Without apologies, Fedor and Affliction prove to be the best on July 19
By Pramit Mohapatra
Musical group One Republic has a song called "Apologize" that's quite popular these days. Its lyrics include the following lines:
You tell me that you need me, then you go and cut me down...
Tell me that you're sorry, didn't think I'd turn around...
It's too late to apologize...
Sounds a lot like the relationship Fedor Emelianenko has had with many skeptical MMA fans -- including me -- over the last few years, doesn't it? With one major difference: Fedor doesn't have to worry about an apology forthcoming from me when it comes to my recent concern regarding his place in MMA today.
There will be no apology for slowly moving Fedor down my pound-for-pound rankings with each passing month of inactivity or less-than-stellar competition. Not at a time when MMA is experiencing unprecedented growth with next-generation athletes bringing new skills into its midst. Not when Fedor's last true test against a top heavyweight before last night came in mid-2005 when he defeated Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in PRIDE.
Since then, Fedor has gone on to defeat Zuluzhino (in 26 seconds without any resistance), Mark Coleman (in front of his crying kids), Mark Hunt (whom he had screaming in pain), Matt Lindland (a middleweight), and Hong Man Choi (enough said.) Only Hunt even came close to bothering Fedor. And with each passing month -- and each underwhelming victory -- Fedor's legacy seemed to be tarnishing slowly. His prior glory replaced by a series of freakshow fights.
Until Saturday night. At Affliction: "Banned", Fedor showed that he is still the same man he was three years ago. He is still the most dominant heavyweight in the world and one of the top two pound-for-pound fighters in the world. How? By defeating a man -- Tim Sylvia -- whose credentials cannot be doubted. A former UFC champ, no one -- Andre Arlovski, Frank Mir, Randy Couture, or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira -- had ever made Sylvia look like that.
Fedor pounced in and grabbed the Miletich giant's head to bring it into punching range and from there put on a boxing clinic that floored Sylvia and allowed Fedor to use his legendary sambo to force a tapout due to choke.
It's heartening that Fedor's resurgent victory came on American soil, where he has virtually no name-recognition. With the sport growing in this country and with much of the world's top talent moving here, Fedor now has an opportunity to cement his legacy as the best MMA fighter ever in front of the next generation of fans. And MMA needs a dominant Fedor to be truly complete. And, given that MMA's headquarters are now located here, American fans need to witness his dominance for the story to be told completely.
While Fedor had slipped to sixth on my pound-for-pound rankings, he'll be back to where he belongs (tied with Anderson Silva for number one) after this victory. And, as long as he continues to fight the best Affliction has to offer (and boy does Affliction have plenty to offer) in the likes of Arlovksi, Barnett, and maybe even Randy Couture, Fedor will remain in consideration for that top spot for a long time to come.
The demise of "The Last Emperor" has been greatly exaggerated, including by me. But, I'm not apologizing. I'm just going to enjoy being wrong and hope Fedor continues turning in performances like last night's for a long time to come.
Affliction's debut a resounding success
It has been rare in recent years for the UFC to look like the minor leagues of MMA, but Saturday night in comparison to the event that Affliction put on, it certainly did. Most of the live MMA attendees on the night were at the Honda Center in Anaheim to watch Afflction (reportedly 13,988 of them) not at the Pearl in Las Vegas to watch the UFC; most celebrities -- including Manny Ramirez, Michael Strahan, Korn, Donald Trump, Tito Ortiz, and Randy Couture -- were at the Affliction event as well; and most importantly, the top fighters (save Anderson Silva) fought on the Affliction card.
For a debut event, Affliction did remarkably well, looking like a well-oiled major league promotion. The event was the kind you would expect to be put on by hardcore MMA fans, with not only great fights but minimal theatrics. There were no gyrating dancing women and no obscene fire-breathing dragons -- the entire focus was on the fighters and the fights. The event was well worth the pay-per-view price.
Still, I do have a couple of complaints. One is the decision to have periodic musical performances by Megadeth. While the metal band's performances gave me the opportunity to take breaks during the show, I would prefer that Affliction do away with musical numbers altogether and speed up the event. Or, compromise by giving us a band that has more present-day relevance (hey, Korn was in the house, right?)
The second complaint concerns the commentary. It was choppy at best, reminding me that Joe Rogan is still the best color commentator in MMA today. Too much time on the Affliction card was spent talking about Frank Trigg, who lamely dismissed a game Fabio Negao before his decision loss to Matt Lindland. I was also reminded that Rogan is the best post-fight in-ring interviewer as well, with Big John McCarthy struggling to ask relevant questions in his stint in the role.
