Lithuania - Bushido Rings 7: Adrenalinas	02003-04-05 5 April 2003	2	1:11	Vilnius, Lithuania
Win	Nogueira 1Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	Decision (unanimous)	PRIDE 25: Body Blow	02003-03-16 16 March 2003	3	5:00	Yokohama, Japan
Win	HerringHeath Herring	TKO (doctor stoppage)	PRIDE 23: Championship Chaos 2	02002-11-24 24 November 2002	1	10:00	Tokyo, Japan
Win	SchiltSemmy Schilt	Decision (unanimous)	PRIDE 21: Demolition	02002-06-23 23 June 2002	3	5:00	Saitama, Japan
Win	HasemanChris Haseman	TKO (lost points)	RINGS - World Title Series Grand Final	02002-02-15 15 February 2002	1	2:50	Kanagawa, Japan
Win	HasdellLee Hasdell	Submission (guillotine choke)	RINGS - World Title Series 5	02001-12-21 21 December 2001	1	4:10	Kanagawa, Japan
Win	YanagisawaRyushi Yanagisawa	Decision (unanimous)	RINGS - World Title Series 4	02001-10-20 20 October 2001	3	5:00	Tokyo, Japan
Win	SobralRenato Sobral	Decision (unanimous)	RINGS - 10th Anniversary	02001-08-11 11 August 2001	2	5:00	Tokyo, Japan
Win	SchallKerry Schall	Submission (armbar)	RINGS - World Title Series 1	02001-04-20 20 April 2001	1	1:47	Tokyo, Japan
Win	ApostolovMihail Apostolov	Submission (rear naked choke)	RINGS Russia - Russia vs. Bulgaria	02001-04-06 6 April 2001	1	1:03	Ekaterinburg, Russia
xLoss	Kohsaka 1Tsuyoshi Kohsaka	TKO (cut)	RINGS - King of Kings 2000 Block B	02000-12-22 22 December 2000	1	0:17	Osaka, Japan
Win	AronaRicardo Arona	Decision (unanimous)	RINGS - King of Kings 2000 Block B	02000-12-21 21 December 2000December 22, 2000	3	5:00	Osaka, Japan
Win	TakadaHiroya Takada	KO (punches)	RINGS - Battle Genesis Vol. 6	02000-09-05 5 September 2000	1	0:12	Tokyo, Japan
Win	LagvilavaLevon Lagvilava	Submission (choke)	RINGS - Russia vs. Georgia	02000-08-16 16 August 2000	1	7:24	Tula, Russia
Win[7]	LazarevMartin Lazarev	Submission (guillotine choke)	RINGS - ?	01900-01-01 1 January 19002000[1]	1	2:24	Ekaterinburg, Russia

"I've got the Truth Serum" says Keith Jardine

Griffin vs. Jardine

Jardine needs a win. Vera needs to prove himself even though he came out on top last week against Reese Andy, a newcomer to the UFC. So? Put them in a cage and lock the door.

A source tells Cage Potato (cagepotato.com) that Keith Jardine will be the next opponent for Brandon Vera following his decision win over Reese Andy this past Saturday. The match seems to indicate that Vera’s stay in the light heavyweight division may be longer than he might have liked.

Jardine needs a victory after his TKO loss to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 84, and going against the once-highly touted heavyweight prospect Vera gives him a golden opportunity to get back in the running for the UFC’s light heavyweight title.

There’s no word yet on exactly when the fight will take place, but we’ll bring you more as the story develops.

UFC 87 My Place, August 9th

Click here for the trailer--->UFC 87: Seek and Destroy Preview

I get to see my favorite fighter defend his belt from Jon Fitch who has won 16 fights in a row. Whoa, that's impressive, especially since I think eight of those have been in the UFC. I've got GSP all the way though. Rumor has it that if GSP defends the belt two or three times in a row, he'll move to middleweight and fight Anderson Silva if he's still on top.

Brock Lesnar, former pro-wrestler, will fight for the second time under the UFC banner. He dominated his first opponent until he was submitted at around the three minute marker. He looked like a beast despite the loss. This time he's fighting Heath Herring who likes to stand and throw leather. It's no mystery that Lesnar will look for the takedown and iniate his ground and pound. Special mma gloves were made for him since his hands are so big. Ugly tattoo on the chest.

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Diego Sanchez is Back and He Wants the Title...He'll Get the Pit Bull, Thiago Alves, First

Sanchez, a pretty wierd and, in my opinion, immature guy, has finished his last two opponents in dominating fashion and he'll soon get a title shot if he can get past Thiago Alves who has picked up wins over Karo "The Heat" Parisyan and Matt Hughes. This is going to a great fight, pehaps even fight of the year. Although I'm not a fan of either of thee guys, they're both great fighters. If I had to pick a winner, I'm going with Sanchez for his tenacity and the fact that I personally love to watch him fight.


