Affliction: Day of Reckoning Fight Videos!
January 25, 2009
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski:
More after the jump…
HKM’s WEC 38 predictions
January 25, 2009
This event went under the radar considering Affliction: Day of Reckoning took place this weekend, and to be honest, their fight card was 100 times better than this one is. Still, free MMA is great and the main event between current lightweight champ Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone is going to be one awesome clash. Also, Jens Pulver and Urijah Faber are having a rematch, the two fought back at WEC 34 for the featherweight title, and Faber walked away with a unanimous decision victory. The first fight was very good, and I can only expect this one will be good too. After the jump, you’ll find my predictions on just the Varner/Cerrone fight and the Pulver/Faber rematch.
Arlovski pulls in 1.5 mil for getting his head blown off.
January 25, 2009
Props: Bloody Elbow
MAIN EVENT FIGHTERS
– Fedor Emelianenko $300,000 (no win bonus) def. Andre Arlovski $1,500,000 (win bonus would have been $250,000)
MAIN CARD FIGHTERS
– Josh Barnett $500,000 (no win bonus) def. Gilbert Yvel $30,000 (win bonus would have been $9,300)
– Vitor Belfort $200,000 (includes $80,000 win bonus) def. Matt Lindland $225,000 (win bonus would have been $75,000)
– Renato “Babalu” Sobral $90,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus) def. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou $50,000 (win bonus would have been $50,000)
– Paul Buentello $90,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus) def. Kiril Sidelnikov $10,000 (win bonus would have been $25,000)
– Dan Lauzon $12,000 (no win bonus) def. Bobby Green $4,000 (win bonus would have been $4,000)
– Jay Hieron $45,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus) def. Jason High $10,000 (win bonus would have been $5,000)
PRELIMINARY CARD FIGHTERS
– Antonio Rogerio Nogueira $150,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus) def. Vladimir Matyushenko $50,000 (win bonus would have been $30,000)
– L.C. Davis $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus) def. Bao Quach $7,000 (win bonus would have been $6,000)
– Albert Rios $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Antonio Duarte $3,000 (win bonus would have been $2,000)
– Brett Cooper $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus) def. Patrick Speight $2,000 (win bonus would have been $3,000)
Arlovski pulled in 750k with his three round battle with Ben Rothwell at Affliction: Banned, why in the hell did he get paid double for going out and getting ragdolled in mid-air in 3 minutes? As far as Fedor only getting paid $300k, I think that since Fedor is “technically” under the M1 Global banner, he probably got paid by both Affliction ($300k), as well as M1 (probably around a mil or so). I’m confident he brought than these payouts suggest…
Affliction: Day of Reckoning results and final thoughts.
January 25, 2009
One of the most highly anticipated events of the new year is now over, and I personally thought it was a great event. I think “Day of Reckoning” topped Affliction’s debut event, and I really hope that this organization continues to put on shows, I think MMA needs another heavy organization that can supply fans with great matchups like the UFC has been able to do for so long.
I’d also like to give some props to one of the commentators….no it’s not Tito (who I thought did a shitty job, but I’ll cut him some slack considering it was his first time), but Jimmy Smith (the dude from Fight Quest). Overall I really thought he did a very good job acting as the “Joe Rogan” of Affliction. He was very knowledgeable on all of the fighters who appeared on the card, and he didn’t show any “nuthuggery” that some of the others did. I really hope that IF Affliction has a third event, he returns…great job Jimmy.
Now, onto the fights….
Bas pwns Jerry Millen at “Day of Reckoning” weigh-ins.
January 24, 2009
(It comes in around the 2:00 mark….)
Jerry Millen’s the VP of M-1 Global USA, and he and Bas have a bad history between each other back from when they both worked for PRIDE. Bas, never one to hide his feelings on anything or anyone, doesn’t hold back in this case either. If you want to read more about the Bas/Millen feud, I think you should go here and read up.
HKM’s Affliction: Day of Reckoning predictions
January 23, 2009
We’re two days away from seeing Fedor and Arlovski throw down for the WAMMA heavyweight title, a belt Fedor claimed by brutally owning former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia back in July of 2008 at Affliction: Banned. This card is stacked with some great talent, to include former UFC heavyweight champion and open-weight King of Pancrase Josh Barnett, IFL light heavyweight champion Vladimir Matyushenko, former UFC title challenger and current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral, top ranked middleweight Matt Lindland, former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueria…brother of former UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigio Nogueria.
