By Joe Ferraro
The return of “The Last Emperor” is upon us, as Fedor Emelianenko is set to take on Brazilian Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum on Saturday night, as part of Strikeforce’s latest card at the HP Pavilion on their home turf of San Jose, California.During last night’s Fan 590 broadcast of “The Showdown”, Tyler “The Intern” and I, offered up our predictions of who will emerge victorious, and to sum up our prognostication, we did not agree on the main event.
Before we get to the big fight, we did examine the other three bouts on the broadcast and did agree that Josh Thompson will have a difficult time with Pat Healey, but that Josh will find a way to win. In the rematch between Cung Le and everyone’s favourite fighter, Scott Smith (whose new nickname is or should be “The Comeback Kid”), it is expected that Le will fight a much smarter bout, and not engage the brawler that is Smith, and avenge the loss from December of last year.
As for the co-main event, Jan Finney is being touted as one of the biggest underdogs in MMA history, as she takes on Women’s Featherweight Champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos in what is expected to be a merciless beating, maybe even worse that what happened to the beloved Rosi Sexton, when she was brutally knocked out by Zoila Frausto at Thursday night’s Bellator XXIII. Here’s hoping Finney’s puncher’s chance becomes a reality or that Cyborg defeats her as painlessly as possible.
As for the main event, hands down, Tyler picked Fedor - I did not.
While Emelianenko may be the greatest heavyweight of all time, and yes, number three on my pound for pound list, I get the inclination that there may be an upset here. His slow starts vs Andre Arlovski and Brett Rogers were a sign to me that he is “slowly” beginning to fade. Minus that devastating right hand, and his explosive submissions, I believe Werdum is going to pull off the upset.
I’m not sure what Werdum’s game plan is, but based on the history of both of their fights, if Werdum can protect his chin, score the takedown, and put Fedor on his back, he may be able to pull this off. If he cannot get the takedown and/or does get it but ends up with Fedor on top, I do not like his chances. Just watch this video here, of how Fedor’s ground and pound turns MMA legends, into mortals.
It’s too easy to pick Fedor in this fight, so I’m going out on a limb - Werdum will pull off the upset. If he does not, I’m sure Tyler and all of the callers will berate me during next week’s show.
Misc MMA News
• Bellator XXIII results show that I missed the boat on Alexander Shlemenko def. Bryan Baker to win the middleweight tourney, as I picked Baker straight up, but, I was bang on with Joe Warren taking out Patricio Pitbull in the featherweight finals. Good for Warren, who by the way, is one of the funniest fighters out there. He was quite the character when I was interviewing Dan Henderson at UFC 100, and when I asked Hendo if he could match up any two fighters in any weight class, the MMA legend pointed at Warren, and stated he’d like to see him matched up against Brock Lesnar…I kid you not.
• Chael Sonnen is up to his old tricks on twitter, with his latest post not only taking a shot at Anderson Silva, but also towards Jose Canseco, when he stated “Maybe after I destroy the Anderson Silva myth, he can get work on fellow MMA “fighter” Jose Canseco’s upcoming porn flick as “fluffer.”
• Speaking of Silva, you can file this next quote under “WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?”, as the UFC middleweight champion stated ”I don’t think a fight with GSP [George St. Pierre] will ever happen. It’s not a fight I want to have and I don’t think GSP wants it either.”
• I echo Rashad Evan’s recent statements that he’s tired of trying to explain to fans (who do not get it) that his game plan vs Rampage Jackson was a sound one, and not a boring one. GSP has said it before as well, that why would he, Rashad, or any truly intelligent fighter want to shorten their career with punches to the head, when they can simply execute a strategy that minimizes striking damage, while maximizing that which you launch upon your opponent. It’s Mixed Martial Arts folks - not Boxing, Kick Boxing, or Muay Thai.
• Rashad’s teammate, Keith Jardine has been cut by the UFC. Having lost four straight, and six of his last eight, it was an unfortunate outcome to an eventual situation. But, I disagree with what Zuffa did here. I explained, again, on last night’s broadcast of “The Showdown”, how and why, Keith Jardine can be kept on their roster, and sent down to the WEC. “What” you say? Listen to the show as to my reasoning why this makes sense.
• When it comes to the featherweight division, most North American fans focus on what they see via the WEC, but their 145 lbs knowledge expansion should include what’s happening in Japan, where Marlon Sandro continues to take his stock value to a new high, where he recently knocked out Masenori Kanehara at SRC 13. So the question now is, will he stay overseas, or will WEC Match Maker Sean Shelby, eventually scoop him up?
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