Report: Fedor vs. Arlovski at Affliction on Oct. 11

So did Randy Couture really want to fight Fedor Emelianenko or did he decide to say 'screw it' when he saw Fedor destroy a healthy Tim Sylvia in 36 seconds?

Yahoo Sports reports that Emelianenko will headline the next Affliction event in a WAMMA title defense against Andrei Arlovski. A venue official at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas told writer Kevin Iole that the second Affliction outing will happen there on October 11.

Both heavyweights had career highlights at last Saturday's "Affliction: Banned" event at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Fedor submitted former UFC champion Tim Sylvia in 36 seconds, while Arlovski aggressively picked apart former IFL standout Ben Rothwell.

Maybe now Couture can fulfill his obligation to defend his UFC Heavyweight title (which will never happen) since Fedor doesn't have Couture on his radar. I won't let this die because I've been calling Couture out for the last 9 months since he began his insane quest to get pummelled by the most dominant heavyweight in history.

Randy Couture is a millionaire because of the UFC. He's got a clothing line because of the UFC. A series of gyms in his name have opened because of the UFC. He's got tons of fighters under his wing who fight for the UFC. He's got just about everything and only lost one thing. He lost his legacy. He'll probably be most remembered for quitting which is a shame considering all his other accomplishments. But it's a 'what have you done for me lately' world. Not to mention, Couture will be 46 soon and the fight's hype is all but dead (just like the IFL).

But most importantly, Fedor might have actually killed Couture in the ring.

What did We Learn From July 19th?

In a nutshell, Fedor Emelianenko and Anderson Silva are the absolute best fighters in the world. By far, no debating it whatsoever.

We'll start with the UFC. Anderson Silva would walk through the lightheavyweight division as well. You heard it here folks and it's my opinion but I doubt anyone at 205 can handle Silva. Ok maybe not walk through but he would beat anyone they threw at him. The UFC needs Silva to move up to the 205 lb. division for the sake of the middleweight division.

Think about the matchups that we could see if 'The Spyder' moves up. I'm making a very bold prediction but Anderson Silva would beat Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Tito Ortiz, "Shogun" Rua, and "Rampage" Jackson (if he's not in the looney bin).

It's not gonna happen but it really should, especially with upstart organizations like Affliction putting on a great card. The middleweight division could be great if Anderson Silva wasn't in it and if he did move up he'd be the champ within a couple fights but the matchups would be outstanding.

The other thing we learned is that Randy Couture is going to get mauled by Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor has been scrutenized for not fighting a legitimate contender but it made no difference. Tim Sylvia is not a bad fighter and after all, was the UFC heavyweight champion and Fedor made him look like a child. So much so that Sylvia was quoted as saying, "I've never been hit that hard in my life..... the guy isn't even human."

Randy Couture has stated that he has one good fight left in him but he's gonna need a gun in order to even go the distance with Fedor. It bears worth repeating again but Couture lost to Chuck Liddell twice, beat an injured Tim Sylvia, and a not very good Gabriel Gonzaga.

This fight doesn't deserve the hype it's gonna get because Fedor isn't going to lose for a long, long time.

Your thoughts??

OKAMI OFFLINE, SILVA VS COTE LIKELY AT UFC 90

There has been a lot of speculation about how UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva would do fighting up in the 205-pound weight class. Some of those questions, and a few more that were posed, were answered on Saturday night in Las Vegas as Silva disposed of James Irvin in the first minute of the first round of their light heavyweight showdown at UFC Fight Night 14.

Though Silva proved that he has what it takes to fight at 205 pounds, his immediate plans don’t include another light heavyweight bout. Instead, he has plans to go back to middleweight and defend his title belt.

Even as the fight with Irvin was first announced, UFC president Dana White said that Silva would be making a quick stop at 205 and then defend his belt on Sept. 6 when the Ultimate Fighting Championship stops in Atlanta for the first time.

“Anderson Silva, being the monster that he is, you all know is going to move up to 205 on July 19… If everything goes well, he wants to move back to 185 and fight Sept. 6 in Atlanta, probably against Yushin Okami, then he wants to fight again two months later,” said White at the time.

But even the best-laid plans sometimes hit a snag, and so has Silva’s planned title defense at UFC 88 in Georgia.

“Okami’s out of that fight. He broke his hand. If (Silva) fights in September it’ll be (Patrick) Cote,” stated White at Saturday night’s post-fight press conference at the Palms in Las Vegas.

Cote recently solidified his spot in the queue of fighters waiting for a shot at Silva when he defeated Ricardo Almeida on July 5 at UFC 86.

