Check out a spectator cam version of the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia fight. Here’s the long televised version.

Here’s Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell. This was an exciting standup war that did showcase a little bit of the ground game as well.

Anthony Johnson supposedly got robbed at the hands of Kevin Burns in this fight. Check it out for a climatic finish.

We all thought James Irvin was going to last longer than this. Check out the short fight between him and reigning middleweight champ Anderson Silva at 205.

Have you ever seen a Peruvian necktie in MMA before? Watch CB Dollaway vs. Jesse Taylor here.

MMA fans and bloggers have been talking a lot about Cain Valesquez and there’s no surprise why. Watch his fight against Jake O’Brien.

Watching the Affliction and UFC cards last night reminded me why Fedor Emelianenko and Anderson Silva are, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the best in the world at what they do. Fedor’s 36 second tapout victory over Tim Sylva proved that he’s the best, not just by winning, but by completely and utterly destroying a fighter who has never been beaten so furiously. And you know, when a fighter makes a former UFC champion look like Zuluzinho, the man Butterbean submitted with a kimura, that he’s a force.

It’s not about winning, when you’re the top fighter in the world, it’s about how you win.

Champions destroy their opponents in 36 seconds. Champions knock out bigger, stronger opponents with sick counter right hands.

I’ll be honest, I think that Anderson Silva is frightening. What the man can do as a fighter astounds me, because I try to do it too, and I know how unbelievably difficult it is. The fact that he decimates opponents with such veracity and consistency is great, but to prove that he can do it outside of his weightclass, dismantling a larger stand-up fighter standing up, making him look like an amateur, is all the proof I need that Anderson is the best fighter in the world, pound-for-pound.

There are going to be those who are dismissive of both of these wins. There are going to be those who say that Sylvia is a washout and that Irvin is not a technical striker. Those people are absolutely nuts.

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After delays, expectation, anticipation, letdowns, upsets, epic bouts and a lot of optimism, DREAM will conclude what it started over 5 months ago. Things have definitely gone from bad to worse for the upstart organization. If you remember, earlier this year the 1st DREAM show raked in a dismal 9 rating even dropping to 6th overall that night. Fast forward to now and I think MMA fans have definitely come to embrace DREAM. They’ve definitely broke the mold of unreachable Japanese MMA by inked a deal with HDNet to televise their shows live in the United States and Nikkan Sports is reporting that Nike has just signed on to become a clothing supplier for DREAM. Sadly, there are 2 bouts that maybe removed from this much anticipated show. Hideo Tokoro suffered a minor accident after a car collision, but will continue with his anticipated bout with DREAM. 3 standout Takeshi Yamazaki. Also, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto will go fightless in 2008 as an injury has kept him out of his DREAM debut against Joseph Benavidez and maybe for half a year. Things seem to be getting worse for “Kid” as he maybe in some HUGE trouble as he is rumored to be linked to allegations of illegal drug use. The good news is that The Fight Network is reporting that Alistair Overeem has confirmed that he will fight Mark Hunt this weekend. Ok, Finally the fight card thus far looks like this:

HEIWA DREAM.5 Lightweight GP 2008 Final Round
Date: July 21st, 2008
Place: Osaka Jo Hall in Osaka, Japan

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This is just as far as fights go, not the announcing or the production value as a whole. Affliction had a HD stream which provided better picture quality, but the UFC still has a better overall production value. Megadeth wasn’t too bad for Affliction as they didn’t go overboard with live music and allowed the fights to continue at a reasonable pace. I was expecting them to open with Symphony of Destruction, which they did.

Best
Andrei Arlovski showing his power against Ben Rothwell throughout three rounds of fighting. Even though Arlovski unloaded on Rothwell on multiple occasions, Big Ben didn’t give up until he collapsed.

Cain Valesquez didn’t let Jake O’Brien do anything in their short and one-sided UFC fight. Valesquez was quick to put on a crucifix and wail away at O’Brien until the fight was stopped in the first round. Valesquez is being hailed as the next big thing in the UFC heavyweight division and this fight only helped.

Josh Barnett dropped Pedro Rizzo lifeless with a shot that rocked the canvas and a lot of televisions. Barnett went on to land a hammerfist for good measure immediately following Rizzo’s fall as Herb Dean darted to halt the action. Barnett got the crowd going and said a few things to hype himself up. You can tell he wants to be on the next Affliction PPV and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s fighting someone bigger and better.

Props to C.B. Dollaway and his first round Peruvian necktie submission over Jesse Taylor! Also, who could forget Fedor Emelianenko’s lightening fast annihilation of Tim Sylvia. I expect to see video or since the fight was only 36 seconds long, an animated GIF of the entire fight.

Worst
Brandon Vera. Another boring fight and at light heavyweight against Reese Andy? The guy has potential, but he can’t seem to finish any fights…or provide much action inside the cage.

Two insanely fast main events. Not that we can blame Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko for demolishing the competition at a furious pace, but I’m sure many fans wanted to see a little more of James Irvin and Tim Sylvia. The combined time for both main events? One minute and 37 seconds.

But overall, who can complain about more than a dozen MMA fights in one night? Sure, it’s tedious to swtich back and forth even with a DVR/TiVo, but as long as the UFC has competition, they’ll step up to provide more fights. And more fights mean more chances for the sport to hit the headlines on ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and many other big publications.

Now we wait for next weekend to see if CBS can step up to provide another exciting night of MMA fighting.