Fedor-Barnett off; Barnett tests positive for steroids (again)

The WAMMA Heavyweight title fight between Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko is off due to Barnett testing positive for steroids which has stopped him getting a licence for the fight. It’s the 2nd time that Barnett has tested positive, the other time coming after he defeated Randy Couture at UFC 37 for the UFC Heavyweight title. I’m quite disgusted by the whole thing to be honest. It took me a while to warm to Barnett because of the Couture fight and the fact that he has always denied it but over the last 12 months I’ve grown to like him. This changes everything. This is not baseball or soccer or athletics where if you cheat in this way you rob another competitor of their place. This is a combat sport and cheating by making yourself better with illegal substances has the potential to seriously injure or kill another fighter. If Barnett’s appeal fails, I’m quite happy to never see him fight again to be perfectly honest.

As for the Affliction card, so far Fabricio Werdum, Brett Rogers and Tito Ortiz have all ruled themselves out of the running. It’s looking like it’ll be Jeff Monson, who’s been doing alright against certain opponents of late. He scored a submission win over Sergey Kharitonov in DREAM this year and scored a controversial decision over Roy Nelson. He’s riding a seven fight win streak since losing to Barnett, with other wins over Mark Kerr and Ricco Rodriguez. Monson’s submission skills make him a dangerous fight for anyone, but I doubt he’ll get Fedor down and he’s likely to get knocked out in the opening two rounds.

Fifty Greatest Fights in UFC History Part 2/5

40- Thiago Alves stoppage (2nd) Chris Lytle (UFC 78)
This fight had the potential to be higher had the doctor not come up with a bullshit stoppage. Alves and Lytle engaged in a stand-up war that saw a trade of knockdowns in the opening round with Lytle going down first before he knocked Alves down later in the round and began dominating with his hands. In the 2nd round Alves landed numerous heavy low kicks that were starting to slow Lytle, but “Lights Out” was still landing his punches and after a close 2nd round that could have gone either way may have just needed to survive. However, the doctor stopped the fight between rounds due to a cut over Lytle’s eye that put a damper on what was the only good fight of the ’Validation’ card.

39- Randy Couture knockout (8:17) Vitor Belfort (UFC 15)
The fight that made Randy Couture famous in the UFC. Taking on the seeminly invincible Vitor Belfort, Couture showed the tactical ability, heart and determination that would take him to three Heavyweight championships and two Light Heavyweight championships in years to come. After taking Belfort down early, Couture began to rough Vitor up with his now famous dirty boxing and land heavy shots from the single collar tie. After several minutes of fast paced action, Belfort slowed allowing Couture to pin him against the fence and finish him with strikes on the ground.

38- Matt Hughes knockout (2nd) Carlos Newton (UFC 34)
One of the most controversial endings in UFC history. Did Hughes slam Newton intentionally or did he fall because Newton choked him unconscious? For those of you who haven’t seen it, in the 2nd round Newton secured a triangle choke and Hughes’ defence was to stand. At some point Hughes, whether intentionally or not, slammed Newton on his head and knocked him out. The controversy came when Hughes was unaware of how the fight ended, making people wonder whether or not he consciously slammed Newton. Up until the ending the fight was great, with Hughes power against Newtons ground skills in what was a back and forth fight.

37- Kendall Grove unanimous decision Ed Herman (TUF 3 Finale)
One of the many great finishes to a season of TUF. The season three Middleweight final between Team Ortiz fighter Kendall Grove and Team Shamrock fighter Ed Herman was a war. Herman dominated the first from on top, landing hard shots to Grove who was game in looking for submissions. Herman again got on top in the 2nd, but spent much of the round fighting a deep, deep triangle attempt from the lanky 6’6 Hawaiian. He finally escaped, but was now on the bottom and at the end of the 2nd round it was all up for grabs. Herman scored a takedown to start the 3rd and despite being exhausted, took Groves back and began pounding away. Grove scrambled on top after an armbar attempt and took Hermans back sinking in a deep rear naked choke in the final seconds. The bell sounded with Herman nearly out and the choke was enough to swing the fight in Groves favour. Dana White awarded both men a six figure contract and I’ve been waiting to see a rematch of this fight ever since.

