Its time for another weekly roundtable with the wonderful crew of Total-MMA.com. We try to focus on the upcoming EliteXC event as well as some of the fallout from this past week.

IL: Iain Liddle
JS: Jonathan Snowden
LC: Lee Casebolt
DW: Dave Walsh
CH: Chris Henderson
AC: Alan Conceicao

ELITE XC~!

Antonio Silva: Long considered a prospective “Fedor Killer”, is there anyone outside either the UFC or Affliction that is better at heavyweight?

DW: No, there really isn’t… But this isn’t saying much, but outside of them (UFC and Affliction) who there? Cro Cop? Overeem? Monson? Pele?

IL: I think a Kharitonov fight would be interesting and I’d pick Overeem to beat him. Even Mark Hunt may have a chance based on what we’ve seen thus far. For some reason the name Semmy Schilt pops into my head as well - which is another fight that is far from a foregone conclusion.

CH: How about we wait until Antonio Silva beats anyone of consequence before anointing him with any lofty titles? Yeah, he’s 10-1, but who exactly has he beaten to earn any sort of recognition? His best wins are over Tedoadze and a corpulent Ricco Rodriguez in unimpressive fashion. Did everyone suddenly forget that he was knocked out by an equally corpulent Eric Pele a year and a half ago? Eilers may be the best competition he’s ever faced in a cage, and that’s saying something.

LC: Silva is talented but, aside from bouts with a bloated Ricco Rodriguez and a slightly less bloated Eric Pele, largely untested. Fighting Justin Eilers won’t change that, but it’s an enormous step up from Kimbo Slice, main eventer.

JS: I’m not sure what makes Antonio Silva a “Fedor killer.” He’s never really impressed me with anything but the size of his giant noggin. Now that is a melon! But really, he may be the second best heavyweight named Silva in the world. I’ll give him that.

AC: Silva’s looked good against one dimensional wrestlers (Tengiz, Erikson, Wiezorek) and that’s fine. However, at this stage of the sport, how many one dimensional wrestlers exist in the heavyweight division? I guess he’d be a strong favorite against Brock Lesnar or Kevin Randleman, but he’s got a long way to go before he becomes a major threat. I honestly would have liked to see Wiuff in here instead.

Nick Diaz: Thomas Denny is another time killer. What do you want to see from Nick this weekend? Better defense standing? Perhaps a takedown and some ground work?

IL: I think we’ve seen all we need to see from his stand-up. He’s a known commodity in that regard at the moment. What I would like to see is a back-to-basics approach where he takes Denny down in the first round and submits him. Sometimes I feel Nick is to too keen to show everyone his hand skill when the situation does not call for it. Take the Mika Aina fight as an example of this.

DW: When Nick is facing subpar competition he tends to mess around, toy with them, try different stuff out. I can see him wanting to take some shots from Denny to piss him off and prove how tough he is, then beat the living piss out of Denny.

JS: In recent fights it seems that Diaz has fallen in love with his standup. He’s a good boxer, but the problem is an utter lack of power. That means he can dibble and dabble all day, be winning rounds, and still get cracked by someone like Denny. Diaz would be smart to establish his superior ground game, win, and then say something about KJ Noon’s momma.

CH: Let’s just hope that: A) Nick actually makes weight so we don’t have to find out if Denny will make good on his threat to not take the fight at a catchweight if Diaz misses weight, B) Diaz doesn’t come out with a frustrating performance ala the Mike Aina fight, and C) the CBS producers in the truck have their finger on the button for any post-fight promos.

Shields/Thompson: A shockingly good fight. What can Thompson do to derail Shields?

CH: Thompson needs to keep it standing. We saw what can happen when Nick gets forced to the ground by a stronger fighter at UFC 59 in his fight against Karo Parysian. While Thompson is usually proficient enough on the ground to get the job done, going that route against Shields is a sure way to end up tapping out or being smothered for three or five rounds. Unfortunately for Thompson, I just can’t see him controlling the fight for five rounds or doing something that hasn’t been done in eight years by finishing Shields.