Diego Sanchez vs Thiago Alves UFC 90 fight in the works
By: MMAmania

Two of the top — and most exciting — 170-pound fighters in the world will likely collide at UFC 90 at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Ill., on October 25.

MMAWeekly.com is once again reporting that Thiago Alves (15-3) and Diego Sanchez (19-2) will throw leather, setting the stage for a blockbuster welterweight showdown that will more than likely determine the next number one title contender in the stacked division.

The talented pair were first rumored to go toe-to-toe at UFC 89: “Leben vs. Bisping” one week earlier; however, the bout was reportedly bumped once the light heavyweight showdown between Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva was added to the European card.

Alves is fresh of ridiculous performance against Matt Hughes, taking out the former champion in the second round of their main event tilt at UFC 85: “Bedlam” just last month. Prior to that, “The Pitbull” wiped out another perennial powerhouse, Karo Parisyan, at UFC Fight Night 13.

The 24-year-old Brazilian was already on the fast track to an eventual title shot. And a win over Sanchez would certainly put him over the top.

“The Nightmare” has rebounded from back-to-back losses in 2007 to stop Luigi Fioravanti and David Bielkheden, respectively, in equally impressive fights. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season one winner seems to have recaptured his form that had most pundits expecting that he would one day soon challenge for a belt.

Again, a win over a very explosive fighter such as Alves will put him right there.

Talk about a great fight.

DREAM 5 on HDNet last night capped off a mega MMA weekend!

DREAM 5 recap: Joachim Hansen steals the show to become 2008 Lightweight Grand Prix winner

By: James Iannotti

DREAM 5 capped off a huge weekend of mixed martial arts around the globe.

With most of the hype surrounding the Affliction pay-per-view (PPV) and the UFC event on Spike TV, it seemed like the DREAM card, which featured the conclusion of the lightweight grand prix, wasn’t getting the recognition it deserved.

However, after watching all three events I’m not sure if the DREAM event wasn’t the best of the three.

The tournament — to this point — had been highlighted by the fight of the year candidate in the quarterfinals between Eddie Alvarez and Joachim Hansen, as well as the submission mastery from Shinya Aoki. There were a lot of people who thought the winner of that great quarterfinal fight had a great chance to win the whole tournament even though Aoki was still maintaining his position as the favorite.

What nobody expected was for an eliminated fighter to actually be the one who would be crowned the champion when everything was all said and done.

Here’s how it played out.

Aoki won his semifinal bout against journeyman Caol Uno by unanimous decision. He used a strong jiu-jitsu attack, throwing nearly every submission attempt in the book at Uno. To Uno’s credit, he defended everything nicely, but his lack of an offensive attack clearly led to his demise in the eyes of the judges.

The other side of the bracket featured Eddie Alvarez against Tatsuya Kawajiri — a completely different style fight. Both of these guys like to bang … and bang they did. This was a back and forth all out war. Each fighter was pushed to his limit and both guys looked to be close to defeat more than once. But in the end it was Eddie Alvarez — the dark horse from Philadelphia — who landed the last flurry that ended the tournament for Kawajiri.

It was just another crowd pleasing performance from Alvarez and it looked as though he’d be in the finals against Aoki. But his night took an unexpected turn and his tournament was brought to a disappointing end when a cut he sustained from one of the many Kawajiri punches swelled his eye almost completely shut, causing the doctor’s to force his withdrawal.

What had started off as a great night of fights abruptly turned into a total feeling of disappointment.

However, with Alvarez now out, there still had to be an opponent for Aoki in the final. The show had to go on. Strategic planning by the Japanese promotion had Joachim Hansen and Kultar Gill competing in an alternate match just in case.

Hansen was able to weather an early storm from the “Black Mamba” and he locked up an armbar midway through the first round. After the win “Hellboy” found himself suddenly right back in position to win the tournament. Winning that title was not going to be easy though. He would have to avenge a first round submission loss to Aoki from a couple years ago in order to do so.

Ever the opportunist, Hansen was not going to let a second chance to win this tournament go by. He made quick work of Aoki even after getting taken to the ground almost immediately after the opening bell. His strength and power proved to be a problem for the submission artist, as Hansen pounded him out for a technical knockout win just a little over four minutes into the match.

Eddie Alvarez was one of the first guys in the ring to congratulate Hansen, and a the newly crowned champion respectfully announced his first defense would be against the Philadelphia native.

Alvarez vs. Hansen II — sign me up for some of that!

The rest of the card was littered with numerous quality submissions. Not allowing elbows to the face on the ground takes the submission game to a whole new level. I’m still not sold either way as far as the rules go, but I really enjoyed watching all the submissions tonight.

