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| Opportunity lost: Andrei Arlovski threw it all in the toilet against Fedor Emelianenko Posted: 25 Jan 2009 08:09 AM CST
Props: Cage Writer Quoteworthy:
Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski reflects on his knockout loss at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko last night during the main event of Affliction: “Day of Reckoning.” The Belarusian appeared to be on his way toward winning the opening frame of the five round fight handily, but he was then somehow magically iced while in midair as he attempted to land a flying knee. It was a mistake, according to Arlovski, and Emelianenko made him pay for it. But doesn’t that happen to almost everyone who Emelianenko fights? Photo courtesy of Jon Kopaloff at Getty Images. |
| Affliction spends $3,308,000 to attract 13,228 for ‘Day of Reckoning’ Posted: 25 Jan 2009 04:32 AM CST
Affliction “Day of Reckoning” took place yesterday, January 24, from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California and featured the much-anticipated heavyweight showdown between WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski. The live gate produced a total of 13,228 spectators, down 11 percent from last year’s Affliction “Banned” event that brought in 14,832. MMAmania.com was also able to obtain a list of fighter salaries from the California State Athletic Commission for “Day of Reckoning,” and the big winner certainly seems to be double-A, who pockets a cool mil and a half despite his knockout loss to “The Last Emperor.” The total disclosed payroll for Affliction’s sophomore effort was $3,308,000, slightly lower than last July’s event that saw them shell out $3,332,100. Keep in mind the official salaries do not include bonuses (like Fedor’s, which is rumored to be well over a million dollars) or sponsorships and also exclude taxes, fees and other miscellaneous payments. By comparison, the total disclosed payroll for UFC’s star-studded pay-per-view UFC 92 ‘The Ultimate’ back on December 27 was only $1,381,000. Below is a complete list of fighter salaries from Affliction ‘Day of Reckoning’:
For results, coverage and a complete recap of Affliction “Day of Reckoning,” click here. |
| Affliction recap for ‘Day of Reckoning’ PPV event Jan. 24 Posted: 24 Jan 2009 11:03 PM CST
Affliction MMA today pulled the trigger on its sophomore effort, “Day of Reckoning,” from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. And what a difference a six months can make — it was night and day compared to the debut show, “Banned,” on July 19 … literally. The debut event seemed like it took place in a dingy college fraternity basement under a black light, complete with painful delays between fights and set to a sorry heavy metal soundtrack. Not tonight. The production was much cleaner and brighter. And the mixed martial arts action, for the most part, flowed like the river Nile. Okay, it wasn’t that spectacular, but it was a significant improvement. So, too, were the fights. WAMMA Heavyyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko put his title and mythic reputation on the line against his stiffest competition in more than three years, Andrei Arlovski, in the main event of the evening. He didn’t disappoint, but it was not without the typical cold blooded and calm demeanor we have come to expect from the Russian.
“The Pitbull” was confident and appeared to be on his way to an early upset in the opening minutes of round one. He clearly won the stand up and appeared to have Emelianenko in trouble after several well-placed strikes founds their marks. Emelianenko, as usual, weathered the storm and stayed eerily cool under pressure. And when Arlovski had him cornered and rocked, he was somehow able to knockout the Belarussian in midair with a right hook as he attempted a flying knee. Arlovski was unconscious before he hit the canvas in a surreal scene. Once again, Emelianenko delivers the goods and stops a former UFC heavyweight champion for the second consecutive time. Why not go for three in a row? Josh Barnett and Gilbert Yvel threw down in the co-featured fight of the night. And it lived up to its billing despite critics who questioned whether or not the “Dirty Dutchman” was worthy of such a high profile position. Yvel — who self admittedly has a lackluster ground game — did all he could to survive the smothering and relentless attack of the former UFC heavyweight champion. It appeared that Barnett had him all but finished on numerous occasions, reigning down vicious blows from full mount, but he demonstrated great heart and held on longer than this writer expected. He is one tough dude. But toughness alone is not enough to topple a world class fighter such as Barnett. “The Baby Faced Assassin” was absolutely