“(Silva) said he wants to defend his 185-pound title. He said he wants to test the waters at 205. He did (on Saturday night),” continued White. “He’s going to defend his title again in September and then probably try to take another fight at 205."

“I think he wants to take his time. I think he wants to stay at 185 and completely clean out that division, go from there.”

Silva’s ambition puts him on task to fight at least two more times this year after already having fought twice earlier in 2008. It’s something that White admires about his champion.

“(Silva) took the fight (with Irvin) on short notice, moved up to 205, wants to fight all the best guys in the world at 185 pounds, wants to fight all the best guys at 205 pounds, wants to fight every three months… uh, yah. It’s a little difficult for us to move things around, but when a guy has that mentality… I love it.”

White: Affliction will go out of business

UFC President Dana White is making a bold prediction in regards to the future of the Affliction MMA promotion.

"After tonight those guys are going out of business and all [their fighters] will be over here," White said Saturday at the UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Irvin post-fight press conference.

Affliction invested heavily in its inaugural "Affliction: Banned" event Saturday to put together arguably the greatest heavyweight card in MMA history.

While the attendance numbers are a success with 13,989 fans packing Anaheim's Honda Center, it is not yet known how well the event fared in ticket sales and pay-per-view buys.

"Cause they spent a lot of money tonight," White explained. "And I know more about this business than they do. If you spend a lot of money and you don't get that money back, you usually go out of business. "

"Talk to the IFL... They know all about it."

Fedor Emelianenko Dismantles Tim Sylvia at "Affliction": Banned

Famed Russian fighter and new WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko needed just 36 seconds to quiet the naysayers, solidify his standing as one of the world's top fighters, and score his first victory over a legitimate heavyweight contender in nearly three years.

Emelianenko's quick victory over Tim Sylvia capped off Saturday's sold-out "Affliction: Banned" event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

An announced crowd of 13,988 witnessed Affliction's debut show, which proved to be one of the most remarkable and meaningful events in mixed-martial-arts history.

Emelianenko struck quickly, dodging Sylvia's first punch and flooring the former UFC champion with a barrage of punches. Emelianenko (28-1) quickly pounced on his opponent, took his back, and forced Sylvia (24-5) to tap out from a rear-naked choke just 36 seconds into the fight.

With a stunned, noticeably pro-Fedor crowd on its feet for the entire post-fight festivities, the longtime PRIDE champion skirted a question about where the victory puts him among the world's best.

"Honestly, I don't think about rankings and where people put me and all that," he said through a translator.

After the bout, Emelianenko's possible next opponent entered the ring. There, estranged UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture said he looked forward to clearing up his contract dispute with the UFC so he could fight Emelianenko, most likely under the Affliction banner.

So when could that fight take place?

"Hopefully this year if I'm lucky," Couture said.

In the night's co-main event, a star was reborn when Andrei Arlovski's dominant -- and ofentimes violent -- victory over Ben Rothwell created a truly electric atmosphere inside the hosting venue.

Arlovski, who's been working with noted boxing coach Freddie Roach, showed the type of aggression and quick, crisp striking that previously led him to the UFC's heavyweight championship.

However, the fight was far from a cakewalk. In fact, the second round could go down as one of the year's best, largely because Rothwell proved to be so resilient. Punches in bunches had Rothwell in trouble. But after Arlovski's unsuccessful heel hook, Rothwell became the aggressor, and working from top position, the former IFL heavyweight champion unleashed effective ground and pound with stinging elbows.

After a stand-up, though, Arlovski (13-5) finished the round well, and he carried the momentum into the third and final round, where he finally dropped the iron-chinned Rothwell (29-6) with a barrage of punches and knees before the TKO stoppage at the 1:13 mark.

Arlovski, who was the clear favorite with the crowd, had no predictions for his next bout.

"I appreciate Affliction for putting me on a card with so many great fighters," Arlovski said. "It's up to Affliction."

After a lengthy feeling-out process in the first round, Josh Barnett (23-5) picked up the pace in the second, and he quickly created an opening to floor Pedro Rizzo (16-8) with a big left hook early in the round. Barnett solidified his top-five world heavyweight ranking and avenged his first-ever career loss with the one-punch knockout.

Barnett suffered that first pro loss to Rizzo in February 2001. The former UFC champion avenged the second-round knockout loss with one of his own; Barnett's came at 1:44 in the round. After the fight, he admitted that he had revenge on his mind.

"I said I'd like to have that win back, but you know, Pedro is as tough as they get," Barnett said.

"You take nothing for granted with a guy like him."

