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.
Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin is an excersise in pointlessness and ego rubbing for Dana. The fact is, getting Anderson to come up was inevitable, what’s really sad is that Irvin is his opponent. Obviously, they brought Irvin in to lose this fight, and I expect that to happen. Still, I think it’s sad that the UFC feels they can push this as a legitimate test of Anderson Silva, when there are many other fighters who would have given him a better matchup.
Personally, I would have liked to see Anderson fight Goran Reljic, who’s one of the biggest men in the division, to see if his size would translate, but that’s irrelevant. What matters is that Anderson can win this fight one of two ways to get a result. He can win easily, which will slingshot him into the front of the 205 pound contenders (since there isn’t a serious, undefeated contender right now), or he can win a war, which will put him in the uncomfortable position of having a part of his game exposed by an opponent physically big enough to take advantage of it.
Barnett vs. Rizzo is going to be a war. While the betting seems to be heavily favoring Barnett, the Pedro Rizzo that showed up and beat Jeff Monson is one of the most impressive of his incarnations in his entire career. Rizzo is a warrior, and I think that he can make a fight with Barnett interesting. While I’m picking Barnett to win with a submission, there’s a very good chance that, if Rizzo decides to stay out of the clinch and counterpunch, he can knock Barnett out.
Make no mistake, Pedro Rizzo is a warrior.
Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy is a fight that is beyond me, a matchup that doesn’t make any sense as far as I’m concerned. I was hoping that they would bring in Vera as a 205 pounder and have him really jump in the mix, fighting a top guy like Shogun who could really showcase his muay thai game. Obviously, that’s not what they’re doing with Andy. The UFC wants people to see how big Brandon Vera is as a 205 pound fighter, and that’s fine. What’s unfortunate is that they’re not making this a legitimate debut, at least not in my mind, as they need to really push him against a phenomenal 205 pounder to get his career as a lightheavyweight rolling.
Of these main event fights, there’s only one that’s actually supposed to be a war. Both Brandon Vera, on the UFC card, and Fedor, are supposed to win their fights. While people may assume that Barnett winning big is the best case scenario for Affliction, putting Rizzo in the top ten with a win over Barnett (especially if he finishes the fight) opens alot of doors to the independent organizations who know these contracts. They can set up matchups that are not possible if Rizzo drops off the map again, like Fedor/Sylvia/Arlovski vs. Rizzo, all of which would be exciting.
Personally, I hope that these cards look good, because I like seeing a great product, and while the UFC’s move may seem shady to alot of people, the fact is they are running a business, and it’s their prerogative to pull stunts like that when their franchise feels threatened. Hopefully the competition, both in the cage and the boardroom, will make for a great pair of events.
Photo Credit: ufighting.com
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July 13th, 2008 at 11:24pm
Do you have an editor? You shouldn’t publish things that have several typos/mistakes.
“Both Brandon and Vera, on the UFC card, and Fedor, are supposed to win their fights.”
and
“opens alot of doors to the independent organizations who how these contracts.”
July 14th, 2008 at 8:38am
I really don’t see how you’re giving Anderson Silva an easy victory over James Irvin. I believe James has more than a chance to win. The fight may go to the judges or either fighter may end it. It is possible that James Irvin may have the aggressive style that may win the fight. While Irvin touts his KO power, very few people forget that Anderson Silva does have a strong chin . . . according to Jorge Rivera.
Another thing about the unknown cans or obvious easy wins. How many times in recent UFC history have we seen huge upsets from obvious cans? Forrest choked out (an injured Shogun - BUT no one fights 100%), UD against Rampage, and nearly beat Tito Ortiz. Jake O’Brien controlled Heath Herring towards an unanimous decision. Jardine’s upset and well earned victory over Chuck Liddell. Houston Alexander a relatively unknown prospect destroyed the tough Keith Jardine. And I’m sure there’s more examples, especially in boxing.
There are many points of contention concerning the Fedor-Tim match up, but I really don’t think Tim’s recent loss to Nogueira factors a whole lot. Really different style match-ups. Nog is a BJJ with decent striking. Fedor’s background is sambo. Tim is just a striker, who rarely takes a fight to the floor. What happens if Fedor is unable to take Tim down? You’re looking at a 3-round striking match. Or is it 5-rounds?
After all, “Forrest Griffin is delusional.” - J. Stein
July 14th, 2008 at 10:06am
Seth: This isn’t a sponsored blog, so please go easy on the writers when they make a couple mistakes on the articles. Sending an email to Josh would be more constructive than trying to call him out. Critique the message itself. Thanks!