36- Josh Barnett knockout (2nd) Randy Couture (UFC 36)
Barnett ended Couture’s 7-0 run in the UFC with a shocking comeback win in the 2nd round of their Heavyweight title clash. After dishing out punishment upon punishment in the opening round that was surely a 10-8 for Couture, he again took ‘The Baby faced Assassin’ down and began to punish him in the 2nd round. Barnett though showed his toughness and managed to get on top and at this stage Couture was exhausted. Barnett proceeded to finish the job and become UFC heavyweight champion. The fight was controversial in that Barnett then tested positive for steroids and was stripped of the title.

35- Tim Sylvia knockout (1st) Andrei Arlovski (UFC 59)
As with the previous fight, this was another dramatic and sudden turnaround, but even more so. Arlovski appeared to be having his way with Sylvia after dropping him with a right hand, much like he did in their first fight at UFC 51 where he dropped him and then submitted him with an ankle lock. Sylvia this time rose quickly and although he was on shaky legs the fight was far from out of him. Arlovski rushed in to finish him only to eat a well timed uppercut that dropped him and Sylvia finished him off with solid ground and pound. The ending was truly breathtaking and probably as close a finish to the Corrales-Castillo fight you’re likely to see in MMA.

34- Roger Huerta unanimous decision Leonard Garcia (UFC 69)
Yeah it was a little one sided but Garcia was game as hell and made it exciting all the way. Huerta manhandled the smaller man for much of the fight, but Garcia repeatedly fought back and made for a very entertaining fight. it’s one of those fights that truly shows off the Lightweight divisions exciting battles as they kept up a pace that would drown a welterweight for the entire three rounds. The fight would have been higher had Huerta not dominated so much.

33- Randy Couture knockout (3rd) Pedro Rizzo (UFC 34)
After the razor thin decision went Coutures way in their first fight, both guys were out to make it clear cut in the rematch. Couture’s improved stand-up in the rematch was the difference and he stood up with Rizzo, landing leg kicks to the leg kick master. The two mostly kick boxed for the first two rounds and Couture appeared to get the better of it. In the third round sensing that Rizzo was tired, Couture took it to the mat and finished it quickly with a barrage of strikes.

32- Georges St Pierre split decision BJ Penn (UFC 58)
The first fight between these two pound for pound combatants wasn’t as controversial as the 2nd (well if you ask me it was because the rematch wasn’t controversial at all) but it was a better fight. Penn, the undefeated UFC Welterweight champion who left the organisation was making his comeback to the UFC and was pitted against the fast rising St Pierre who’s only loss was against Matt Hughes for the title. Penn lit GSP up in the opening round with his hands, landing repeatedly with sharp punches that cut GSP up and made his face look like a crimson mask. GSP showed his championship heart and came back, using his superior strength and conditioning to outwork Penn in a hard fought round two before dominating him on top in the 3rd round to take a split decision.

31- Evan Tanner knockout (1st) Phil Baroni (UFC 45)
This fight is again among the more controversial endings in UFC history. Well actually, Larry Landless just royally fucked up as a referee in this fight, but credit must go to Tanner for coming back from such adversity. Baroni rocked Tanner big time in the opening seconds, dropping him and landing a barrage of hard right hands that bloodied and dazed Tanner. Landless called time off and checked the cut on Tanner, and he had roughly a minute’s respite from the onslaught. When they resumed, Tanner got the clinch and landed repeated knees to Baroni’s body and Baroni was now the one who seemed to be fading. Tanner got a takedown, moved to mount and began to unleash repeated elbows to Baroni’s face. Baroni was sort of defending himself and with a minute remaining in the round it was hard to see how he would have survived, but Landless thought Baroni verbally submitted and stopped the fight. Baroni threw several strikes at Landless as a result and had to be restrained. The two had a rematch at UFC 48 with Tanner winning clearly on points.