AC: I’m not sure why people expect so little from Thompson. His record over the last 20 fights is pretty damn incredible. He’s not the best at any one thing but he’s a very talented fighter. I think its a more competitive matchup in many ways than the main event, frankly. Looking at the rankings on our site, Shields is ranked #8 and Thompson #11. On the other hand, Lawler is #5 at middleweight and the mighty Scott Smith is at #49.

LC: Thompson has basically no shot in this fight. Jake Shields is better at everything, as far as I can tell, and with his new commitment to finishing, is as dangerous as anyone in the world at 170.

IL: For those that don’t know, Thompson is a trainee lawyer taking his bar exams on *Tuesday*. There’s no way anyone can devot enough time simultaneously to passing those and preparing to beat one of the world’s best in the division.

Smith/Lawler II: Is this going to be a continuation of Round 3? Predictions after the first fight as to how the second will go?

IL: I rate Lawler highly and thought he would dispatch Smith with more ease in the first fight. I am confident he will blow him out with ten minutes this time round and expect a spectacular KO.

DW: I can see them both being a bit more hesitant in this fight, with Lawler getting surprised, I thought, by Smith in the first fight. Maybe he took Smith too lightly? I don’t see him making the same mistake. Smith really isn’t in the same league as Lawler.

AC: More of the same. Standup heavy, Lawler eventually with a KO.

CH: I just don’t have enough faith in the consistency of Scott Smith to change my mind about how his rematch with Lawler will go. They’ll both swing for the fences and eventually Smith will be kissing the canvas.

JS: Smith and Lawler was a solid standup battle that Robbie was winning convincingly. I’m not sure what has changed in the last two months that would make the result different this time other than the vagaries of chance.

LC: Robbie Lawler can put this one away if he goes back to the left kick to the body. He was killing Smith with that in the first round, and then inexplicably abandoned it. Lawler in three.

Retrospectively, regarding no contests in MMA: Should the scorecards be read after 1/2/3/4 rounds, if ever following an accidental foul?

LC: Accidental fouls, I say go to the cards after the first in three rounders, after the third in title fights. There needs to be a serious crackdown on fouls in general, though - there are too many unheeded warnings from too many inconsistent refs. Like they say, it’s all fun and games til someone loses an eye. We’re getting way too close to the end of fun and games.

CH: I wouldn’t go to the scorecards after a no-contest from an accidental foul. I mean, what exactly is the value of a one round decision victory?

AC: Boxing goes to the scorecards after 4 rounds in world title fights. That’s an even number, thus encouraging draws, as well as being 1/3 the way through a modern world title fight. That an MMA fight can go 3 of a scheduled 5 and then not be scored is ludicrous to me. Does anyone want that? No. But given the alternative (no contests galore), I’m all for it. Personally, I’d like to see that the fight goes to the cards if its gone past halfway of round 2 in any fight. Score the round the fight was stopped in for what was seen to the stoppage.

DW: As for the scorecards, that might actually be a good idea, but could possibly be unfair to the fighter who was fouled. If the fighter who was fouled was losing the fight, but made a comeback and was fouled and the fight was then sent to the judges it isn’t based off of the full, scheduled fight that still had some life left in it.

IL: I’m not in favour of being awarded the win after fouling your opponent so I agree some changes need to be made in that respect. The Johnson/Burns fight has simply made it a more pressing priority.

IFL: Officially dead now. Any fond memories?

IL: As a Brit, the IFL never truly gained relevance for me as we almost never had access to see it. Having seen their recent HDNet broadcasts, I think they were a solid company that out on good fights featuring evenly matched competition. In that respect, I shall miss them. They made too many mistakes early on to ever recover, though, and I shall not miss the four minute rounds of the refusal to acknowledge unified rules.

LC: I’d like to thank the IFL for Horodecki/Bart PolishnameIcan’tspell. And for reminding me why rings are a bad idea for MMA.

CH: I will always hold the sight of Ryan Schulz pounding Chris Horodecki into a pulp in a special place in my heart. Ever since the IFL had been touting Horodecki as the greatest thing since sliced bread, I had waited in vain to see him get pummeled mercilessly and been let down time and time again. And then on one magical night, the IFL brought a little happiness into my life. I’ll also admit to being eerily enthralled by Roy Nelson: Fat Dude, Good Fighter.

I almost forgot the advice column with Don Frye. Priceless stuff.

