Fedor Emelianenko and Anderson Silva reminded fight fans why they are widely regarded as the two best pound for pound fighters in the world as each scored impressive (and lightning quick) wins.

Before his fight with former UFC champion Tim Sylvia, many questioned Fedor’s ability to come back strong after a long layoff. He had been fighting creampuffs and inexperienced fighters in Japan and middleweights in BoDog Fight. Would he be able to overcome Sylvia’s size and reach advantage? The answer was a definitive yes.

Sylvia’s vaunted jab was never an issue. Fedor closed the distance so quickly that Sylvia never had a chance to throw it and his punching power dropped the big man to his knees.

“He got off first and then I had so much going through my mind,” Sylvia said. “He got off first, landed the big punch, jumped on me, and got the submission.”
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By Dave Walsh

Affliction Banned draws closer and closer, and as it does, it is impossible to ignore all of the hype leading up to the main event of the evening, Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko facing off with Tim “The Maineiac” Sylvia for the newly created WAMMA Heavyweight Championship. The fight itself at this point means a lot more than the title does, as the title seemed more or less created for this card, to help hype up the Affliction show and validate the whole WAMMA thing by establishing their champion as either Fedor or Sylvia. Having either man as their champion means instant credibility, as Fedor never lost the PRIDE Heavyweight Championship, it basically just disappeared when PRIDE was taken over by Zuffa, and Sylvia exited the UFC in a Heavyweight title match, as well as holding the title numerous times. What we get is the biggest heavyweight showdown since Fedor vs. Cro Cop from PRIDE.
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We look at the Affliction card and hear from Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Freddie Roach, and Ben Rothwell. Some crazy bastard picks Sylvia! And hey, what’s going on with Rampage Jackson?

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Sherdog are reporting the news that Emelianenko Fedor is to take on Tim Sylvia on the debut event of upstart company ‘Adrenaline MMA’.

It is believed the bout will take place on July 19th in Texas and would air on the HDNet television channel.

“[Sylvia] is a good fighter, a strong fighter, the former UFC
heavyweight champion, which is important,” Emelianenko said via
telephone from Stary Oskol, Russia. “I am looking forward to fighting
him and training hard for this fight.”

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By Marc Staehling

Originally posted at Nokaut, and then subsequently at MMAmania, and MMAjunkie.com, rumours are swirling that ProElite, parent company to EliteXC is the leading suitor to gain the services of the Russian superstar. While I personally would like to see Fedor end up in the UFC, it appears as if that’s a pipe-dream at this point and in the long run, a spot on CBS might be the best move for the sport of MMA on the whole.

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From Russia with love, here’s Fedor’s official open letter to the UFC president Dana White, posted at the M1 website:

Numerous times have I read Mr. White’s statements on Internet concerning myself. In my opinion, allowing yourself to say those things is not a sign of a gentleman or a grown man at all! If he candidly wants to prove himself right then let my fight with Randy happen or let me face the reigning UFC champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. In the future I wouldn’t want to hear those statements in my address ever again and I won’t tolerate that.

My last fight in Japan proved that I’m ready to fight anybody with any height advantage, skillset or experience. I have fought and still wish to fight the best athletes. The Randy fight is my goal number one right now, he’s a great fighter and this is a very unfortunate situation when too strict and one-sided UFC contracts don’t let this fight happen.

The whole world is eager to see me fight your champions, people don’t want to listen to your press-conferences. I’m signed with M-1 Global and this promotion is ready to organize such fights under our banner or in co-promoted events.

A site called MMA Ninja has a nice report about Fedor’s first day at the Russian Combat SAMBO championships.

It’s been a slow MMA news day. Yesterday, I picked up a copy of Black Belt magazine for the first time since these guys were popular, and it’s about what you’d expect: a feature called “Karo Parisyan on Winning” shortly after “Insights Into Ten No Kata.” I didn’t expect Jimmy Pedro, the most successful US judoka ever, to contribute “Five Things Every Mixed Martial Artist Needs To Know.” Pedro, who has begun offering MMA classes at his training center, offers at #3: “You Should Always Train in a Gi.” I don’t know about “always”, but a quick look at Fedor’s background, not to mention nearly every current UFC champion (that’s BJJ black belts Rodrigo Nogueira, Anderson Silva, Matt Serra, and BJ Penn), and it sure seems useful.

by Kendall Shields

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Make no mistake, I love my country. But were I to enumerate its shortcomings, were I to catalogue the ways in which the Canadian people fail to live up to the highest principles and ideals our nation stands for, first among them (or at least somewhere near the top of the list) would be our collective inability to get TSN’s Michael Landsberg off the air. Landsberg, who has hosted a sports talk program called Off the Record for over a decade despite no discernible talent or skill, is reputed to be “Canada’s king of in-your-face debate,” as the show’s site proudly proclaims — in-your-face debate, apparently, being . . . a good . . . kind . . . of it? Michael Landsberg — not to be confused with Michelle Landsberg, writer, activist, worthwhile human being — is a smug little gnome of a man held in the utmost contempt by all right-thinking people. And yet, every so often, he features guests on his show that genuinely interest you, and so there you are, helpless to resist, despite your better judgment.

And it is in this spirit that I direct your attention to the 5 February 2007 edition of Off the Record, viewable through the program’s website — look for the “TSN Broadband” section to the right, and launch their player from there. Landsberg’s guests in this edition included UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra, UFC interim welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, and — raising this to the status of utterly essential viewing — from the fighting city of Windsor, Ontario, UFC 5 runner-up “Dangerous” Dave Beneteau.

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When it comes to the fight game, everyone’s an Aristotle. Fight fans love rankings. They downright need rankings. Who reading this site doesn’t have, in their own mind, the perfectly just and true list of the top welterweights in the world, neatly and indisputably ordered one through ten? Heavyweights, middleweights, lightweights — we’ve got it all figured out, and with the newly prominent WEC, featherweight and bantamweight rankings will no longer be the preserve of only the Shooto and DEEP enthusiasts among us. Of course, my top-ten lists bear only passing resemblance to yours (what do you mean Carlos Newton isn’t a top-ten whatever-he’s-fighting-at-now-weight?), and conversations turn into friendly arguments, and then maybe not-so-friendly arguments, until one or both of us walk away convinced that the other has no idea what they’re talking about. That’s what rankings do, and that’s why we love them.

In the last week, two major MMA media outlets, Sherdog and Yahoo!, have released their first pound-for-pound rankings of 2008, and, naturally, I’ve got problems with them. And you’ve got problems with them. It’s inconceivable that any two fight fans would see eye to eye on matters of this magnitude: non-binding, utterly inconsequential lists of who would be the best fighter if everybody was the same size are serious business. But what interests me most about these rankings isn’t whether or not Yahoo! is right to have BJ Penn at number seven (they’re not) or if Sherdog’s inclusion of Shinya Aoki in their top ten is, at this point, premature (it might be). What’s most striking is what’s happening with Fedor.

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