July 14th, 2008 at 3:03pm
Seth, everyone makes mistakes. If you want to act like the grammar police, go somewhere where people care. Did you have anything to say about the substance of the piece? No? Oh, that’s right.
Vee, that’s an underhanded shot about the Forrest fight, and you know it. When I called him delusional, it was a matter of him standing and trading with Rampage. He didn’t. He worked from the outside, he was aggressive on the ground with a few submission attempts and, most importantly, he worked the leg kicks. He didn’t do what he said, in all of the prefight jabber I saw, he was going to do. That’s why he won.
Anderson is a massive favorite on every board I’ve looked at. I don’t think his chances are as good as the odds show, but I think you’re missing my point.
My point is not that James Irvin can’t win this fight. I think he can (and there’s a part of me that wants to put a little bit of money on him to cash in on the 8/1 odds). The issue is that Irvin was not brought into this fight to win, he was brought in to springboard Anderson into the 205 pound division.
Anything can happen. I won’t deny that, and I never have. Frankly, the Forrest fight wasn’t the only one I called wrong (I had a tough night at UFC 86), so if you’re going to nit-pick, feel free.
If Fedor doesn’t take Tim down?
I respect Tim’s takedown defense, but there are plenty of guys who have put Tim on his back. Randy did it. Monson did it. It can be done.
Arlovski’s background is Sambo too. So what? That didn’t stop him from knocking Sylvia on his ass and submitting him.
I think Fedor will take Sylvia to the ground because I don’t think that Tim will be able to get out of a clinch with Fedor, especially in a ring. But if that doesn’t happen, Fedor can still do damage standing up, and I think he will.
Still, I’m going to go with an ending on the ground.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:26pm
Josh, it was underhanded but I had to go for it. No malice.
Hey I thought Page was definitely going to win also. You gotta love the leg kicks! Happy for Forrest but who does he fight next?
I don’t think Anderson will be making regularly 205 appearances win or lose. Okami is his next opponent confirmed this Fall, according to Ed Soares. There’s Cote and maybe another dance with Henderson on the horizon, if he doesn’t get subbed by Palhares.
OK, I have to admit it. I’m kind of rooting for Tim Sylvia, but if Fedor wins it won’t be a surprise. There’s a strong chance Fedor will end the fight in the 1st round. Hey, I don’t think Tim Sylvia winning via KO will be a surprise either.
July 15th, 2008 at 1:56am
Yeah, I figured, Vee.
Forrest fights Thiago next. Or at least, I hope that’s how it pans out. If he does, Thiago kills him.
I don’t tend to trust Soares too much, but even if he does fight Okami in the fall, it will be a decimation, and when he destroys Okami (given the win over Irvin) he’ll come back up to fight at 205 again.
After all, while the 185 pound division is good, there’s no one Anderson is competing with.
You think that Tim will start stopping people now? Outside of the cage? After his last few crappy performances? I think alot of people would be shocked if he pulled that off. I mean, I know how good his striking is, but I don’t think he’s going to stop Fedor standing up, not when CroCop, at his peak, in the ring, couldn’t.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:52pm
Looking at the Afflction card, I have some trouble understanding how you can complain about the guys that Vera and Silva are fighting.
First, Vera has gone on the record saying that Dan Hernderson and Wandy both turned down the fight. It is known that at least three fighters turned down the Anderson Silva fight. To complain about who they are facing is fine, but you should acknowledge that attempts were made to secure top notch opponents.
Since Vera and James Irwin have talked about it, it is not as though this is not well known within the MMA writing community.
Affliction has put together a solid card, but some folks are acting as though this the greatest card ever…far from it.
Pedro Rizzo has looked good how many times in the last five years? I will give him credit for beating Monson, but Barnett just easily did the same thing. So we get a top ten fighter (Barnett) against a guy that is arguably not even in the top twenty.
So Barnett/Rizzo is ok, but Vera facing a 7-1 fighter is not?
How about Matt Lindland facing a guy that has lost to every top twenty guy he has ever faced?
The Affliction card is better, but it should be since they are charging $40 for it.
Both cards could have stronger bouts, as we will see top level guys facing solid opponents that are not in their league.
So write an article about why you like it, talk about how you are upset at the UFC for running a show at the same time, but your complaints about the UFC card hypocritical and inaccurate.