Affliction: Day of Reckoning January 24th, 2009 The Honda Center, Anaheim, CA Main Card (Showtime PPV): 265 Lbs: Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko (C) [28-1] vs. Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski [14-5] 265 Lbs: Josh "The Babyface Assassin" Barnett [22-5] vs. Gilbert "The Hurricane" Yvel [35-12-1] 185 Lbs: Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort [17-8] vs. Matt "The Law" Lindland [21-5] 205 Lbs: Renato "Babalu" Sobral [30-7] vs. "The African Assassin" Sokoudjou [5-3] 265 Lbs: Paul "Headhunter" Buentello [26-10] vs. Kiril "Baby Fedor" Sidelnikov [4-2] 155 Lbs: Dan "The Upgrade" Lauzon [11-2] vs. Bobby "King" Green [7-1] Under Card (HDNet): 205 Lbs: Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira [14-3] vs. Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko [21-3] 170 Lbs: Jay "Thoroughbred" Heiron [16-4] vs. Jason High [6-0] 145 Lbs: LC Davis [15-8] vs. Bao Quach [10-1] 145 Lbs: Antonio "Al Tigre" Duarte [10-1] vs. Albert "Al Boogey" Rios [10-3] 170 Lbs: Brett "Fudo Shin" Cooper [17-4] vs. Patrick Speight [7-1]
Re: Affliction: Day of Reckoning Notes on the Event: -- WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko is facing a top-five heavyweight for the second time in a row after spending nearly three years fighting unranked or smaller fighters. Belorussian Andrei Arlovski represents the biggest test in Emeilanenko's career since facing Mirko Filipovic in mid-2005. Arlovski is a Sambo expert, like Emelianenko, but has excellent technical striking skills. Famed boxing trainer Freddy Roach has been working with Arlovski on a possible cross over to boxing and believes Arlovski to be the far superior striker in this match up. -- Gilbert Yvel has not been cleared to fight in the United States as of yet so Affliction is constructing a contingency plan should he be denied. Yvel is renowned for being one of the dirtiest fighters in professional MMA and once attacked a referee. It is expected that Josh Barnett, with a win in this fight, will be the next number one contender for the heavyweight title. Barnett and Emelinaneko have been circling each other since their PRIDE days but a fight has never come together. Both have been accused of avoiding such a confrontation. -- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko, other than being one of the most difficult to spell match-ups in recent memory, was possibly going to be for the WAMMA Light Heavyweight Title but that idea was scrapped. Likewise, Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort might've been for the WAMMA Middleweight Title but it was decided against doing that as well. WAMMA wants to award their belts (and rings...) to the consensus top fighter in each weight class. So far they have awarded two belts, to the aforementioned Emelinanenko and to Japanese lightweight Shinya Aoki. Both Emelianenko and Aoki have legitimate claims to their number one status but such is not the case for Nogueira, Matyushenko, Lindland or Belfort. -- Renato Sobral promises to submit Sokoudjou.
Re: Affliction: Day of Reckoning Fedor and Barnett as supposed to be friends hence the reluctance to fight, but Fedor has said he'd do it in the name of putting on a fight fans want to see. He has the same attitude towards fighting Randy Couture whom he is friends with as well. Yvel has been given permission to apply for a license to fight by the CASC, which is a sign that he'll be approved if he passes medicals.
rumor is that they've only sold 1400 tickets to this event.. something Affliction denies as they're claiming their sales are around the number of tickets sold for their first event (6,000). If this is remotely true and they do under 100K in PPV buys.. well enjoy Afflictions 2nd and most likely last event.
Great interview with Tom Atencio, the head of Affliction from USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/community/p...7f32Post:743fc671-8f5a-4942-a047-98714a319d12 a few of the better quotes
Hominick has been replaced by Bao Quach (15-8-1) who is on a 9 fight win streak. Not a bad replacement I'd say, but it's tough to come in on 2 weeks notice.
Two proposed fights (Pedro Rizzo vs. Ben Rothwell, Chase Gormley vs. Jay White) are not happening. Brett Cooper vs. Patrick Speight added to HDNet Undercard.
Some betting lines for the show... (BetUS.com) Barnett -650 Yvel +375 Belfort +140 Lindland -180 Arlovski +235 Emelianenko -375 (positive lines represent money made on $100 bet; negative lines represent money required to profit $100) I think Belfort may have been the favourite at one point but now it looks like L&P Lindland is.
Hard to imagine this man is the most feared fighter in MMA. I CAN'T WAIT FOR HIM TO DESTROY ARLOVSKI!
I rewatched EliteXC last night and saw the Arlovski/Roy Nelson fight. Nelson almost had AA in a kimura more than once. That is one of Fedor's go-to moves. Unless AA has dramatically improved his take-down defense, he is going to be submitted.
The early reports of Horodecki failing a neurological exam are false. He has a bulging disc in the base of his neck.
Jay Heiron vs. Jason High will likely be the fight to take the place of Horodecki/Lauzon on the Affliction PPV portion.
