Affliction: Banned event preview
Published by on July 18th, 2008 in Current Events

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By Zach Arnold

This Saturday night, Affliction will makes its official entry into the world of promoting MMA at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. There are so many storylines to consider when discussing this show, notwithstanding the fact that the main event is headlined by MMA’s greatest heavyweight fighter ever against one of UFC’s best ex-Heavyweight champions of all time. A lot to digest there.

If you are looking for the fight odds on this event, head over to MMAOnline.com right now.

Fedor? Who?

That’s what a lot of casual MMA fans may be asking when they see a main event headlined by him versus a relatively famous ex-UFC Heavyweight champion in Tim Sylvia. Fedor Emelianenko, the PRIDE Heavyweight champion and unstoppable Russian monster, is the ultimate rorschach test. In the eyes of some fans, he is the greatest. Or he’s a myth and an overrated fighter who never faced serious UFC competition. Or he’s good, but not really as great as made out to be. Or nobody knows who he is in the United States.

The one thing we know for certain is that he is an extremely mysterious figure who comes with a ton of hardcore credibility. However, that credibility has not translated in big box office business in the States. His BodogFight PPV fight versus Matt Lindland drew under 15,000 buys. His match against Mark Coleman, which was dramatic for a lot of reasons, didn’t generate much PPV box office excitement, either.

So what to do with Fedor? Match him up against someone who American MMA fans know and respect, that’s what you do.

Sylvia on the rebound

Tim Sylvia is coming off of a lost to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in UFC. There’s no shame in losing to Nogueira, but it is ironic that Sylvia lost to Fedor’s #1 rival in PRIDE. Nogueira fought Fedor tough many times, but never won a single fight against the Russian.

Sylvia is a respectable heavyweight who presents some physical challenges to Fedor. Let’s just say that he’s not Choi Hong-Man when it comes to mobility, thankfully. At 6′8″ and over 265 pounds (after weigh-ins), Fedor is going to be facing a very big and powerful striker who has an excellent trainer in Pat Miletich and is smart enough to use the Unified rules to his advantage.

Somewhat neutralizing Sylvia’s strengths is that the fights on the Affliction show will be taking place inside a ring and not a cage. If this fight was in a cage, I think a few more MMA fans would be comfortable in predicting an upset with Sylvia winning.

Will a loss to Fedor hurt Sylvia’s career? Highly unlikely. It is a good fight for the Maine-iac to take, and it’s a fight that we’ve heard internet fans talk about for well over a year. Remember all the silly “Fedor is afraid of Tim” posts on various MMA message boards?

We know that the key for Sylvia having a shot at winning this fight is to avoid takedowns and avoid getting caught in bad submission positions. Randy Couture showed the world the gameplan on how to conquer Sylvia and was roundly cheered for it. How will Sylvia adjust to a similar gameplan from Fedor?

A guaranteed knockout

That’s the best way to describe the upcoming fight between Paul Buentello and Aleksandr Emelienanko.

It should be quick, fast, and decisive… unless both men tire out fast and then we get a stalemate, but that seems highly unlikely.

It’s interesting that UFC, for one reason or another, hasn’t brought back Buentello into the heavyweight fold. He’s a crowd-pleasing striker who always seems to energize a crowd with his fighting style. How is he not marketable in today’s UFC-dominated era?

If Buentello is a knockout artist, then how would you describe his Russian opponent? A scary, awesome monster, that’s what.

This fight is the equivalent of giving cotton candy to an MMA fan. You know something violent is likely to happen, but who knocks out whom is the big question that everyone is asking.

I’m sure many hardcore fans will be picking Aleksandr in this fight, but Buentello is being ridiculous underrated going into this fight. Plus, he trains at AKA (American Kickboxing Academy), which is a great fight camp.

Will the Babyface Assassin make a big splash in the States?

Josh Barnett is exactly the kind of prototypical heavyweight that a promoter would draw on a piece of paper — he’s charismatic, a great speaker, tall, blonde, and has a crowd-pleasing fight style.

Naturally, since he’s not going to be fighting in UFC, Affliction is as close of a platform as he will get to becoming a star in America outside of the Zuffa/Elite XC promoting system.

Barnett will face an old nemesis in Pedro Rizzo… the same Rizzo that had a remarkable slugfest with Mr. Babyface many years ago in UFC. For some reason, I don’t see this weekend’s fight being as close as their first contest earlier this decade.

Barnett is an elite heavyweight fighter who is a mad genius when it comes to game planning. Then again, when you train and work with Erik Paulson, you are talking about one of the smartest and most intellectual trainers in Mixed Martial Arts.

Rizzo is a tailor-made opponent for Barnett to finish in spectacular fashion. This fight is highly unlikely to go to the judges.

A politician with power-punching skills

These days, Matt Lindland seems to be making more news outside of the ring than inside of it due to running for local political office in the state of Oregon.

Lindland is an extremely talented and smart fighter. He is very intelligent, very dedicated, and very tough. He is one of the best 185 pound fighters in the world.

So why isn’t he fighting Anderson Silva? Unfortunately, that fight will never happen due to the structure of UFC contracts that demand exclusivity and Lindland works on a per-fight basis.

Given all of this, it is always a pleasure to watch Lindland fight in MMA because he always brings his A-game. This is a man who stepped up and fought Fedor Emelianenko when others didn’t step up to the plate.

On Saturday’s fight card, Lindland is facing a young fighter named Fabio Negao who is 8-3. Negao has never faced anyone like Lindland before.

Choking out the competition

Renato Babalu is going to get his chance to make a name for himself once again in the States, as he faces TUF alumni member & IFL fighter Mike Whitehead in what should be a really fun fight to watch.

As most of you remember, Babalu won his fight against David Heath in UFC and then found himself kicked out of the promotion due to holding onto a choke hold for a few seconds after the referee asked for the hold to be released.

Since then, Babalu has struggled to get consistent bookings. He’s fought in the Philippines, was scheduled to fight in Canada and didn’t, and now finally has a home with Affliction. Babalu is part of the same training camp as Erik Paulson and Josh Barnett. If you take away the two losses Babalu has to Chuck Liddell, his record in the fight game is pretty damn impressive.

Whitehead should be a very game opponent for Babalu. With that said, the table is set up for Babalu to win and move on. He should do so, and it will be another fun fight to watch.

Which seems to be the entire theme of this Affliction card. The more you look at it, the more you realize that this is likely going to be a very entertaining show. As long as you don’t get your hopes up too high or try to compare Affliction to UFC, then accepting Affliction’s fight promotion for what it is is pretty enjoyable.

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