Minor issues aside, the real question is, how did Affliction's debut event do financially? The initial attendance numbers were very encouraging. The next number of importance is the pay-per-view buys. With the promotion spending a fortune on fighter payroll (reportedly in the $4-6 million range), its top brass will have to figure out a way to recoup the money somehow. After all, I'm sure Trump didn't get into the MMA game to brag that he has the most expensive seats in the sport.
Here's hoping casual fans meander over to the first non-UFC promotion in this country in the last few years to get it right. It seems the UFC has finally met its match and if Affliction can sign Ortiz and Couture and stay afloat, watch out. The clothing company has a good thing going as it delves deeper into MMA promotion.
About that other dominant fighter
In contrast to the Affliction card, the UFC treated fans to just one top-caliber fighter. But, that fighter was Anderson Silva and watching him was free. And, his performance was nothing short of remarkable either. Maybe not Fedor-remarkable but certainly close.
Sporting newly-added musculature to move up to the 205-pound class, Silva still looked quick against one of the quicker light heavyweights -- James Irvin -- in the UFC. With Fedor-like calmness, Silva caught an Irvin body-kick, landed a fist that floored Irvin and pounced for the finish.
Silva appeared unaffected by the short training camp or the new weight class. Which brings to mind a scary question: is Silva good enough to challenge for the light heavyweight title and maybe hold two belts at once?
Shortly after both Fedor and Silva had completed their fights, I received a text message that posed a much loftier question: who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Silva or Fedor?
I say, why not have them decide in the ring instead of on paper? At this point, does anyone doubt that Silva would willingly move up to heavyweight in order to create the greatest fight this sport has ever seen?
The "wow" moment of the night
With a lot of impressive performances -- from Fedor to Arlovksi to Silva -- the "wow" moment of the night came in the final fight I watched (sometime around 2:30 AM ET) on the UFC card. Rory Markham provided that moment when he tagged Brodie Farber with a right head kick that stiffened Farber like a board as he came crashing down to the mat. It was quite a turnaround for Markham considering just moments earlier Farber held the upper hand, chasing Markham around the perimeter of the Octagon landing with his fists.
Refs strike again
Between the two cards, the refereeing was quite solid, featuring the top referees in the sport. However, Steve Mazzagatti's decision to award Kevin Burns a TKO victory over Anthony Johnson was nothing short of highway robbery. I had Johnson ahead or at worst tied with Burns up to that point. And, Burns had been warned on at least one prior occassion about eye pokes. The "strike" that floored Johnson was itself clearly an eye poke. So, how did Mazzagatti come up with his decision to award the victory to Burns?
I would have been satisfied with a ruling of "No contest" but I still believe Johnson deserves the victory by disqualification. Is there any reason the Nevada State Athletic Commission can't consult the video tape or consult witnesses and change the ruling?
Regardless, that decision couldn't ruin what turned out to be a fantastic night of MMA -- maybe the best this sport has ever seen (with DREAM.5 still to come later this weekend in Japan.) Let's hope that this is just the tip of the iceberg as we enter the golden age for MMA.
And let's also hope that MMA realizes that it needs Fedor and Affliction as well as Silva and the UFC. Without apologies.
(Photo of Fedor Emelianenko courtesy of Affliction Web site.)
Comments
Pramit I couldn't agree with
Pramit I couldn't agree with you more, although I did find 'Affliction: Banned' to be a shaky promotion at best while they weren't in the midst of showcasing some of the world's most outstanding fights/fighters...
I don't think anyone could
I don't think anyone could have said it better. Well said, Pramit.
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Great article Pramit! An
Great article Pramit!
An interesting tidbit from Kevin Iole regarding D. White's thoughts on Fedor over at Yahoo! Sports:
---------------------------
But upon learning that Emelianenko had submitted ex-UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia on Saturday in Anaheim, Calif., in less than a minute, White unflinchingly admitted he was impressed.
“It does (change my opinion),” he conceded. “Tim Sylvia was a real opponent.”
But it didn’t change his opinion enough to make him reconsider his opinion that Anderson Silva is the world’s best fighter.
---------------------------
Great article Pramit. I
Great article Pramit. I couldn't agree with you more about the announcers and the fact that Megadeath was part of the show, I could take seeing them once to open the show and maybe once more to close but it ruined the flow for me.