dominant and had to wonder how he could not put away the resilient kickboxer sooner. But his time came midway through the third round when Yvel could no longer endure the punishment and tapped out because of strikes. It would have been sweeter to see the fight stopped by the referee and save Yvel a little face, but there was no shame in his performance tonight. It was an exciting fight and a big win for Barnett. That’s because now the catch wrestler earned a dream fight against his old friend and current WAMMA Heavyweight Champion, Fedor Emelianenko. Oh boy. Literally just as soon as Tito Ortiz got finished talking about how Matt Lindland is among the top 185-pound fighters in the world, Vitor Belfort dropped the Team Quest fighter with a devastating short left hook seconds into round one. Lindland — dazed and terribly confused — tried to recover by grabbing a leg, but the Brazilian seized the opportunity and annihilated Lindland with follow-up strikes. “The Phenom” soon had his opponent stiff as a board out cold twitching on the canvas. Fortunately, the referee in charge of the action stepped in to save the Olympic silver medalist from further abuse. It’s hard to tell what was scarier — Lindland’s long journey back to consciousness or Belfort’s sudden emergence as a wrecking machine in the middleweight class. Let’s just hope he doesn’t fizzle like Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. The Cameroonian burst onto the scene back in the Pride FC heyday with impressive knockout wins over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. He hasn’t lived up to the hype ever since … and tonight was no different. The Team Quest-trained fighter once again came out strong, but could not maintain the momentum against the dangerous Brazilian jiu-jitsu stylist, and current Strikeforce 205-pound champion, Renato “Babalu” Sobral. The UFC veterans battled up and down for most of the first round. And it appeared to be a solid evenly matched affair heading into the second stanza. It didn’t last long. “Babalu” got him on his back early in round two and, as history proves, that’s pretty much half the battle. He sunk in a fight-ending choke, sending Soku to La La Land and handing him his third loss in four fights. Ouch. All in all “Day of Reckoning” was a fantastic night of fights. There was a lot on the line for not only several of the fighters, but for the future of the promotion, too. It was a huge step in the right direction and hopefully one that keeps the organization moving forward in the days and months ahead. More, please. For complete results and blow-by-blow commentary of the main card fights click here. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for everything you need to know in connection with Affliction: “Day of Reckoning.” |
| Affliction results, coverage and winners LIVE tonight for ‘Day of Reckoning’ Posted: 24 Jan 2009 12:40 PM CST
Click the banner above or right here for up-to-the-minute results and blow-by-blow coverage of Affliction: “Day of Reckoning.” Quick results of the prelim fights will begin to flow around 7 p.m. ET with the HDNet broadcast and LIVE blow-by-blow, round-by-round coverage of the main card pay-per-view (PPV) action will start at 9 p.m. ET. If you're going to leave comments and discuss the fights with all the other MMAmania.com readers be sure to do it on the main “Day of Reckoning” results post and not this one. |
| WEC 38 weigh in results for ‘Varner vs Cerrone’ official Posted: 24 Jan 2009 12:38 PM CST
The field of 20 fighters set to compete tomorrow night (Sunday) at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, Calif., on the WEC 38: “Varner vs. Cerrone” card today tipped the scales for the official weigh-ins. All the athletes eventually made their respective weights with three minor hiccups. Here are the official WEC 38 weigh-in results:
*Henderson, Garcia and Avena all came in a half-pound over their respective division limits initially, but made weight on their seconds attempts. WEC 38 will be the kickoff event of 2009 for the Zuffa-owned organization. Company lightweight champion Jamie “C-4″ Varner will defend his title against undefeated Muay Thai specialist Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in the main event and Urijah “The California Kid” Faber and Jens “Little Evil” Pulver will square off in a rematch in the co-main event. It’s going to be rock-solid. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for all your WEC 38 coverage before, during and after the event. The main card bouts will air live on the Versus Network beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET on fight night. |
| Counter programming reminder: UFC mania on Spike TV today/tonite includes ‘Couture vs Lesnar’ Posted: 24 Jan 2009 12:26 PM CST
