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.

Anyone who is paying attention to modern MMA can see that the biggest names in the business are not consistently offering a top shelf product. Elite XC put together a card that pits their champions against mediocre fighters and will make for a less than entertaining night aimed at getting attention, not at putting out a high quality product.

The UFC put on one of their best events ever, which had three interesting light heavyweight matchups, the debut of a man many consider a future phenom (Shane Carwin, just so we’re clear) and the biggest matchup that they can offer at 155 pounds.

Still, as I scroll down the cards of upcoming events, I found something bizarre.

The UFC is promising to put out shows that are far from interesting, namely it’s utterly uncreative UFC 85 card which consists of two interesting matchups on the entire evening (Davis vs. Swick and Vera vs. Werdum) and it’s unpromising TUF finale card which is headed by two fighters hardly at the top of their game, while the only two interesting matchups it has to offer (McFedries vs. Eastman and Lister vs. Horn) will remain in the middle of the card and will probably not be broadcast but for the grace of God.

So I am damned to look for incredible fights on the outskirts of the MMA world, but what I found is that I don’t actually have to look, because everybody else seems to actually care about putting out top notch fight cards.

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There’s a common denominator in Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s decisive losses, at least, the decisive ones. That common denominator is Fedor Emelianenko.

Nogueira has lost four professional mixed martial arts fights. Two have been by controversial split decision, and the other two have been to Fedor. That said, there’s a reason why Fedor beat Nogueira twice, and there’s an opponent who can give Nogueira a serious problem in the same department as Fedor.

Nogueira follows a classic dictum that stands among a lot of grapplers and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters who have made their way into mixed martial arts, and his dependence on this dictum is, at least in my mind, what has caused him the most serious problems.

Most analysts are quick to point out that when two top grapplers are fighting, the matchup almost always comes down to who is the better striker. Nogueira has taken this seriously and his boxing has improved a great deal. His standup led him to wins over grapplers like Josh Barnett, who he could control on the ground and beat standing up, which the judges generally acknowledge in their decisions.

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It was not so long ago that if you wanted to make a name for yourself, Japan was a very great place to do it. They had everything going for them. Great productions, great and charismatic fighters, etc. but all that would be erased quickly with the sudden demise of PRIDE and things shifted stateside. I’m not stating that Japan is at it’s former peak but they’re slowly and surely starting to climb up the latter of relevance. 2007 is a year that will definitely live infamy if you’re a fan of Japanese produced MMA. No top caliber shows other than Yarennoka!! 2007 and the HERO’S Middleweight GP Opening and Final Rounds were really stand out and didn’t really manage to attract a lot of attention. In March, all that will change with the new FEG Show and World Victory Road’s Sengoku.

World Victory Road has recently announced that Kazuyuki “Ironhead” Fujita, Duane “Bang” Ludwig, and Nick “The Goat” Thompson will all participate in their inaugural Sengoku show this March. Kevin Randleman has also inked a deal with WVR but it is unknown if he will participate on March 5th. Randleman and Fujita are coming off very long lay-offs and both men are coming off losses. Fujita lost a strange fight to Jeff Monson at PRIDE 34, while “The Monster” lost by submission at PRIDE 1st show in the states, PRIDE 32. “The Goat” on the other hand is fresh off a title defense at the last Bodog show and “Bang” bounced back from a loss to Paul “Semtex” Daley and managed to secure a win at Ring of Fire 30.

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What seemed to be a bit more improbable turns out to be true, Josh Barnett is slated to face Hidehiko Yoshida at the inaugural World Victory Road (WVR) Show in Japan. Originally slated to face Roger Gracie, Yoshida is no stranger to fighting men larger and sometimes more talented than him. He is inevitably one of the largest draws in Japan and will no doubt headline the star studded show this coming March. Personally, I would’ve preferred to see Yoshida take on Takimoto. Both are a bit closer in weight, compared to Barnett, and both are Olympic medalist in Judo. That would’ve meant that Josh Barnett could’ve maybe had the chance to take on Roger Gracie in what would’ve been a grappling dream.

The original set of rules for WVR are basically K-1 HERO’s style, without elbow strikes to the head. They will use 3 X 5 Minute Rounds and title fights will be 5 X 5, identical to the North American style. the weight classes thus far are as follows:

World Victory Road Weight Classes

1. 60 kg (132 lbs) - Bantamweight
2. 65 kg (143 lbs) - Featherweight
3. 70 kg (154 lbs) - Lightweight
4. 76 kg (167 lbs)- Welterweight
5. 83 kg (183 lbs) - Middleweight
6. 93 kg (205 lbs) - Light Heavyweight
7. 93.1 Or More - Heavyweight

Seen these before? Well, these are identical to those used by SHOOTO Assiocation and International SHOOTO Commission.

The Announced fights and participants thus far are:

World Victory Road: Sengoku

Fights:
Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Josh Barnett
Phil Baroni vs. Sanae Kikuta
Kazuo Misaki vs. Siyar Bahadurzada
Makoto Takimoto vs. Evangelista Cyborg
Takanori Gomi vs. TBA
Ryo Kawamura vs. TBA

Rumored Participants:
Fabricio Monteiro

(Thanks to Nightmare of Battle for the weight classes and fight card)