As far as Dana White's comments he said what we all should have expected him to say, that Silva is the pound for pound number 1 fighter in the world. What promoter isn't going to pump his guy up, it is only natural.
Affliction has a long way to go, they need to sign some fighters in the other weight classes, they need to enhance their production and they need to look into who they want calling their fights. I think some cross promotion between Affliction, Strikeforce & EXC would do wonders for all three promotions as they all have their stars in different weight classes.
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Just read through the
Just read through the article a bit again. I definitely agree with you about Burns victory that was ridiculous. It's like without his mustache, Mazzagatti's competent decision making ability just flies out the window...
MMAcademics wrote: Great
Great article Pramit!
An interesting tidbit from Kevin Iole regarding D. White's thoughts on Fedor over at Yahoo! Sports:
---------------------------
But upon learning that Emelianenko had submitted ex-UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia on Saturday in Anaheim, Calif., in less than a minute, White unflinchingly admitted he was impressed.
“It does (change my opinion),” he conceded. “Tim Sylvia was a real opponent.”
But it didn’t change his opinion enough to make him reconsider his opinion that Anderson Silva is the world’s best fighter.
---------------------------
Whether Silva is the top fighter is irrelevant -- White is simply trying to deflect attention away from his Fedor mistake. If White could have found a way to compromise with Fedor, the UFC heavyweight division would still be intact. White's pride can be credited for opening the door for Affliction...And Affliction took full advantage...
so i heard they dropped the
so i heard they dropped the levens fight because supposedly they had "time constraints" ...
nice.
they have time to waste on like 3 megadeath sets, they waste time re-running some stupid highlight footage loop before the 31 second main event ... end up with about 30 minutes left of airtime, and the people in charge decided to drop a fight for time constraints?
Very well said Pramit. The
Very well said Pramit. The Megadeath breaks irritated the snot out of me. Fortunately, I DVR'd both UFC and Affliction and watched them delayed with the friends who had come to help me move/unpack later in the night. So, no commercials with UFC and I didnt have to suffer Megadeath. DVR rocks.
I liked the Affliction event much better though because they had the more interesting fights. Anderson Silva fighting James Irvin was about as gratifying as seeing Fedor beat Coleman or Zulu a couple of years ago. Sure... each had an outside shot at winning, but really it was a 'can' fight against a guy who was not a top 10 or even arguably a top 20 fighter in his respective weight class. Anderson Silva did exactly what the P4P best fighter in the world should have done against a non-contender from the weight class above him. He did it in spectactular fashion and it was fun to watch, but I would have rather waited a couple weeks and see Anderson against a legit 205 contender such as Wandie, Rua or even seen him go against Vera instead. So instead UFC gave us Anderson Silva, top P4P fighter in the world against... a non-top 20 LHW. And Brandon Vera, the guy hyped to possibly hold both LHW and HW titles simutaneously against... a non-top 20 LHW. Bummer.
It is a little humerous to
It is a little humerous to me that we are even comparing the two events on a level playing field. Lets face it Affliction blew their entire load on one PPV. The UFC put an event on the same night not to out show them but to hurt their business...the classic why buy the milk for $45 bucks when you can get good milk right next door for free. How many people looked at the two events and said "I'll watch the free one on Spike and download the expensive PPV off the web for free later."
Now to the fights...Both were good shows. I can't believe they ruined the flow between Arlovski and thier main event with Megadeth. After watching Silva destroy Irvin I thought to myself ya...that's why they call him P4P king. Then I flipped back to Affliction and watched Fedor Destroy Tim. Ok Fedor is back and now he deserves the #1 HW and arguably the top P4P. It is shocking to think that SIlva could beat a dude in a weight class above his own and drop to #2 in the P4P class but I can actually see it happening. Maybe Dana is thinking twice about not giving him better 205 competition...If he destroyed even Rashad Evans in similar manner could Fedor have passed him?
Just a thought...Fedor is a puny HW...230 and I assume he doesn't cut...why would he. Wouldn't it be fun to see Fedor Cut to 205 and fight Anderson?
Hell Tito used to cut that much why can't Fedor...Just a thought.
SBRadial good though, I was
SBRadial good though, I was on the same idea, and that would be a huge fight! but would Silva have a shot?
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Silva looked very good at
Silva looked very good at 205... it didnt look like when Penn fought Machida. And Fedor obviously carries extra weight, but judging on how he moved and that he has always pretty much had that same unimpressive frame... I dont know if it really would be possible for him to get down to 205 without a massive loss in strength. Just look at the difference it made for how Vera looked... he weighed something like 220ish in his HW fights...
