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The 3 weekends of heaven for MMA fans continues Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anahiem, California when Affliction presents their sophomore pay per view entitled Day of Reckoning. The main event is a dream fight, between “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski. And with 3 other incredible bouts on the card, it could prove to be one hell of a night for fight fans.
Lets start with the main event. It’s been anticipated ever since Fedor absoloutely destroyed Tim Sylvia at Affliction’s first PPV; on that same card, Arlovski took a TKO win over Ben Rothwell. He followed that up with a KO of Roy Nelson in October on an Elite XC show. What’s great about this fight is that these are 2 of the best heavyweight fighters ever in the game AND they’re also 2 of the best heavyweights in the world right now. And in Fedor’s case…he’s the top dog period, heavyweight or otherwise.
Lets start with the man on top of the mountain. If you’re not familiar with Fedor, it’s pretty simple…he is Russian and he is not human. Even though his record sits at 28-1-0, he really is as close to an unbeatable fighter as you can get. The 1 loss came because a cut was opened above his eye and it had to be stopped…he’s never been submitted or knocked out. His wins have come in such dominant, and almost easy, fashion over such names as Minotauro Nogueira, Renato Sobral, Heath Herring, Mark Coleman (twice), Kevin Randleman, and Mirko Cro-Cop. You can do whatever you like to the guy, it just seems impossible to beat him. Ask Randleman, who was slamming and suplexing the guy all over the ring in their 2004 PRIDE fight. But, after taking a few vicious clams, Fedor just settled in and locked in a sick kimora and made him tap. Sylvia didn’t even get out of the first minute of the fight…he got caught by a sick combo and submitted to a rear naked choke. He is a freak kickboxer, has incredible throw power with his judo background, and that doesn’t even include the scariest aspect of his game. That would be his sambo, the Russian created self defence, where he can seemingly submit you from any position.
Now, that’s not to say the Belerussian Arlovski doesn’t stand a chance. “The Pitbull” (14-5-0) can go toe to toe with Fedor in the Sambo game, so that aspect of the fight is a wash. With Arlovski, you’re looking at a guy who seems to have trouble with superior strikers and superior standup fighters. His 2 UFC losses to Tim Sylvia are evidence of this. Now please, don’t misinterpret that as me saying Sylvia is a great standup fighter. But what he does is use his monkey reach to keep fighters on the outside, and he makes it difficult for them to strike with him. In Arlovski’s first loss to Sylvia, he was KO’ed in the first round. The second fight went Sylvia’s way in a (boring) 5 round decision. But Arlovski sits with a 5 fight win streak, and does have impressive wins over Justin Eillers and Fabricio Werdum.
I see the fight breaking down this way…I believe Arlovski will be able to slam Fedor and get him to the ground a few times in this fight. While there, it will be an incredible chess match between the 2. As I mentioned, their ground games are a wash in my eyes, and I’m not so sure Fedor will be able to lock in an arm bar or kimora as easily as he has against others. Arlovski might even be able to work a little ground and pound from top position, but he won’t have long to do so, because Fedor can scramble with the best of them. The problem here is that Fedor really is a superior striker, and may have the most vicious leg kicks in MMA today. I see him working a solid standup game for the first 2 rounds, weathering the Arlovski storm, and eventually chopping down the tree enough to open him up for a takedown. Once Fedor has top position, he’ll do some damage, and I see him taking a 3rd round TKO.
As great a main event as that is, the card is stacked beyond that! Josh Barnett (22-5-0) is back for a heavyweight battle with Gilbert Yvel (35-12-1). With Barnett, it’s all about the ground…he’s able to take guys down almost at will sometimes, and has an overlooked ground game. He has 14 of his wins via submission, but I see him taking a TKO in this fight.
How about “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort (17-8-0) back in action against the aforementioned Matt Lindland (21-5-) at 185. This one could steal the show in my eyes, with Vitor being maybe the most underrated fighter on the planet. Remember, this is a guy who holds a win over Randy Couture, Wanderlei Silva, and Heath Herring and has stood in there with Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Allistair Overeem. But Lindland is just so savvy, you can never count him out…this is a guy with solid wins over Phil Baroni, Pat Miletich, and Joe Doerksen. He’s also gone toe to toe with Fedor and Rampage…he knows how to win a fight. Oh and did I mention he won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in Greco-Roman Wrestling? I think he wins this fight via TKO, because history has shown Belfort does not do well with good wrestlers.
