Affliction: Day of Reckoning

[jmt225]

As if UFC 93 and 94 weren’t enough for the month of January, we also have this on tap for this Saturday:

PPV Fights
WAMMA Heavyweight Championship: Fedor Emelianenko (Champion) vs. Andrei Arlovski
Heavyweight: Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel
Light Heavyweight: Renato Sobral vs. Sokoudjou
Middleweight: Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort
Heavyweight: Paul Buentello vs. Kirill Sidelnikov

HDNet matches
Light Heavyweight: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Welterweight: Jay Hieron vs. Jason High
Featherweight: Bao Quach vs. LC Davis
Featherweight: Albert Rios vs. Antonio Duarte
Welterweight: Brett Cooper vs. Patrick Speight

And if that’s not enough, then color commentary will be provided by Tito Ortiz of all people.

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t all that impressed with Affliction’s first show. I thought the production was poor, it looked too much like a Boxing event (rather than MMA) and I believe Mixed Martial Arts belongs in a cage.

That being said, everyone is focused on the main event, and rightfully so. Either Fedor will be able to claim victory over yet another former UFC Heavyweight Champion, or Andrei Arlovski will pull off the biggest upset since GSP vs. Serra 1 and shut everyone from the "hardcore" MMA fans to Fedor’s pretentious management the fuck up. Although I like Fedor, I hope Arlovski wins this fight. I really am tired of hearing Fedor’s management and fans parade Fedor around as the best thing to ever happen in MMA, especially when the guy only fights one time a year.

I like Josh Barnett, until he opens his mouth, so I’m rooting for him to win. However, contrary to popular belief, I don’t see him fighting Fedor or Arlovski if he wins. I could care less about Sobral vs. Sokoudjou, especially considering that Sokoudjou was exposed big time in the UFC.

Other than rooting for lil’Nog, I don’t really care about the rest of the card.

 

[jmt225]

Okay, first of all, I had no idea that there was that big of height difference between Fedor and Arlovski. I mean, shit... when I saw the weigh in pictures, I thought Arlovski was standing on something.

Anyway, about the main event... Arlovski is going to beat himself up over and over again until his next fight. To get so over confident and make such a boneheaded move when you're actually controlling the fight… I'm sure he's just disgusted with himself.

But props to Fedor, man. One can say that was a lucky punch, but even if you were to say that, Fedor still got his hand fucking raised at the end of the day. Really, for a guy Fedor size to be able to knock a guy Arlovski size clean out like he did with a shot that didn't even look that devastating, that's fucking impressive.

I really hope Fedor decides to go to the UFC now. There's no one left to fight. You could say Barnett, but those two are never going to fight. Never. So, who else is there? There isn't anybody in Fedor's league outside of the UFC and if only for his fans, he should go there so we can see him up against the best of the best every few months, instead once/twice a year against nobodies and hasbeens (though I wouldn't call Arlovski a hasbeen, but he's certainly not much to brag about).

Anyway.. as far as the other fights I watched, Barnett looked great, Vitor Belfort was fucking beyond awesome and I hope he to can make his way back up to the UFC, and Sobral's bitch ass put on a good showing.

 

[Kasey]

Very satisfying card and very worth my money to get to see Fedor dispose of another ex-UFC champ. I bet Dana is kicking his own ass that he didn't just kowtow to Finkelstein's demands and pay the fucking money that Fedor is worth and allow some of the Red Devil guys to be used as cannon fodder to build his own stable of fighters. Barnett will likely be next and although I'm a huge Barnett fan, I don't see him posing any problems for Fedor in any aspect of the fight game.

Vitor also looked brilliant against Lindland and really drove home his resurgence in a big way. I also liked that Sokodjou was again shown that his wins in Pride would likely not be duplicated if he fought Arona and Lil' Nog again because Lyoto was able to crack the equation for dismantling Thierry at the fucking seams. For Christmas, Sok needs to ask Santa for a treadmill and some Frank Shamrock Submission tapes. I really dug the undercard as well and think that as long as Affliction can keep maintaining this level of competition and keep the California receipts rolling in, then they'll be alright.

On a side note...keep Ortiz the fuck off of the broadcast team and fire those two backstage ******s Zito and whats-his-face that sounds like Harvey Fierstein. Talk about legitimacy and credibility removal. I mean, how much does a guy like Quadros or Ranallo cost for fuck's sake? Ridiculous. I didn't mind the lead commentary team as they've developed a decent rhythm on M-1 Challenge so it wasn't something egregiously new for either guy, though.

 

[Marquis]

Great card, exceeded my expectations. I definitely felt it was worth every penny. I only watched the main card and was very happy with what i saw.

It was great to see Babalu continue his win streak by getting the win over Soko. Soko wasn't doing to bad, but once the fight went to the ground, Babalu did what he does best, go in for the Sub. Babalu's brabo choke was easily one of the best executed submissions i have seen.

Now for the other fights. Vitor looked great against Lindland. Gave him one hell of a KO. Barnett looked good as usual, but not good enough to beat Fedor. As for the Main Event. I was really hoping Arlovski would get the KO over Fedor to shut up all his fans, but alas Fedor as usual made quick work of Arlovski. Andrei was looking great the first 2 mins, but his over confidence and Fedor's composure cost him the fight.

Overall great card. I definitely look forward to the next Affliction card(Gegard Mousasi is rumored to fight on the next card)