I don't know if Silva would
I don't know if Silva would have a shot or not. But I ask you this...If Fedor has to cut all that weight (something he is not used to doing) and Silva doesn't have to cut a pound. Who should be most rested? Then ask yourself...Who in the UFC can beat a Fully Healthy, Anderson Silva? As of now nobody. The weight diffrence would be less then 30 pounds so it isn't like Anderson would be giving up a tonne and I don't know for sure but Anderson would probably have the reach advantage. He definatly has the height advantage althought what did that mean for Timbo. Skill sets are both the best in the world so talent wise I wouldn't give the advantage to either.
bosco wrote: so i heard
so i heard they dropped the levens fight because supposedly they had "time constraints" ...
nice.
they have time to waste on like 3 megadeath sets, they waste time re-running some stupid highlight footage loop before the 31 second main event ... end up with about 30 minutes left of airtime, and the people in charge decided to drop a fight for time constraints?
Yeah it doesn't make any sense, but it has happened before. The CBS card went over by 51 minutes despite only showing 5 fights, with none going past the 3rd round to my recollection. In the IFL's April event, they had another fight on after their "main event" because an undercard fight was delayed due to an earlier fighter being taken to the hospital. I don't think its right that they cancelled the fight, but at least they showed some class and paid the guys.
SBRadial wrote: It is a
It is a little humerous to me that we are even comparing the two events on a level playing field. Lets face it Affliction blew their entire load on one PPV. The UFC put an event on the same night not to out show them but to hurt their business...the classic why buy the milk for $45 bucks when you can get good milk right next door for free. How many people looked at the two events and said "I'll watch the free one on Spike and download the expensive PPV off the web for free later."
Unfortunately for the UFC, they invited these comparisons upon themselves. First they showed they were concerned about Affliction by counter-programming the event. Then, by having the events side-by-side it leaves us with no choice but to make the comparison. Casual fans don't understand all the subtleties of the different tiers of UFC events. They see Affliction and UFC next to each other and Affliction looked first-rate (in the terms I described) and the UFC didn't.
Nice write up. I agree
Nice write up. I agree "Rumble" was robbed.
What I didn't like about the
What I didn't like about the Affliction show:
1) The ring. A huge mistake. Having to constantly stop and reposition the fighters inside the rope was a drag. MMA should be fought in a cage. They probably didn't want a cage to further differentiate themselves from the UFC, but I really think they need to lose the ring.
2.) The announcers did a good job but Big John needs to tone it down a tad. John has earned the respect he is due and I don't think we need to hear his constant use of superlatives in describing the action. Everything was fantastic, utterly unbelievable and etc. I would find a more toned down John much more appropriate, not to say accurate.
3) The event ran too long....between the Fox Sports card and the Pay per View it was too long.
What I liked about the Affliction show:
1) The fighters. I liked seeing the vets banging away. They put on a good show as much as I was disappointed in Sylvia's performance.
2) Not having to listen to Joe Rogan's whining, nasal 'company man' bromides. The more Rogan gets excited, and it doesn't take much, the higher the tone of his voice rises so that at its height only dogs can hear it. Poor mutts. And if you think Rogan's commentary adds anything at all you have never been on a mat. He seizes on a new term of the week and uses it over and over and over. Man he sucks.
3.) Megadeath. I thought they were a nice counter point to the action, although not having my TV hooked up to a good stereo meant that I didn't get to hear them as I wish I could have. Maybe the event could be streamed over the Internet next time. I enjoyed their stuff and freely admit to being a metal head and not a hip hopper. I thought their music fit well with the tone of the event.
4.) On a side note I think the event will actually resurrect the shirt's rep. Last year they were new, rad. But this past February at the Arnold here in Columbus tons of trailer park denizens had apparently spent their month's pay on an Affliction shirt and at that point I felt they were done. Now, maybe they can be cool again
.
5) Seeing Tito and his babe being courted by the Donald. All the man wanted was the respect and the money he was due. Kommissar White never understood that and I think White's hubris and arrogant, ignorant attitude will cost him his monopoly. That shot of Tito and his girl sitting with Trump was not only priceless, but I think speaks volumes about MMA's future.
Fighters will have more of a choice of who to associate with and fans will have more choice as to what to watch.
And for that, I thank you Affliction!
Great thoughts, SnowCrash7.
Great thoughts, SnowCrash7. Welcome to the site!