AC: I’ve been to numerous IFL shows, including their last, and they were always entertaining. There was a sort of schitzo nature to many of them that probably was a direct result of having people who were really not “fight people” being involved. Back for the 2006 Finals, they had some random pop act play in the middle of the show, basically killing the crowd. There were ideas about all sorts of new teams and none of them happened and then the teams were all gone. Its sad that folks like the WFL were running semi-pro MMA shows in nightclubs and had about as good a grasp of “team based MMA” as guys who’s bank accounts would at least indicate they would know to hire people that know better.

The TV production on those early shows for MyNetwork TV was, honestly, the killer, in my opinion. The fights weren’t bad and the guys they had are all ending up in the UFC. They just needed some focus and it never came until it was far too late.

JS: On a personal note, I am sad to see the IFL go. Their PR people were especially helpful and always went out of their way to make sure smaller media markets and blogs got they access they needed. Not only that, but they really put on some dynamite shows. they had a number of great fights, especially Chris Horodecki’s run of action thrillers in 2007 with Bartimus and Shad Lierly. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t come on to the scene now. With the right production and a slightly refined concept, I still think the IFL could work.

The damn P4P question: Honestly, who do you have as #1? GSP? Silva? Fedor? Perhaps a dark horse at 125/132/135/145?

DW: I am, as always, torn with this question. I think the level of competition that GSP faces is above the level of competition that Silva faces. It isn’t a knock against Silva, as Silva can essentially dispatch any fighter in his weight class. There is nobody right now that can challenge him, but when it comes down to it, 205 and 170 are far richer weight classes. Fedor, on the other hand, has a similar problem; his division is thinner, talent-wise, but at the same time has more elite competition. I think I can say Fedor at number 2, and with the impending Arlovski fight, a win over Andrei in a dominant fashion could push him to number 1, but for now, 2, with GSP and Anderson in flux over the number 1 spot.

CH: I’ll evade the question (partially) and just say that it’s a shame that Faber and Torres aren’t automatically mentioned in the same breath as the GSP/Silva/Fedor triumvarate. Their domination in the WEC over the past year or so has been utterly captivating to watch, and both have looked miles above everyone else at their weight class in recent fights.

AC: I’m virulently opposed to the idea of heavyweights as #1 P4P. That’s why P4P rankings exist: to establish some mystical concept of who the best fighter in the world is, regardless of weight. This isn’t to say that Fedor is bad or not dominant. He is. If he beats Arlovski, he will have defeated almost every notable heavyweight of the last 10 years sans maybe Randy or Rizzo. That’s an amazing feat. But you know what? When Rocky Marciano was in the midst of his heavyweight title run (in which, as all know, he never lost), the concept of “pound for pound” rankings was established for Sugar Ray Robinson. This was in spite of the fact that he had several losses over his career against top level welterweights and middleweights, simply because he was considered so by and far away better than anyone else on earth at boxing in terms of what he brought to the table skill wise and talent wise.

So when I think, “who is the most talented fighter in the world”, I have to think it is GSP. I just must. When I see GSP fight, I see everything being put together and he dominates some of the strongest fighters in the world P4P. Silva honestly doesn’t rank for me as highly as he does others. He reminds me of Roy Jones in which there’s a lot of talk about the great fighters he’ll beat one day, but I would like to see it happen first. Fedor would be somewhere down the line even if he is dominant and great and easily the best heavyweight in history.

JS: It’s unusual to have a heavyweight as the top pound for pound fighter in the world. But there’s just no one who can match Fedor. He’s bigger, stronger, and more skilled than anyone else, no matter the weight class. GSP will prove something to me the first time he overcomes adversity to win a fight. Anderson Silva is on a great roll, but his level of competition makes it unclear just how good he really is. Both are great fighters. Neither is Fedor.

LC: If anyone has anyone other than Fedor or Anderson Silva as a P4P favorite, they’re out of their minds. No one else has the track record of dominance those two do. Personally, I go with Fedor. He’s been doing it longer and, for me, in more impressive fashion. He hasn’t even been in trouble in a bout since before Silva got flying heel hooked by Chonan back in ‘04. No one on the planet has Fedor’s record of unbroken dominance over their division.