After the jump you’ll find my personal predictions for the event…
‘Banha’ to take on ‘The Robot’ at UFC 97
January 22, 2009
Props: MMAMania
Surging light heavyweight contender Luis Cane (9-1) will likely get to sink his chops into the last man to hold the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) 205-pound title, Steve Cantwell (7-1), at UFC 97 from The Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on April 18.
“Banha” was supposed to collide with Keith Jardine; however, “The Dean of Mean” now has bigger and better things to take care of, namely Quinton “Rampage” Jackson,” after division champion Rashad Evans revealed he would not be ready in time for UFC 96 in March.
I actually like this fight much better than the rumored Cane/Jardine fight. I think Cantwell is an extremely talented fighter and I believe that when it comes to taking punishment, he’s more durable than “The Dean of Mean” is. This will be a good test for both fighters, to see who’s ready to break through to the top level of the light heavyweight division and who isn’t. My gut is telling me that Cantwell is going to be highly overlooked by the fans in this fight…considering that Luiz Cane has made a big impact on the 205lb class by completely dominating Jason Lambert and ground-and-pounding the shit out of Sokoudjo, he’s getting a lot of hype throughout the MMA communities, and I personally think that with a few more decisive wins, we’ll see him up there right next to Forrest Griffin and Rampage.
Drew Fickett wants to fight Jamie Varner, and hates Stuart Scott’s one-liners.
January 20, 2009
Props: The MMA Fiend
MMA veteran Drew Fickett recently did an exclusive interview with MMA Fiend and had some pretty interesting, and somewhat hilarious things to say about some people in the sport….check it out below:
Pau Sava, TheMMAFiend- Tell us about where you train and your training partners. Anyone we should be keeping an eye out for?
Drew Fickett- I train at SWMMA with a bunch of rejects. If they made action figures out of the fighters from my gym I would collect them all. First there’s Santino who I like to call the “General.” He’s always bitching about something, but he keeps us on our toes, runs a lot of snooty people out of the gym, and makes sure the mat is ringworm free. Then there is the Polish Assasin, Seth Bazinski who is a degenerate white hill-billy piece of trash from AJ who loves the Arizona Cardinals and might be the most ruthlessly funny guy on the planet. Bean Dip, aka Danny Martinez who brings the essence of Mick Jager MMA to southwest. Rhino Kelly, our sister, who is the gym manager. Tough guy until he drinks one beer. The Mesa brothers who rep the raza and always have a couple car stereos you can buy out of the back of their cars. God dang.
and some sort-of funny-somewhat-disrespectful-but-definitely-entertaining things to say about WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner and ESPN’s Stuart Scott:
PS-If you could fight three guys that you haven’t fought yet, who would they be and why?
DF-Stuart Scott from ESPN, because I’m tired of his one-liners that haven’t been cool since Hammer couldn’t touch this. Every bouncer that ever took an ID from me, because that’s fucking weak. Jamie Varner because he’s a fake, unwitty, oiling up for photo shoots, living a fake ass dream that’s soon to be a nightmare when Cerrone plays tic-tac-toe with his face. Can’t call a time out for this one, missed the straight bus cause his ticket is for ***’s only, punk ass bitch.
About the Jamie Varner thing….If you don’t recall, Jamie called a “timeout” during his title fight with then-champion Rob McCullough when his mouthpiece got knocked out of his mouth. There was some controversy over that move considering fighters aren’t supposed to do that, a lot of people called it “cheap” and that “Razor would’ve finished him right there had he not done that”, but whatever….Varner was dominating the fight before hand and I don’t think doing what he did gave Rob anymore chance in winning that contest. Still, I guess I can understand where Fickett is coming from.
Now onto Stuart Scott….I can agree 100% on his one-liners being out of date and pretty ridiculous, and in case you don’t know what I’m taking about, you can see a nice long list of them after the jump…
Irvin making his middleweight debut against McFedries
January 20, 2009
Props: MMAJunkie
Hard-hitting UFC brawlers James Irvin (14-5 MMA, 4-4 UFC) and Drew McFedries (7-5 MMA, 3-4 UFC) have signed on to face each other in a middleweight contest at UFC 98. The bout was first reported by AroundTheOctagon.com, and MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today was able to confirm with sources close to the event that bout agreements have been finalized.
