Posts with the tag "Fedor Emelianenko"

OK, the head line is a little misleading, but the production of the "Banned" event was horrible. This might have been expected, but Affliction had a blueprint laid out by the UFC and they just couldn't make it work.

Things that didn't go well...

• Time Constraints - The first bout was scrapped due to... time constraints? How do you run out of time when the fights haven't even started?
• Energy & Sound - The event lacked real energy early on. Sound could have been a factor. The crowd noise wasn't piped in while the fighters walked in. The transitions from a fight to fight lacked any buildup.
• Camera Work - We saw some interesting camera work, during one fighter interview, the camera cut to an announcer where we could see he was getting his makeup applied.

I probably wouldn't have noticed the production values as much if there had been better fights. I had to wait until the Andrei Arlovski fight to finally say we had seen a decent fight and the Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia fight just left me with an empty feeling.

Overall, I have to give Affliction some credit for putting this thing together. They had awesome card (on paper) and delivered MMA fights which is what the fans really want. We got to see Fedor fight a legitimate opponent and he showed his awesome power. Now, lets see what Affliction can do for their sequel.

Before I forget, there were some great lines from the announcers. I don't have them all, but my favorite was "that was a 22 on the wow factor." I still can't figure out what the hell that means. Somebody please explain it to me.

The UFC must feel threatened by Affliction. Why else would they scramble to put a show up against the the first ever Affliction event? As my friend said, it's almost like the UFC is turning into Microsoft. He may be right, but we will have to wait and see.

Here is the official Banned preview:

I did find it interesting that they never mention the UFC when describing Tim Sylvia. The video does mention the UFC a couple times with their descriptions of Pat Militich and Andre Arlovski. Seems strange that they would leave it out for one fighter and include it for the other two.

I wish I was able to watch either event this weekend, but I can't. I'm betting that most fans tune in to see Fedor Emelianenko fight Tim Sylvia, but who knows. What will you be watching this weekend?

Who is the best pound for pound MMA fighter of all time? CBS has put together a 32 fighter bracket and is asking readers to decide.

Although interesting, I suspect most people will focus on the legends and the current big names. My early favorites to win this thing are...

• Fedor Emelianenko - While he is considered the most dominate fighter in the world, some question the talent he has been fighting lately.
• Anderson Silva - Like Fedor, he has dominated his weight class. This begs the question, is the division thin or is he that good?
• George St. Pierre - Probably my favorite to win it all, but a loss to Matt Serra really hurts.
• Chuck Liddell - The best name recognition of the bunch, but those back to back loses are still fresh in most fans eyes.
• Royce Gracie - The legend and most dominate fighter of his era. Still, will the new fans know who he is?

Go check it out and be sure to vote!

The UFC is dominating the MMA world in every aspect except for their mediocre heavyweight division. The problem? The UFC can't seem to maintain their stars. With Tim Sylvia leaving the UFC, that makes four good fighters that have recently left. I am including Andrei Arlovski (who hasn't officially left yet), Randy Couture, and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.

So, who is left? Off the top of my head, I can only really think of Cheick Kongo, Brock Lesnar, and of course Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira I suppose I should also include Brandon Vera, he can be fun to watch at times. I just have a hard time finding a reason why the UFC doesn't spend some money on what used to be a great division. Bring in some new blood, find some new prospects; maybe land this guy named Fedor Emelianenko... some of you may have heard of him.

One final thought, the UFC might actually benefit by dropping Tim Sylvia's contract. It's pretty obvious that most fans don't like the way Sylvia fights and therefore he will never draw a crowd like a Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture. With Sylvia out of the picture, a fan favorite can take his place as a contender in the heavyweight division.

This is a little late, but I thought still worthy of a post. As it turns out, Fedor Emelianenko was never under contract with M-1 Global. What the hell is going on? Didn't M-1 make a huge deal about signing him and now it turns out Fedor never signed. Maybe he was trying to put pressure on another organization, but that doesn't make too much sense.

I assume Fedor agreed to the deal, but wasn't present to sign the contract. M-1 then gave him a singing bonus which he put in his account, but just never got around to signing the contract. That's about all I can think of... or is there a conspiracy theory out there suggesting that he really did sign the contract, but it was beneficial to both sides that he exit the contract? M-1 keeps their signing bonus money and Fedor can sign with another organization and make more money. Somebody, please explain this one to me.

It appears that Fedor Emelianenko will once again be a free agent. As various reports are stating, Fedor is currently negotiating the termination of his current contract with M-1 Global.

So the logical question is where will Fedor land? You know Dana White will put in his bid to land the superstar. Still I wonder if the new offer will be as good as his original offer. This the most logical promotion for Fedor where he can fight the best fighters in MMA.

The only other logical destination, in my opinion, is EliteXC. Fresh off their new network TV deal with CBS, EliteXC will be eager to put on huge cards for the broadcast events. Who better than Fedor to do that? Now, only if EliteXC can find a worthy opponent.