Lawler vs. Smith

and…

Phil Baroni showed immense restraint during the recent Cage Rage 27 event after being attacked by his opponent’s cornerman. After defeating Scott Jansen via TKO at 3:18 of the first round, a member of Jansen’s camp decided to head-butt Baroni and immediately run out of the cage.

Interesting Note: The headbutt was followed by a middle finger from Bristish porn star Hayley Finch.

Baroni immediately backed up after the attack and did not attempt to pursue Jansen’s cornerman. Other fighters, including Josh Thompson and Mark Coleman, were at the event and made an attempt to go after Baroni’s attacker. Here’s the video.

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I’ll offer in depth cards eventually, but for right now I’m just going to deal with the main cards of the two upcoming events: the UFC’s Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin card and the Affliction Emelianenko vs. Sylvia card. I won’t try and keep my contempt for what the UFC is doing quiet, but I’ll at least acknowledge that they’re having an event and give a little insight.

Fedor vs. Sylvia will mark the real welcoming of the greatest champion in the history of the sport to the western hemisphere. Yes, I know he fought Mark Coleman in Vegas, but the fact of the matter is that this is his first serious fight in a while, and it’s stateside.

I’m excited to see the fight, but it’s a matchup Fedor has seen before, a taller, bigger striker. Expect Fedor to take it to the ground and finish. Normally, I wouldn’t be sure that Fedor could finish Big Tim, but given Tim’s recent loss to Nog and Fedor’s apparent eagerness to have people shut up about him not being as good as Nogueira, I expect him to now.

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