Just 10 days after his brutal knockout loss to Anderson Silva at Fight Night 14, James Irvin has more explaining to do. According to NBC Sports, Irvin tested positive for both Methadone and Oxymorphone from samples taken from his post-fight urine sample given to the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Methadone is primarily used to treat chronic pain as a synthetic opoid while Oxymorhpone is a narcotic pain killer that is 6-8 time more potent than morphine. Both substances are chemically different than the other and considered banned by state athletic commissions.

Irvin faces a stiff fine and up to a year suspension, but he has time to appeal the ruling and state his case.

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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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.

Check back later tonight starting at 9PM EST for results on the Affliction “Banned” event. Fights for the UFC Fight Night begin at 9PM EST as well.

Affliction “Banned”
Fedor Emelianenko def. Tim Sylvia via rear naked choke in less than a minute in R1.
If you thought Silva vs. Irvin was quick…
Andrei Arlovski def. Ben Rothwell via TKO in R3
Arlovski looked good and landed a lot of shots and an amazing flying knee.
Josh Barnett def. Pedro Rizzo via TKO in R2 (hard hit!)
Barnett went on to talk about other fighters “they’re all badasses, but they ain’t me.” Ouch!
Mark Hominick def. Savant Young via armbar in R2
Renato Sobral def. Mike Whitehead via decision after 3 rounds
Matt Lindland def. Fabio Negao via decision after 3 rounds
Antonio Roderio Nogueira def. Edwin Dewees via TKO in R1
Mike Pyle def. JJ Ambrose via rear naked choke in R1

UFC Fight Night 14
Anderson Silva def. James Irvin via TKO in R1
I’m glad I purchased the Affliction PPV because that fight was a letdown.
Brandon Vera def. Reese Andy via decision after 3 rounds
Frankie Edgar def. Hermes Franca via decision after 3 rounds
Cain Valesquez def. Jake O’Brien via TKO in R1 (vicious ground and pound!)
Kevin Burns def. Anthony Johnson via TKO in R3
CB Dollaway def. Jesse Taylor vs submission in R1

Remember when Dan Henderson shocked the world by beating Wanderlei Silva? If not, then you certainly remember the two belts he held when he fought Anderson Silva in the unification fight at 185. Hendo was not supposed to have both the 185 and 205 belts. He was supposed to lose to Wand in a big name but very winnable fight for the Axe Murderer. In an ironic twist to the story, Hendo defeated Wand and stood atop the Pride mountain. If the UFC is not careful there could be a repeat of these events this weekend.

This weekend the UFC is using some of their star power to keep fans away from the inaugural Affliction card. This card is the deepest heavyweight card ever. In what seems to be a fight between organizations, the UFC is putting the pound for pound most dangerous fighter in the world in the cage for free on Spike. This sounds great and he will steal some viewers from the Affliction card, but is it worth it?

Is it worth it to put in your top guy out of his weight class? Is it worth it to possibly put a blemish on your current top dog? Anderson Silva versus James Irvin is a bad situation for the 185 champ.

Realistically, who is James Irvin in the 205 pound division? Sure, he is the guy that knocked out Houston Alexander. The same Alexander that demolished a fighter many feel has a weak chin in Keith Jardine. Speaking of weak chin, Alexander is the newest to join the glass jaw club. Irvin was able to KO him in a matter of seconds in their fight. Irvin is not a top 5 guy in the division, maybe not even top 10. So why risk putting Anderson against a striker that is known to have power and that can knock you out? Especially one that is as confident as Irvin.

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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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While the upcoming UFC fights may be disgusting in terms of their ability to produce the highest quality matches possible, they may fail entirely in their ability to deliver the highest quality of fight, but there are some fights where there are some fighters that have been put in the position to change the course of their careers, and who have nothing to be afraid of if they blow it all in a big gambit.

The first of these fighters is Chris Lytle, who’s set to fight Josh Koscheck at UFC 86. The people picking Chris to win are, for the most part, picking him because they want Koscheck to lose. Still, Chris has put himself in a great position by fighting one of more controversial fighters. Koscheck will get him attention, and while, on paper, Chris should lose this fight, if he comes out on top, he has everything to gain. He’ll get attention, the opportunity to call out a younger, fresher fighter (a part of Koscheck’s generation) if he wants to, and have that fight legitimized.

The second is obvious. James Irvin has nothing to lose by stepping in to fight Anderson Silva. Again, those who are picking James to win that fight are mostly picking him because they think that Anderson will lose to the lightheavyweight division, to larger opponents, not because they believe Irvin is a better fighter than Anderson. Even Irvin’s mother probably doesn’t believe that. Still, in winning this fight, Irvin puts himself in the position to get alot of attention. He hasn’t got alot of press for killing Houston Alexander when they fought, and that’s probably fair, as Irvin is a streaky fighter and Alexander was a relative newcomer, but beating the wrecking ball would help legitimize Irvin, though it may still cause speculation among those who believe that it was purely on the basis of his size. Irvin can at least make himself the subject of alot of conversation.

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