New Year's Eve, 2004. There are two promotions vying to be the best mixed martial arts federations in the world: the venerable Ultimate Fighting Championship, founded in the early 1990's, and Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships, founded in 1997. With his come from behind win over Frank "Twinkle Toes" Trigg, Matt Hughes had successfully defended his UFC Welterweight title, capping a thirteen-fight winning streak with a memorable rear naked choke on the top contender. Randy "The Natural" Couture had dominated Tito Ortiz over five rounds, unifying the UFC's Light Heavyweight title and stunning "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" who was twelve-years his junior. Young Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir had just been in a devastating motorcycle accident, one that would leave him stripped of his title and broken as man. In Japan, the PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix had come down to two finalists: Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and Russian Sambo king Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko. For three brutal rounds Emelianenko punished Nogueira but couldn't finish him, forcing the fight to go to a decision which he won unanimously. Emelianenko was crowed PRIDE's Heavyweight Champion. Middleweight Champion Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva, fresh off a thundering knockout title defense against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, loses a split-decision to granite-jawed kick-boxer Mark Hunt on the same night, though the bout was a non-title fight. Other top fighters in the world include Croatian kick-boxer Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic; twin brother to Antonio Rodrigo, boxing gold medalist Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira; legendary Japanese wrestler and grappler Kazushi "The Gracie Hunter" Sakuraba; "The Brazilian Tiger" Ricardo Arona; former Olympian in Greco-Roman Wrestling Dan "Hendo" Henderson and fellow Olympian in the same event Matt "The Law" Lindland; towering UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia, who after failing a drug test was stripped of his title; former Sambo Master of Sport Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski; young Brazilian boxer Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort; Josh "The Babyfaced Assassin" Barnett; American Kempo black-belt Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell; and Hawaiian lightweight BJ "The Prodigy" Penn had just defeated young Japanese standout Takanori "The Fireball Kid" Gomi. New Year's Eve, 2009. The UFC finishes the year with UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008, featuring two title fights and a grudge match between Quinton Jackson and Wanderlei Silva. In Japan, former PRIDE executives, now working for FEG, help orchestrate Dynamite!! 2008, featuring a lightweight title fight and a long-awaited veteran showcase between Kazushi Sakuraba and Kiyoshi Tamura. After his loss to Matt Hughes, Frank Trigg suffered an even worse loss to Georges St. Pierre, one that cost him his gig with the UFC and relegated him to smaller shows for the remainder of his career. Hughes promptly lost his title to lightweight competitor BJ Penn, who walked out on the UFC and was stripped of his title. Hughes went on another winning streak, earning five victories and reclaiming his title, before redeeming himself against Penn in 2006. Since then Hughes has lost three of four fights including two miserable performances against St. Pierre. Randy Couture followed his win over Ortiz by losing his title to Vitor Belfort, a cut on his eye forcing him to surrender less than a minute into their bout. Since then Couture has gone 4-3, regaining and losing the Light Heavyweight title, and winning, defending, and losing the Heavyweight title, most recently getting clubbed and knocked out by former pro wrestler Brock Lesnar. Tito Ortiz lost again after being spanked by Couture. His lights were put out by Chuck Liddell in April of 2004 and again in December of 2006. Ortiz would never regain the Light Heavyweight title and is now semi-retired as a fighter. Frank Mir, after a lengthy struggle with food, prescription drugs, and alcohol, has rehabbed from his injury and reclaimed the (Interim) Heavyweight strap, stunning UFC Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira with a second-round knockout. PRIDE's former top dog Fedor Emelianenko hasn't fought a dangerous opponent since his 2005 tilt with Mirko Filipovic. His upcoming bout with Andrei Arlovski could prove to be the toughest of his career. In 2008 Emelianenko captured the only slightly regarded WAMMA Heavyweight Title by defeating Tim Sylvia, but Sylvia had lost two of his last three fights going into that bout and was not considered to be much of a threat to the Russian pugilist. Wanderlei Silva followed his loss to Mark Hunt with a 5-5 record, losing four of his last five bouts, three by vicious knockouts. Filipovic has lost two fights against ranked opponents and has faded out of contention; "Minotoro" Nogueira lost two of his last three PRIDE fights and has been fighting unranked opponents since; Kaz Sakuraba hasn't had a significant win since defeating Kevin "The Beast" Randleman in 2003; Ricardo Arona is currently unemployed by any mixed martial arts promotion; Dan Henderson has had two title shots in his last three fights and lost them both; after a failed run for a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives, Matt Lindland has returned to pro fighting, but hasn't had an important win since beating Phil "The New York Bad-Ass" Baroni in 2003; Andrei Arlovski lost twice to Tim Sylvia and has only recently seemed to regain some of the fire that fueled his championship run earlier in his career; Vitor Belfort lost a rematch with Randy Couture and then lost to Tito Ortiz, he's only had success against mediocre opponents since; Chuck Liddell has been brutally knocked out in two of his last four fights; Josh Barnett lost three times to Mirko Filipovic and once to Minotauro; Takanori Gomi went on along winning streak that was briefly interrupted by a non-title loss to Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio, then stopped by a worse loss to American fighter Nick Diaz; Gomi has had three uninspired performances since including in his latest fight, a decision loss to unranked Russian opponent Sergey Golyaev; and after suffering losses to Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn got his career back on track by returning to lightweight. If Fedor Emelianenko loses to Andrei Arlovski in three weeks, is it the end of an era in mixed martial arts?
Even if Fedor doesnt lose to Arlovski its an end of an era. All the guys that were huge in the last decade are now starting to fall out of contention, most are starting to get too old to be effective and are only a draw if theyre matched up againist each other in "super" fights.