See also:

Part 1 (41-50)

Fifty Greatest Fights in UFC History Part 1/5

With the UFC running their top 100 fights of all-time in celebration of the UFC 100 card next weekend (and doing such a shit job with some of the fights they selected), I thought I’d go to a certain amount of effort and come up with what I believe is the best 50 fights in UFC history. I’ve gone over and watched plenty of old fights in the past two weeks which is one of the reasons I’ve made few updates on the site in recent times and I hope I haven’t left anything too obvious out. I’ll be doing this over the next five days with five posts, enjoy:

50- Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson unanimous decision Dan Henderson (UFC 75)
Sure, not the most action packed fight of all-time but given it’s historical significance as well as the back and forth battle between the two I feel it deserves a place in my 50 even if it comes at 50. This was the long awaited mega fight all UFC and PRIDE fans had been waiting for between the UFC 205lb champion and the PRIDE 205lb champion, except that it got less attention because it wasn’t Liddell vs Silva. Rampage had knocked out Liddell at UFC 71 and Henderson KO’d Wanderlei at PRIDE 33 setting up what ended up being a very underrated fight. Henderson controlled early with his wrestling but after Rampage had an answer for Henderson’s takedown game the two became locked in a very even battle that Rampage came on top of due to superior conditioning.

49- Eugene Jackson knockout (2nd) Royce Alger (UFC 21)
A wild slugfest from the dark ages with Middleweight journeyman Jackson scoring a dramatic one punch knockout over a tiring Alger in the early part of the 2nd round. Alger was a well credentialed wrestler who scored numerous takedowns in the early goings of the fight, even advancing his position and doing damage which was unheard of for wrestlers of that age. Alger suffered from the typical lack of long term conditioning that top wrestlers had back then, and Jackson began escaping and landing shots. After a wild first round of takedowns, escapes and heavy punches being thrown, Jackson ended things quickly in the 2nd round.

48- Tito Ortiz split decision Forrest Griffin (UFC 59)
A fight that the UFC would like it’s fans to forget is the one where Tito Ortiz, the former golden boy of the UFC who Dana White hates, edged out one of their poster boys Forrest Griffin by split decision. It was Tito’s comeback after a period off contract with the UFC and his opponent was the ever popular TUF1 champion Forrest Griffin who was 2-0 since winning the show. Ortiz quickly attempted to show Griffin he was out of his league, scoring a takedown and landing with heavy elbows for the majority of the first round that rocked and bloodied Griffin. Griffin somehow survived the onslaught and began opening up on his feet in the 2nd round, scoring with rapid punches although Ortiz was landing some solid straight shots back on Forrest. With the crowd on Forrest’s side going into the third, he again tried outworking a tiring Tito but the two traded evenly with Forrest again scoring more and Tito landing the harder shots. A late takedown from Ortiz looked like it could be enough, but Forrest escaped and the fight went to the judges where Tito scored an unpopular (I actually thought he won) split decision victory.

47- Phillip Miller submission (2nd) Mark Weir (UFC 40)
If you have never seen this fight, it’s a war that could have easily been higher if anyone, anywhere knew who either of these two were. Mark Weir was coming off the quickest KO in UFC history over Eugene Jackson while Miller was a solid wrestler who lay and prayed his way to victory on the same card. The fight was back and forth with Miller scoring repeated takedowns only for Weir to escape and rock Miller with shots. In the 2nd round, Miller seemed to be out but again scored a takedown and dramatically took Weirs back and sunk in the choke for the victory. Miller would retire not long after with a 16-0 record including a 2-0 run in the UFC.