Mark Hunt fell victim to one of those submissions in his return to the ring after nearly a two year absence. Alistair Overeem — who was fighting on three days notice — easily secured a shoulder lock less than two minutes into the fight. Hunt still has that massive power, but he clearly had some ring rust. Perhaps this win will mean Overeem will get the match against Mirko Cro Cop he’s been begging for the last couple of months.

That would be an exciting fight to watch if Cro Cop is ever healthy enough to actually fight.

Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Hideo Tokoro, Joseph Benevidez, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Daisuke Nakamura were all impressive in victories as well. Hironaka was coming off losing three of four in the UFC and Benevidez is a Urijah Faber trainee who moved his professional record to 8-0.

All in all, I was impressed with the event tonight. Despite the disappointment of Alvarez being forced out of the finals, this was still a fun card to watch. I can’t even imagine how sick it would have been had Denis Kang, Nick Diaz, “Mach” Sakurai, “Kid” Yamamoto and Cro Cop all competed as originally planned.

I think these events are only going to get better and better, starting with DREAM 6 which will feature the conclusion of the middleweight grand prix.

Can’t wait!

For DREAM 5 results and blow-by-blow coverage click here.

MMA Quick Quote: Is Fedor next fight against Randy Couture?

By: MMAmania

“I was very pleased with my performance [against Tim Sylvia]. Everything I wanted to do I was able to do…. Yeah I was hoping I would end the fight then (first time he took Sylvia to the mat). I was prepared to fight standing up, but I knew I had a better chance to end it on the ground…. You never know how short or long the fight will be, but I just wanted to end it as quickly as possible. I just wanted to show the fans my skills…. I was very pleasantly impressed by how many people came out and I hope to come back soon…. I would be very honored to fight Randy Couture.”

– WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko provides some post-fight comments after his 36-second destruction of former UFC champion Tim Sylvia at Affliction: “Banned” on July 19. The match up with Randy Couture has been beat to death ever since “The Natural” relinquished his UFC title last year to pursue a fight with the Russian Sambo specialist. That talk will likely now heat up again — Couture was in the ring after the main event fight and the two fighters were interviewed on camera. Couture is prohibited from fighting in any other promotion until his legal situation with Zuffa is resolved. However, we should get some further clarification on that matter before the month is out.

Giants Remain Giants: Ultimate Fight Night 14 and Affliction Banned Fight Videos

Wow! What a night of fights! We enjoyed watermelon, fresh from Ryan's garden I might add, and watched The Spider remain unbeaten in the UFC (sorry, but if you haven't seen the fights and didn't want to know, don't read MMA blogs). The rest of the fights were intriguing and there were some highlight reel KOs and subs, but for the most part the big fights went the distance.

Since I wasn't able to make it over to Chris' place for the Affliction card, I found them online and here's the Fedor v. Sylvia fight.

Fedor vs. Sylvia:



Silva vs. Irvin:


So, my friends, who's the best PnP, Fedor or A. Silva? Watch the fights and let me know. In some ways, I find the Fedor win more spectacular since he uses Sylvia's best tactic to take the big man down (strikes) but who can argue with the pinpoin accuracy and power of The Spider? Personally, my favorite fighters to watch (not necessarily my favorite personalities, but FIGHTERS) goes like this:

1. GSP (favorite fighter and great person)
2. Anderson Silva (same as above)
3. Fedor (amazing fighter, stone cold, and very nice...look at how he treats his opponent after the win)
4. BJ Penn (awesome athlete, always entertaining but often too cocky for me)
5. Forrest Griffin (not the greatest fighter but very entertaining)

Bandwidth exceeded

So, I guess traffic here on the blog has gone up a lot because the little pics I have posted, namely the animated GIFS like the one of the fighter's failed back flip, have been accessed so many times that they shut off the bandwidth to my Photobucket account. I guess I'll have to wait for a while and they'll turn it back on. Anyway, a lot more people than I thought are finding the blog via search engines and reading the articles I post or the ones I bring in from other sites like mmamania.com, etc.

I do this just for fun, as a sort of little hobby on the side, but with the world wide reach of the web, it's interesting to see that dozens of people I don't know come to, or stumble upon, the blog each day. Who knows, maybe some day some dude will just show up on my front porch one night ready to watch the fights with us. As long as he doesn't stink and brings his $5, it's cool! jk

So no more gifs for now, which is a shame because I have that Tito getting kneed in the liver by Machida which I wanted to put up near the top.

I think once I get my Master's program done I'll actually start doing more writing instead of just news blips, but I doubt it, I'm way too lazy!

Quinton Jackson Taken In For Observation

Quinton Jackson Taken In For Observation