I don't think the "casual
I don't think the "casual fan" put out the bucks to see affliction because the UFC put on a decent (although I concede not as good as Afflictions) fight card for free on the same night at the same time. If the UFC's goal was to hurt Affliction by stealing their fan base by offering them free entertainment I think they did it. We will have to see the "PPV buys" number to know for sure.
i like rogan over jay
i like rogan over jay glazer, big john and trigg. they all seemed lost and had a lot of awkward moments. at least joe rogan gets genuinely pumped up unlike the very mundane commentary by affliction.
i did not like megadeth. i don't think it added anything at all. what was the point of having the fighters standing next to each other during the awful music? affliction was trying too hard with bringing on megadeth. i tuned in to see fights, not a rock concert where they played the same song over and over...
i haven't read this blog yet...this was in response to snowcrash...i thought this was a different blog!!! errrrrr.....
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1) mccarthy was actually
1) mccarthy was actually better than glazer and trigg. he shows a level of knowledge to do play-by-play but also knows enough history to do color. trigg's commentary, while funny, was little more than knocking someone or complimenting someone he might train or work with. it was entertaining, not insightful
2) i felt too afflictioned ... it was so shoved down my throat that if i saw someone wearing affliction gear, i would imagine that person to be a complete sheep/mega-tool. even mccarthy, what the fuck was that? affliction t-shirt over some bizarre blazer with weird patches or straps on the arms?
3) the affliction card had big names but the matchups felt like walkovers. yeah, lindland struggled, but short of a lucky punch i think he was pretty much in control, same with babalu. barnett never looked like he wasnt in control. arlovski wasnt in any real trouble (despite showing little on the ground). maybe its my own fault but i expected more back-and-forth out of this card (and while i dont want to compare the UFC card ... at least not knowing thing 1 about some of the fighters on the card left it feeling more exciting. hell markham's fight was kinda back and forth ... markham took a few good shots to the face before obliterating the dude with a kick in the head)
all the favs on the
all the favs on the affliction card won right?? still have not read blog...
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who is sliva?? Shortly after
who is sliva??
Shortly after both Fedor and Sliva had completed their fights, I received a text message that posed a much loftier question: who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Silva or Fedor?
now i read it...
i bet silva could move up to hw. he seemed bigger than irvin, i guess irvins body armor did him no good. i watched the UFC live and free, from 6 to 9pm pacific time, and then waited 2 hours for the affliction card to be on at 11 on ppv. it was over at 2:30 am and i was thinking, the people who they wanted to win did. more back forth action from the affliction fights would have been nice. for it's first card, besides megadeth and the mediocre commentary, this was a way better event than elitexc has ever put on. it might be easy to say july 19 belonged to affliction, but the UFC threw that card together in what seemed like 2 weeks. now, if the ufc decided to counterprogram affliction a long time ago and put on UFC 86 or 87 on july 19...i wouldn't even have bothered to watched affliction
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Head of the West Coast Family
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iamphoenix wrote: who is
who is sliva??
Shortly after both Fedor and Sliva had completed their fights, I received a text message that posed a much loftier question: who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Silva or Fedor?
now i read it...
i bet silva could move up to hw. he seemed bigger than irvin, i guess irvins body armor did him no good. i watched the UFC live and free, from 6 to 9pm pacific time, and then waited 2 hours for the affliction card to be on at 11 on ppv. it was over at 2:30 am and i was thinking, the people who they wanted to win did. more back forth action from the affliction fights would have been nice. for it's first card, besides megadeth and the mediocre commentary, this was a way better event than elitexc has ever put on. it might be easy to say july 19 belonged to affliction, but the UFC threw that card together in what seemed like 2 weeks. now, if the ufc decided to counterprogram affliction a long time ago and put on UFC 86 or 87 on july 19...i wouldn't even have bothered to watched affliction
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Valid points regarding the comparison made by both Phoenix and Radial. I think Affliction legitimized itself in one event (with a couple of minor issues) whereas EliteXC continues to struggle to do so. If Affliction can get on network TV, that makes them the greatest threat to the UFC IMO...
Also, I'm by no means saying Affliction is the best promotion or even comes close to the UFC. They have one very strong weight class, and the makings of a couple of other weight classes, but nothing more. Let's see how they do over the next year and then the next five years.
But, as far as beginnings are concerned, their event was very promising. And they do have the deep pockets and business savvy of Donald Trump, and all the outlets that sell Affliction gear for marketing, so I think the ingredients are in place for success.
But as Dana White has said many times, he makes it look easy so I'm not convinced quite yet...