Posted by Ajit on 16th February 2011
Pictured: John Cholish, fighting out of Renzo Gracie’s academy in NY, wins in an impressive second round submission.
The dust has settled from the first round of the Strikeforce heavyweight GP, and what an event it was. I won’t focus too much on what everyone already knows-the legend, Fedor, lost his 2nd fight in a row and was contemplating retirement, and Arlovski lost his 4th fight in a row with a brutal KO by Kharitonov (view these articles for more about the event: A Sad Farewell to the Greatest Heavyweight of All Time
The Breakdown: Strikeforce - Fedor vs. Silva).
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Posted in Ajit Punj, Fedor, Fedor Emelianenko, Strikeforce | 2 Comments »
Posted by Jose Fernandez on 14th February 2011
Pictured: Antonio Silva, who recorded one of MMA’s greatest upsets of all time Saturday night at Strikeforce.
In what likely marked the end of an era, the once superhuman enigma known as Fedor Emelianenko was completely dominated by Antonio Silva this past Saturday night.
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Posted in Fedor, Jose Fernandez, Strikeforce | No Comments »
Posted by Dave Walsh on 25th January 2009
There are times when it takes a while to come down off of a buzz, and for the second time, a fight card presented by a t-shirt company has done just that. The internet will be abuzz, as usual, with talk of production values, buy rates and attendance. I think pushing all of that aside for a moment what you will see is an ultimately satisfying fight card, with each of the fights providing excitement rarely seen on your average $45 PPV card. Capped off by a fight for the ages, an emotional rollercoaster that was Andrei Arlovski challenging Fedor Emelianenko for the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship.
Affliction’s second card has been plagued since the day it was announced, being cancelled due to poor ticket sales and Affliction trying to seal a deal with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions to help create a buzz around the show. The talk was always that Fedor was not a draw in the United States, but when push came to shove, the card not featuring Fedor was not selling tickets. When Barnett vs. Arlovski was no longer the featured main event, instead Arlovski vs. Fedor a few fans grumbled that Barnett was the better fighter and more likely the better fight for Fedor.
Instead Affliction chose the more memorable UFC Heavyweight Champion to headline against Fedor, and ultimately, it was an incredible decision. Not many fights get me excited anymore. Mixed Martial Arts is growing, and as a part of the growth comes a lot of cards featuring a lot of good, not great fighters facing off against each other. Even if the fighters facing off are great, the match ups are not exciting, they are competitive. They are guys with similar skillsets cancelling each other out, or simply guys with opposing skillsets trying to avoid the other’s strength. But this fight was different, this was two guys who aren’t afraid to engage, who are explosive, and easily the best heavyweights in the world.
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Posted in Affliction, Andrei Arlovski, Dave Walsh, Fedor, Fedor Emelianenko | 4 Comments »
Posted by Dave Walsh on 17th July 2008
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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Posted in Affliction, Dave Walsh, Fedor, Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, WAMMA | 6 Comments »