46- Don Frye submission (2:14) Gary Goodridge (UFC 8.)
The tournament billed as ‘David vs Goliath’ pitted such a matchup in the Final with 210lb Don Frye taking on 260lb Gary Goodridge. It was the first UFC event of both men and both men had an easy run to the final, winning their two previous fights of the evening in under a minute for Frye and just over six minutes for Goodridge. The fight was quick, but violent as both men traded heavy shots with Goodridge scoring a brief takedown before they returned to the feet and traded some more. After a scramble, Frye ended up on top in a good position and began landing heavy shots on Goodridge who quickly tapped out, giving Frye the UFC 8 tournament championship.

45- Matt Hughes submission (1st) Frank Trigg (UFC 45)
The not quite as attractive older sister of that hot girl everyone’s always talking about, but one you’d fuck nonetheless if you had the chance (although I wouldn’t fuck any girl that looked anything like Matt Hughes or Frank Trigg). The first fight was surely not as memorable as the epic rematch (although the ending was one of the most memorable), but it was still a great fight. The fight was a four minute scramble in which both men took top position on a number of occasions and although little damage was done, it was an awesme display of grappling. Hughes ended up taking Triggs back and as Trigg stood up to defend, sunk in a mid-air rear naked choke pulling Trigg on top of him as he tapped out.

44- Pedro Rizzo knockout (2nd) Josh Barnett (UFC 30)
It’s very rare you get a good heavyweight slugfest that goes for more then a few minutes, but top heavyweight contenders Pedro Rizzo and Josh Barnett put on a show at UFC 30. Despite Rizzo’s feared striking ability, Barnett was more then happy to stand with him and was doing well in the first round. Rizzo was having trouble timing Barnett’s odd style combined with his size advantage but midway through the first he began timing Barnett and the two started scoring heavily in the exchanges. Rizzo started scoring with leg kicks which were slowing Barnett down visibly in the 2nd round and then after stunning him with a right hand, he finished the job with a bigger right seconds later. It would be Barnett who would go on to defeat Randy Couture however as Rizzo fell short in his two attempts at the title.

43- Tyson Griffin split decision Clay Guida (UFC 72)
Two of the UFC’s most exciting current day fighters battled in Ireland at UFC 72 and as expected won fight of the night. Both guys set an electrifying pace that didn’t back off for the entire three rounds. It was a back and forth fight with Griffin doing better on the feet and Guida scoring more takedowns and getting the better positions. At one point Guida took Griffin’s back but was dropped on his face as he attempted to sink in the choke. The decision went to Griffin although many people feel Guida was robbed.

42- Forrest Griffin submission (3rd) Mauricio Shogun (UFC 76)
The 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix champion Mauricio Shogun’s UFC debut was spoiled by Forrest Griffin in an exciting battle which mostly took place on the ground. Expected to walk through the ‘reality TV star’ Shogun seemed a step behind the entire fight and despite opening two huge gashes on Griffin’s face in the opening round, Griffin’s pace was too much for Shogun. After a close first round, Griffin upped the tempo and left Shogun tired and battered at the end of the 2nd round and basically doing all that he could to survive. After battering Shogun in the third round, Forrest finished off Shogun, who at the time was considered the top Light Heavyweight in the world, with seconds remaining in the final round.

 41- Robbie Lawler unanimous decision Chris Lytle (UFC 45)
The comeback for Robbie Lawler after his first loss was also the beginning of the long time UFC career of Chris Lytle who in losing earned another chance in the organisation. Lawler took the fight to the ground early in the first where he dealt out considerable damage while avoiding numerous submission attempts from Lytle. After a slow 2nd round, the fight exploded with one of the most memorable final rounds in UFC history with a wild stand-up exchange taking place for the majority of the round. Lawler took away any doubt in the decision by dropping Lytle (only for Lytle to applaud as he fell to his back) in what was the first of many memorable fights for Lytle in the UFC.

40-31 tomorrow…..

