Jan 25 2009
A Good Show
With just one punch, Fedor Emelianenko furthered his domination of the Heavyweight division in Mixed Martial Arts. Andrei Arlovski was not a heavy underdog, nor was he some slouch or a freak-show, still he was not even in the same class as Emelianenko.
Fedor was currently one of the best MMA fighters in the world before the fight, and now he is easily in an elite class with maybe two other fighters. Being honest with myself, I gave Arlovski a good chance in this fight and believed him to have the skills he would need to win.
Arlovski came out and seeked to control Fedor in the first round with his boxing skills and really looked sharp when he got too confident and tried a flying knee. Fedor capitalized on the Arlovski mistake and dropped him with a punch that knocked Arlovski out cold.
Now the question is, who else can Affliction throw at Emelianenko? Who does Affliction believe deserving of a shot at this machine called Fedor? The finger looks to be pointing at Josh Barnett, but he sounded reluctant to take the fight, and Fedor himself said he has no interest either.
If not Barnett, the best thing to do for both sides is let Emelianenko walk away and either sign with the UFC or continue to be a free-agent fighter. There has been reports that the Affliction Promotion has again over extended itself and lost money in this event.
The attendence was slightly down, but early estimates say the Pay-Per-View purchases where not as great as the company anticipated. If this is true, Affliction will be in trouble and they have not announced any future plans for more events in the up-coming months.
J.M.Saucedo