Some people might not care too much about this fight. I mean, neither Irvin or McFedries are anywhere near a title shot, both have shown a lot of inconsistancy, and both guys could easily be sent packing over to Strikeforce given they lose this fight. It’s a very important bout for both guys, and I think it is really appealing to the fans who appreciate a good old fashioned slug-fest. For me, I’m excited as hell, and I’ll tell you why:
- James Irvin is known for knocking the shit out of people
- Drew McFedries is also known for knocking the shit out of people
- Neither fighters are well accomplished grapplers or are known for submitting people. Thus, we’re more than likely going to see both guys trading on their feet, which is awesome for the fans.
Now, in terms of who I think will come out on top and leave the victor, I think it all depends on how well Irvin’s cut to 185 will go. This will be his middleweight debut, the guy’s used to fighting at 205lbs, and has even competed as a heavyweight. He’s jacked at light heavyweight, I really don’t see how he will be able to cut 20 more pounds and come into the fight with Drew feeling 100%, which obviously favors the hard-hitting McFedries, who will definitely be able to capitalize if Irvin gasses.
However, if Irvin has a good cut and comes in shape, I think that he can definitely win the fight. Overall, I think he’s a more versatile striker, he incorporates a lot of knees and kicks, whereas McFedries pretty much relies solely on his punches and completely disregards the other tools he has at his disposal.
In the end, I’m taking Drew. He’s fought at middleweight numerous times, he’s going to be more comfortable there than Irvin will, and I think he’s more durable when it comes to taking punishment. I think it’ll be a pretty fast and devastating stoppage, a victory Drew definitely needs considering he’s dropped his last two fights and might very well be out of the organization given he loses this fight. Irvin, on the other hand…regardless if he loses, will probably still get another shot in the UFC considering he acted as the sacrificial lamb for Anderson Silva when he made his light heavyweight debut, something Dana White I’m sure hasn’t forgotten. Not to mention the fact that James is extremely exciting and has some serious knock-outs on his resume.
After the jump you can see the current fight card for UFC 98…
Tito’s pulling for Arlovski.
January 19, 2009
Props: Chicago Sun Times
Tito Ortiz didn’t predict a winner for the Jan. 24 bout between Andrei Arlovski and Fedor Emelianenko, but Ortiz did state a preference.
“I would love to see Andrei win,” Ortiz said. “I hope he does win.”
Ortiz will be doing color commentary for the card, which is promoted by Affliction and Oscar De La Hoya’s “Golden Boy Promotions.”
Ortiz and Arlovski are UFC alums. Both are former champions in the UFC.
“I’ve known Andrei for a long time, and I sat down and talked to him,” Ortiz said. “I told him he has to move his feet and defend the takedown. Once he puts his hands on him, Fedor is going to shoot.”
Conventional wisdom is that Arlovski owns the advantage in the stand-up game, and Fedor is better on the ground.
“I believe that 100 percent,” Ortiz said. “I believe for Fedor to win he has to get the takedown and submission. For Andrei to win, he has to defend the takedown and look for strikes.
“I really don’t think Fedor has faced anybody at the level of Arlovski’s size and speed and striking skills.”
But Ortiz understands this is Arlovki’s biggest test as well. Fedor is considered the No. 1 heavyweight in the world.
“If I were a betting man, I’d probably pick Fedor,” Ortiz said. “It’s almost 50-50.
“I think it’s going to be an exciting fight to watch. I’m excited to commentate on it. And I’m just excited to be part of Affliction.”
Anyone who read the above article knows what Tito is really thinking….and it’s that he thinks that Arlovski is getting destroyed. If you need further information which allows me to think that, here you go:
“If I were a betting man, I’d probably pick Fedor,” Ortiz said.
Tito loves his money, and if he were a gambling junkie, we all know he’d bet right. I agree, and if I had the money to throw down, I’d throw it on Fedor without thinking twice. It’s kind of hard not to in my opinion considering Fedor brutally destroyed the same guy who had previously beaten Arlovski on two occassions (once by ownage, once by boring-as-shit decision). I know that’s not what one should do when deciding who they think will win, but I’m doing it because Fedor hasn’t had the up-and-down career like Arlovski has. I’m sure Andrei will come into this fight as much prepared as he possibly can be, and of course he can win the bout, anything can happen in MMA, but I think Fedor’s simply got it going for him right now, and I think he’ll make another example out of another former UFC heavyweight champion. Whatever happens though, I expect it to be a good fight and in all truth I could give two shits on who leaves the winner.