This is just a reminder that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has once again scheduled big-time Spike TV programming this afternoon and evening to counter an event from Affliction MMA. "Day of Reckoning" is the sophomore effort for the upstart promotion, featuring one of the most anticipated fights in the history of the sport between WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC title holder Andrei Arlovski. It will air tonight on pay-per-view (PPV), beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Not to be outdone, UFC President Dana White and Co. are going to do their best to ensure that viewers at home who don’t want — or can’t afford — to cough up upward of $40 to watch a PPV have other mixed martial arts options. Options that don’t cost a single cent to those who receive the Spike TV network via basic cable. Spike TV will debut UFC 91: "Couture vs. Lesnar," which was billed as the "biggest fight in UFC history," hauling in the largest (at the time, according to White) PPV booty ever for the Zuffa-owned promotion. Lesnar defeated Randy Couture via second round technical knockout to capture the heavyweight crown in the UFC 91 main event. Kenny Florian toppled Joe Stevenson with a first round submission in the co-featured bout of the evening, reinforcing his position as the clearcut number one title contender in the 155-pound division. It originally took place on November 15, 2008. Keep in mind that UFC programming will begin to air at 3 p.m. ET on Spike TV to lead-in to the UFC 91 rebroadcast at 9 p.m. ET. “UFC Unleashed,” “UFC Primetime” and “Ultimate Iceman: Chuck Liddell” are all on the schedule. It’s nice to have choices … we hope you make the right one. (Note that UFC 84: "Ill Will" aired opposite "Banned" on July 26 and UFC 87: "Seek and Destroy" debuted on Spike TV October 11 — the original date for "Day of Reckoning." UFC also used to counter program Elite XC when the promotion held events on CBS.) |
| Sengoku 7: Mohammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal vs Ryo Kawamura Posted: 24 Jan 2009 11:27 AM CST
World Victory Road held a recent press conference to announce the first bout for its Sengoku 7 event which takes place on Friday, March 20 at the National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. The first official fight of the card will feature wrestling phenom and breakout star Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal (3-0). The Team Quest standout has been on a ferocious tear since debuting at Sengoku 'Fifth Battle' back in September, demolishing veteran of the sport Travis Wiuff (54-12) with relative ease. In the span of just four months since his debut got underway, Mo has continued to dominate his opponents and boost his record to 3-0, entertaining fans along the way with his fighting style and colorful personality. Lawal seems right at home in Japan with his theatrics and thankfully he can back them up when it comes fight time. In his post fight speech after his last win at Sengoku 'Rebellion' on January 4 (a TKO victory over Yukiya Naito) "King Mo" stated that he wants to fight on every single Sengoku card of 2009. No arguments here.
Lawal has now been put to the task of facing current light heavyweight King of Pancrase Ryo Kawamura (9-3-2). Another scheduled bout set to go down at “Seventh Battle” was Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Champions Jeff Monson and Roger Gracie battling it out. However the fate of that fight is now up in the air as Monson faces first-degree malicious mischief charges, putting the scheduled bout with Gracie in jeopardy. World Victory Road also announced they would hold six events in 2009, taking place in March, May, July, August, September and November. The full line-up for their Featherweight Tournament looks to be complete and will be officially announced sometime next week. As of now, undefeated featherweight King of Pancrase Marlon Sandro (12-0) is the only fighter to have confirmed his participation in the Tournament. And last but not least a four man mini-tournament to crown the organization’s first ever heavyweight champion is being planned for sometime in late 2009. It would likely feature Josh Barnett and possibly Antonio Silva. Stay tuned for event updates for Sengoku “Seventh Battle” as they develop. Photo courtesy of the talented Esther Lin at AllElbows.com. |
| UFC Quick Quote: BJ Penn surprised that Georges ‘Hamburglar’ St. Pierre isn’t using steroids Posted: 24 Jan 2009 11:18 AM CST
UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn has some very unkind words for Georges St. Pierre and trainer Firas Zahabi on Sirius Satellite’s Hardcore Sports Radio following the debacle that has become the ‘reality’ behind the Spike TV production "UFC Primetime," which is a $1.7 million three-part promotional series for his upcoming super fight against ‘Rush’ at UFC 94 on January 31. Just when you thought these two couldn’t generate any more heat prior to next Saturday’s epic battle, Mr. Penn delivers. |