Finally, I’m very intrigued by the possibilities of the fight between Renato “Babalu” Sobral (30-7-0) and Thierry Sokoudju (5-3-0) at 205 pounds. Sokoudju comes off a not-so-great tenure in the UFC and has something to prove, while Babalu is one of the potentially scariest guys in the sport on any given night. Sobral is a submission freak and even has a submission win over Shogun. It’s a 4 fight win streak for Sobral, a guy who has lost 3 of his 7 fights to Chuck Liddell (twice) and Fedor. Sokoudju is the wildcard though…the 24 year old from Cameroon wants to get back on the winning track, but is going to have to do so by keeping this fight on his feet. This has the potential to be a very entertaining standup fight, but I like Babalu to win via submission after taking this thing to the ground.
Oh yeah, next Saturday it’s only UFC 94 with Georges and BJ. No big deal.
Hey Pat – I enjoyed this card. I was salivating by the time Fedor and AA came on but of course, was lefting wanting more. Arlovski impressed me with how he was taking his strikes to Fedor earlier on – Arlovski’s early kicks and that big right almost looked to have stunned Fedor. He left himself open after most of his strikes – which is a recipe for disaster with Fedor. It was only a matter of time.
Man, did Barnett ever impress me. Guy looked on fire. His ground and pound looked vicious!! I thought for sure it was going to end from a kimura – Barnett tried to land that like 3-4 times. I thought the ref could’ve almost called it after that vicious flurry at the end of the 1st – good on him for letting it continue.
Belfort v. Lindland. WOW!! As much as we all like knockouts – the last thing you want to see is someone SERIOUSLY hurt. That truly sets the sport back. I was really glad to see Lindland walk out under his own power. Vicious. Belfort has always been on my list of faves.
I’ve never been a Babalu fan, but enjoyed this fight. I thought the 1st round was competitive and could’ve gone either way. After Babalu’s double leg, Soku just looked lost on his back and gassed too. That lazy sweep by Soku opened him right up for the Darce choke. Good fight though.
My question Pat. What’s next for Fedor? This guy is always shrouded in mystery it seems. I’m anxious to see a Fedor v. Barnett fight. Do you see that as the next step for Fedor?
One other thing – Pat, comments on the WEC 38 bout. I have a secret bromance with Urijah Faber. That body shot was SICK!!! From one fight fan to another, I hope you caught that card too. Faber is vicious, has great cardio and can finish. Can’t wait to see the Faber v. Brown rematch.
PS: Lets start with Fedor…you’re bang on, Arlovski was clearly winning that round and had the perfect gameplan. He was striking well and getting inside with his jab, and that upped his confidence, which is deadly against Fedor. He got cocky, left himself with a poorly executed flying knee, and bam, KO and Fedor remains the freak. What’s next? Well, it looks like Barnett is next on the docket…I don’t like the matchup for Barnett, at all, but at least it’s another big name matchup Affliction can promote. After that is where it falls off…ha…Kimbo Slice maybe? Problem is, Fedor doesn’t seem to care if he fights the best in the world, so because of that, the UFC is still probably a ways away.
Barnett is a prototype ground and pound guy…and in this matchup he was clearly outmatched standing, so he continually brought it to the ground. Good gameplan, and very few can escape when Barnett is in their half-guard, let alone in full mount like he was for seemingly the entire fight. He’s going to have to really concentrate on keeping his limbs safe if he has the same gameplan against Fedor, however.
I really thought Lindland was going to win that fight! But kudos to Vitor, FINALLY it seems the guy is back on track, and I don’t know, I’m kinda scared about what this guy can do at 185. It seems like he’s finally found his weight class and I could see the UFC come calling here, especially with the thin ranks of the middleweight division. Sokoudju is really starting to become a 1 trick pony…or in this case, a 1 round pony, because it seems as if he doesn’t win early, he doesn’t win at all. He looks lost off his back, and I was really disappointed from a guy who had so much success in PRIDE. But kudos to Sobral, once again, I thought he looked good.
As for WEC, I did indeed see it…Urijah freaks me out man, I think he is still easily the most talented guy at 145 and I really can’t wait for his rematch either. His striking is so crisp, and he’s just so quick. I wouldn’t say bromance for me…my man crushes are Cote and Lauzon.
- Ty