Fedor vs Barnett at Affliction: Trilogy

Affliction’s third event will take place August 1st and the main event will again feature the biggest non-UFC MMA star in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor will again take on another top heavyweight challenger as he meets former UFC Heavyweight champion and PRIDE 2006 openweight Grand Prix Runner-up Josh Barnett. This should further silence critics of Emelianenko as it is the third top contender Fedor will have faced in just over a 12 month period after the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion destroyed Tim Sylvia last July and then scored a dramatic 1st round knockout over Andrei Arlovski in January. Barnett is riding a four fight winning streak since PRIDE where he went 5-4 with all four losses coming against either Mirko Cro Cop or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Barnett’s last outing in January saw him score a third round stoppage over MMA bad boy Gilbert Yvel.

The undercard has yet to be announced, although a few rumours have been floating around. Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia has been rumoured to meet Paul Buentello who is 2-0 under the Affliction banner. Vitor Belfort and Gegard Mousasi could meet in what would be an excellent matchup with the only obstacle being the weight. Belfort wants 185lbs, Mousasi wants a catchweight as he can’t make Middleweight anymore. Mousasi’s request seems more reasonable as Vitor has campaigned as a 205lber for much of his career. There’s bound to be a few developments over the coming weeks.

Fedor KOs Arlovski at Day of Reckoning

Fedor Emelianenko KO1 (punch) Andre Arlovski
Fedor Emelianenko won again over another top ranked opponent, knocking Andrei Arlovski out in the first round of their fight for Fedor’s WAMMA Heavyweight title. Arlovski was getting the better of the fight, using a solid one-two combination as well as hard leg kicks and front kicks which kept the former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion off balance throughout the contest. Fedor looked to be strung on a couple of occasions by Arlovski’s power but recovered quickly and fought back. Arlovski was also showing good takedown defence, avoiding going to the mat when the Sambo expert got a hold of him.
However as many other fighters have found, Fedor’s well rounded skills and patience proved Arlovski’s undoing and the one time Arlovski made a mistake Fedor ended the fight suddenly. Arlovski backed Fedor into a corner with a front kick and a right hand and then jumped in with a flying knee only to be caught in mid-air by a short overhand right and knocked unconscious. In a fight that lasted 3 minutes 14 seconds, Arlovski controlled probably 3:10 of that time and yet those few seconds is all that Fedor needed to end matters.
While Fedor did look human in this fight, Arlovski is one of the top fighters in the World and would likely destroy every Heavyweight in the UFC. The way to beating Fedor seems to be standing up but the thing is, no one has the sharp skills Arlovski has on his feet plus the wrestling skills and ground skills to keep Fedor from taking him down. It’s pick your poison with Fedor as he has more then enough stand-up skills to hang with 99% of the World’s Heavyweights and the ground skills to handle probably any of them, plus the takedowns and takedown defence to control where the fight goes. Lesnar is way too green and makes too many mistakes that a true Heavyweight with Fedor’s skills will capitilise on. Mir could catch Fedor on the ground but would likely be knocked out before he got the fight there. Fedor’s next opponent looks to be Josh Barnett and I don’t give Barnett much of a chance at all. His ground game is good, but it’s not at the level where he can catch someone like Fedor. Anyone not giving this guy his props right now is a fucking moron!

Josh Barnett Sub3 (strikes) Gilbert Yvel
Sure he got the job done, but this was a seriously bad performance from Barnett. His ground game just looked sloppy, period. His punches didn’t look to be as devastating as some of the other fighters we see who get to the same positions and his submissions were slow enough for ever Gilbert Yvel to get out of. Barnett has to get back on form or improve if that’s all he’s capable of if he’s going to be fighting Fedor next.