| Affliction final pre-fight press conference video for ‘Day of Reckoning’ Posted: 24 Jan 2009 11:10 AM CST |
| Extreme Challenge MMA ‘War at the Shore’ results and quick recap; Tara LaRosa earns tough win Posted: 24 Jan 2009 10:56 AM CST
Extreme Challenge ‘War at the Shore’ took place Friday, Jan. 23, from the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., featuring the biggest female mixed martial artist (not named Carano or Santos) looking to make it 13 straight. She didn’t disappoint. Tara LaRosa shook off some initial ring rust to stop challenger Alexis Davis in the third round via technical knockout thanks to a pesky cut on the face of Davis that ringside physicians deemed too severe to allow her to continue. Getting punched in the face will often do that. Alexis, a black belt in Dayboll Jiu-Jitsu and a 4th-stripe purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Royler Gracie, proved why she was Canada’s Open grappling champion with a stingy guard that not only kept her competitive in round one, but also saw her take the second round with a textbook trip and suffocating mount. LaRosa regained her composure in the opening minutes of round three and introduced a cut above the eye of Davis. From there she poured it on until the referee was forced to halt the action and get the input from the nearby medical personnel. The doctor’s stoppage was LaRosa’s sixteenth victory overall, sending the crowd into a frenzy and providing a satisfactory ending to an event that suffered a mighty blow when scheduled headliners Eddie Alvarez and Wilson Reis withdrew from their bouts.
Alvarez (15-2) was still on hand to accept an appreciation award (and help sell tickets) for his fight with Tatsuya Kawajiri at the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix last July. The Philadelphia native, who could be seen later in the evening in LaRosa’s corner, gave a brisk thank you speech and ducked out in order for the fights to continue. Also in the mix was UFC lightweight contender Frank Edgar, cornering Charlie Brenneman as he faced off against Edward O'Daniel. Brenneman showed exceptional wrestling, slamming O’Daniel at will before eventually pounding him out in the third frame. Edgar was the most vocal cornerman of the night and showed how a strong corner can help guide a fighter to victory. Speaking of victory, Brazilian Sidemar Honorio earned his with a devastating head kick in the second round of his bantamweight slugfest with Iowa's Mike Powell. In what was easily fight of the night, Honorio and Powell tested their hearts (and chins) with an exchange of punches and kicks that had the entire Tropicana Showroom on its feet by the end of the first. Honorio was looking for the head kick all night, and after landing one in the first, sealed the deal in round two when he connected flush and a weathered Powell collapsed in pain. Powell would recover and draw cheers from the stands for his entertaining scrap. And while we have the topic of scrap on our minds, one-time UFC product Sherman Pendergarst looked like he belonged on the scrap heap as he lumbered to the cage in a less than impressive physical condition only to get choked out by ShoXC veteran Joshua Barnes. The fans let “Tank(ed)” hear it with a chorus of boos following the quick defeat. That reaction however pales in comparison to the fury of the crowd when they blacked out on the debuting Dan Stittgen, who turned a submission attempt by Greg Killian into a standing rear naked choke for the win. Coming into the match as an up-and-comer with Team Kurt Pellegrino, Killian was clearly the crowd favorite, and Stittgen took some serious verbal lumps from the audience before and during their battle. After silencing the crowd with his win, a vengeful Stittgen climbed the side of the cage and issued the double-bird to just about everyone in attendance, causing the Pellegrino camp to rush the cage in protest. Referee Dan Miragliotta quickly ripped Stittgen from the cage and ringside officials immediately intervened to stymie any potential incidents. Not coincidentally, Stittgen was nowhere to be seen at the evening’s after party later that night. It was an entertaining night of fights that also saw New York native Jonathan Evans fall to British wrestler Kamal Shalorus and Philadelphia Fight Factory’s Zach Makovsky submit World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Justin Robbins. Here are the results for Extreme Challenge MMA ‘War at the Shore:’ Jon Meyer (6-3) defeated Craig Kaufman (6-2) via submission (heel hook) |
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