All in all I was very pleased with my mass MMA weekend, and the two top pound for pound fighters in the world both made a case for being number one. But the real question is, will Affliction live to see another day? Everyone knows they dropped a pretty penny making this card happen. So who won the battle in what could be a war later on down the road for lead promoter in the fast rising sport of MMA? Well that might be an overstatement seeing as Affliction has one decent show under their belt and the UFC puts on 12 or more solid shows a year...
Still Affliction wins this round for one reason and one reason only. We'll get to that reason, but first let me run through the cards and results and my opinion on various things like production and the quality of announcing and such.
Affliction: Banned
This was by no means a perfect show, not even close. I was very disappointed in the quality of production and commentary. Also all the Megadeath was fucking as lame as anything could get. The sound on the PPV was shitty as well, I kept having to adjust the voluming when switching from Affliction to the UFC. Yes, I am aware this is their first show, and that they will only get better the more shows they do. However, I feel that if you are going to drop as much coin as you did to get these fighters, you better have some nice wrapping to go with it.
As much as it shouldn't be about the show and should be about the fights, I still don't want to be bored out of my mind or annoyed by stupid things such as having to watch Megadeath play. I personally thought the commentary was pitiful and they need to do a two man booth and cut Trigg out.
(Note to Trigg: When you are a commentator you keep your opinions to yourself, I don't want to hear your bullshit on who you train with and who you think is going to win. We get it, you are a fighter and you know these guys, but just because you train with them doesn't make them the best fighters in the world. Calling Ben Rothwell over Arlovski was by far the worst call of the night. Until you stop fighting stay out of the commentator booth, or listen to Randy Couture or Kenny Florian and take notes on how to be a fighter and a commentator.)
Point is, Affliction needs a lot of work on production value. Until they get this down, they will have no chance at competing with the UFC. It felt more like a chore watching the in between fight segments than something that I wanted to see. Say as much as you want about all the shit the UFC puts in between fights, I'm still happy to watch it as opposed to the shit from other organizations.
Onto the fights
Fedor Emelianenko def. Tim Sylvia via Submission at 0:36 of Rd 1. Emelianenko is the new WAMMA Heavyweight Champion.
This right here is the reason that Fedor is the greatest fighter on the planet, and the reason Affliction topped UFC at least on July 19th. Tim Sylvia got embarrassed and he embarrassed the UFC at the same time. Sure Tim has been beat by Randy Couture, Big Nog, Frank Mir, and Arlovski, but Fedor didn't just beat him, he dismantled him in 36 seconds. Anyone who thinks Randy Couture can beat Fedor is simply retarded. I love Randy just as much as any MMA fan, but lets try to think logically here. Where does Randy hold an advantage over Fedor? Maybe the clinch? The clinch isn't that safe for Randy when it comes to Fedor, and even if he does hold the advantage there, he won't be able to hold Fedor there, Not like he held Tim, and Gonzaga. Anyway enough on that for now, maybe I'll make another post on opponents for Fedor and even Anderson Silva.
Andrei Arlovski def. Ben Rothwell via Knockout (Strikes) Rd 3. Arlovski destroyed Rothwell. Even got blood droplets on the camera.
Andrei Arlovski is back! Anyone who says this wasn't a one sided fight and that Ben didn't get destroyed is wrong. All Rothwell did is show that he can take a punch...and a knee and a kick and then twenty more punches. He was just outmatched, he isn't fast enough to deal with Andrei.
Josh Barnett def. Pedro Rizzo via Knockout (Left Hook). Huge left hook to drop Rizzo.
Revenge for Barnett. This result was not exactly expected but the winner was.
Mark Hominick def. Savant Young via Submission (Armbar) Rd 2.
Hominick impressed me. His stand up has always been second to none and now he looks to have a solid ground game, even though he fucked up the triangle a few times.
Renato “Babalu” Sobral def. Mike Whitehead via Unanimous Decision.
Not a very exciting match but it was a good fight. Babalu landed more significant strikes and controlled the fight when it went to the ground
Matt Lindland def. Fabio Negao Nascimento via Unanimous Decision.
Lindland almost finished the fight in the opening minute but Negao escaped the tight guillotine. After that Lindland just outworked Negao for 3 rounds.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Edwin Dewees via TKO (strikes) Rd 1.
Dewees was just out classed.
Mike Pyle def. J.J. Ambrose via Submission (RNC) Rd 1.
Ambose was also out classed.