Vitor Belfort KO1 (punches) Matt Lindland
Wow! Vitor of old comes back (for now anyway). He blitzed Lindland in the same fashion he blitzed Wanderlei Silva and Martin Eastman and Tank Abbott and the likes those years ago. Lindland was out for a while and it was good to see him leave on his feet under his own control. A knockout like that is a potential career ender especially for a fighter in his late 30′s like Lindland. Vitor though, what a way to crack into the Middleweight elite. Lindland had a lot of hype at Middleweight as one of the top dogs even though he’s been relatively inactive so this is a huge win for Vitor. Rumour has it his Affliction contract has expired and the UFC is in need of top Middleweights. I’d definately be hyped for Belfort-Anderson Silva. Vitor’s never been knocked out before, so it’ll be interesting to see how that fight would go. Unlike Patrick Cote’ who just had a punchers chance, Vitor has that plus a BJJ black belt. Even though his heart can be questioned at times, Vitor’s as dangerous a challenger as anyone out there for Anderson Silva at 185lbs.

Renato Babalu Sub2 (Anaconda Choke) Sokoudjou
Sokoudjou looked good early, but gassed out bad and Babalu is not someone you want on top of you know matter who you are. I would really like to see Babalu vs Little Nogueira now as they seem to be the top two 205lbers outside of the UFC. Babalu took some good shots but didn’t get discouraged and finished the fight with a slick choke as we’ve seen him do before. It was also good to see him let the choke go after Sokoudjou tapped.

Antonio Rogerio ‘Little’ Nogueira KO2 (knee) Vladimir Matyushenko
Matyushenko surprised everyone including Nogueira by trying to box and he didn’t look too bad. Nogueira seemed tentative when it came to answering back thinking Matyushenko was just trying to get him to open up so he could take him down. The worst thing Matyushenko did was hurt and cut Nogueira because once he did that, Nogueira opened up and things got bad for Matyushenko. He got hurt with a solid knee to the midsection and then one to the head finished him off. The fight was strange as it was a mixture of really bad and really good.

Other Results
Dan Lauzon Sub1 (Rear Naked Choke) Bobby Green
Jay Hieron TKO1 (strikes) Jason High
Paul Buentello TKO3 Kirill Sidelnikov
LC Davis UD3 Bao Quach
Alberto Rios UD3 Antonio Duarte
Brett Cooper KO2 (punch) Patrick Speight

Thoughts
I’d love for Affliction to be able to stay around because, even though its not the UFC, it’s good to get something different with quality fights on it from time to time. Even if they just put a show on 2-3 times a year when Fedor fights I don’t care. Affliction is about the only way we’ll see Fedor in legitimate fights and they’ve delivered Sylvia and Arlovski, the two best UFC Heavyweights for a period of time already. Those two fights are among the biggest Heavyweight fights in MMA history. I hope there’s a third show, but if they do close down I hope Fedor and the UFC can come to terms so he can prove to everyone (well not everyone because there’s some morons out there) that he is the best MMA Heavyweight of all-time.

Affliction: Day of Reckoning Predictions

For the second time in what will be a little over a week, MMA fans are treated to a matchup that was talked about for years. After the UFC put on the fight between their former Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin and PRIDES former Champion at the same weight limit Dan Henderson at their event on the weekend, Affliction returns with their long awaited ‘Day of Reckoning’ show and pits the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion against a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko will put his title on the line against Andre ‘The Pitbull’ Arlovski in yet another quality main event from Affliction. The undercard also stacks up nicely with Josh Barnett taking on MMA’s bad boy Gilbert Yvel, a very interesting middleweight fight between Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort as well as a battle between former UFC Light Heavyweight title challenger Renato Babalu and Sokoudjou in a fight that’s sure to produce fireworks.

Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski
The Arlovski-Fedor fight is definately one to look out for. Back in 2005 Arlovski was the UFC’s top Heavyweight having knocked down and then submitted Tim Sylvia in under a minute (much the same way Fedor did last year) with an ankle lock at UFC 51. Fedor as well was coming off arguably the biggest win over his career, a hard fought unanimous decision win over Mirko Cro Cop back when Cro Cop was the dangerous mother fucker that he used to be. It was only natural that talk about which organisations Heavyweight champion was truly the best and even though Arlovski since suffered back-to-back losses against Sylvia at UFC 59 and 61, he’s coming into this fight with five victories over quality opposition. A decision win over Fabricio Werdum as well as knockout wins over Ben Rothwell, Jake O’Brien and Roy Nelson have Arlovski right back up the top of the Heavyweight rankings.
I really think that out of anyone, Arlovski has the best chance at beating Fedor. I personally think Arlovski would crush both Lesnar and Mir and that with his skill set he poses the biggest threat to Emelianenko. With his crisp combination punching and brutal leg kicks as well as dangerous knees from the clinch, the thing that makes me think Arlovski could hang with Fedor is the fact that he himself was a World Champion in Sambo. Now this is MMA and not Sambo, but hear me out. Fedor catches a lot of guys with submissions they haven’t seen before because where someone like Demian Maia is a world class BJJ guy which is something that just about every MMA fighter knows, Fedor’s entire ground game is based off his Sambo and his set-ups are all different. With Arlovski’s background in Sambo he might have a better chance then most at surviving on the ground as he will have seen some of these moves before.
That being said, I really think Fedor will win this fight and win it inside two rounds. Arlovski’s ground game is suspect and it showed in his recent fights with Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson. Add to the fact that Fedor’s ground and pound is on a completely different level then anyone in MMA and I think any advantage Arlovski would have that other opponents don’t have will be taken away by the fact that his ground defence is very poor and as soon as Fedor opens his guard he’s going to punch Arlovski’s head through the mat. Arlovki’s boxing could very well pose Fedor some problems, but he’ll have to capitilise early while he is fresh and be careful because Fedor has more then enough power to drop him. I think Arlovski will do well standing up early in the fight but will get hurt at some stage and end up on his back. From there Fedor will soften him up with not very soft punches and end the fight with a kimura from side mount. Arlovski definately has a chance in this fight but I feel the longer the fight goes the better Fedor’s chances get as Arlovski has always had suspect durability. Fedor on the other hand is always in great physical condition despite him ‘looking like your Uncle on the way to the beach’- Frank Trigg. Fedor Emelianenko by 2nd round submission (kimura).

Josh Barnett vs Gilbert Yvel
Prediction- Barnett by 1st round submission
Basically Yvel has zero takedown defence and Barnett’s top game is brilliant. Yvel won’t land his knockout strike and will be on his back quickly and finished off not long after that. I don’t expect this fight to go past the two minute mark.

Renato Babalu vs Sokoudjou
Prediction- Sokoudjou by 1st round knockout
Sokoudjou has made a career out of knocking out Jiu Jitsu guys. He has seriously heavy hands and lets them go with bad intentions when his opponent has limited stand-up himself. This is another fight that I think will be over quickly. I think Sokoudjou will explode and land some big right hands early and finish Babalu off.

Vitor Belfort vs Matt Lindland
Prediction- Lindland on points
I can’t pick Belfort against anyone with any sort of determination. Vitor could explode and catch ‘The Law’ early in vintage Vitor form, but I think he’ll get taken down and roughed up a bit and resort to playing guard and holding on and riding out the decision win. Lindland’s wrestling will be too big of a factor in the same way that previous Team Quest fighters Randy Couture and Dan Henderson were able to defeat Vitor. Even with Couture in his corner I don’t think he’ll have improved his mental game to the point where he won’t resort back to his survival tactics when he can’t bully his opponent the way Vitor likes to.

Vladimir Matyushenko vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Prediction- Nogueira on points
Matyushenko will have some success with takedowns but I think Little Nog will control the stand-up and keep Matyushenko busy with his dangerous guard. The stand-up will be the key and while he doesn’t have a great deal of power, Little Nog has excellent technique and will pick Matyushenko apart and do enough damage to take a close but unanimous decision.

Chris Horodecki vs Dan Lauzon
Prediction- Lauzon by 2nd round knockout

Paul Buentello vs Kiril Sidelnikov
Prediction- Sidelnikov by 2nd round knockout

Jay Hieron vs Jason High
Prediction- Hieron by 1st round submission

LC Davis vs Bao Quach
Prediction- Davis by 2nd round submission