While fantasy match-makers have seen many intriguing match-ups in Affliction's stacked heavyweight division, Barnett wasn't selective when asked whom he'd like to fight next.

"Anyone dumb enough to sign that dotted line," Barnett said. "They're all badasses, but they ain't me."

In the night's only featherweight fight, 145-pounders Mark Hominick and Savant Young initiated a frantic pace that was carried through the bout's ultimate second-round conclusion.

Hominick's decisive reach advantage proved pivotal in in the first round, and it likely prompted Young to go for the takedown in the second. However, Hominick was ready for it, and he took a dominant position to fire off multiple submission attempts.

Hominick (16-8) ultimately used a triangle choke to force Young's (9-8) tap-out at 4:25 of the second round.

In one of the night's more intriguing style match-ups, Renato "Babalu" Sobral's jiu jitsu and striking negated Mike Whitehead's wrestling and ground and pound in a three-round war of attrition.

After a fairly inconsequential first round, Sobral was effective in the second, trapping Whitehead with multiple submission attempts. After securing his opponent's arm and shoulder, Sobral was on the brink of a submission victory.

Whitehead, though, survived, but he could never claim a dominant position as Sobral effectively warded off the takedown attempts. By the third round, Sobral (30-7) loosened up and mixed in effective striking to clinch the unanimous-decision victory over White (20-6).

"I had a tough time," said Sobral of his previous training partner. "It was hard to work my submissions. ... I tried hard to finish the fight."

All three judges had it 30-27 for Sobral.

In his first fight in more than 17 months, Matt Lindland (21-5) grinded out a steady, lopsided and not-always-exciting unanimous-decision victory over Fabio Nascimento (8-4).

Lindland had his Brazilian opponent in trouble early after dropping him with a punch. He quickly locked in a guillotine choke, and though Lindland relentlessly worked to salvage the position, Nascimento eventually escaped.

The fighters stood and traded for most of the following two rounds, but Lindland got the better of it, mixing in short but effective uppercuts with crisp elbow strikes. Although clearly beaten, Nascimento kept ticking, and he forced the fight to a decision.

"I hit him a few big shots, and he kept laying it on me," Lindland said.

The judges had it 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27 in favor of "The Law."

Edwin Dewees made it interesting early, but the night's largest underdog couldn't pull off the upset. Instead, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira abandoned a dominant ground position and opted to stand and trade with the late replacement.

After a flying knee grazed his opponent, Nogueira let his hands fly, and a big hook connected flush, sending Dewees to the canvas. Tangled in the ropes and eating a barrage of follow-up punches from Nogueira (14-3), Dewees (35-13) -- who replaced Vernon White in the bout earlier month -- was saved when the referee jumped in to declare the TKO stoppage at 4:06 of the first round.

Tito Ortiz made a grand entrance with girlfriend Jenna Jameson and received a warm reception when walking the floor to their seats.

UFN Re-Cap: Silva Still Untested

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva didn’t see his pound for pound crown tarnished at all in his UFC light heavyweight debut against James Irvin tonight at The Pearl at The Palms. Instead, his 61 second knockout win showed that if anything, he’s getting better and more fearsome with each outing.

“I’m a Muay Thai fighter, I’ve been doing it since I was a kid,” said Silva. “I didn’t come up to the 205-pound division to disrespect any fighters, but if you stand up and exchange Muay Thai, this is what happens.”

After the ritual touch of gloves, both fighters traded kicks to start the festivities. A few tense moments later, Irvin fired a right kick to the side which Silva caught. ‘The Spider’ proceeded to fire a right hand straight down the pipe at Irvin that landed flush and put him on his back. Silva pounced with a series of shots, but just when ‘The Sandman’ appeared to be weathering the storm, a final right hand knocked him out at the 1:01 mark.

It was yet another clip for Silva’s highlight reel, but when it comes to a permanent stay at light heavyweight, the pride of Curitiba still wants to take care of business at 185 pounds unless bigger fights present themselves.

“This was my first time coming up here and it was a good experience,” said Silva. “But my responsibility is to defend the 185-pound title.”

In other action, Brandon Vera got back on the winning track but didn't impress as he decisioned Reese Andy in his first fight at lightheavyweight.

“The 205 cut was tougher than I thought,” he said. “I didn’t think it affected me until me and Reese walked up and I was like ‘woo, I’m tired.’”

Scores were 30-27 twice and 29-28 for Vera, who ups his record to 9-2. Reese falls to 7-2 in his UFC debut.

Lightweight contender Frankie Edgar impressively rebounded from his April loss to Gray Maynard, pounding out a shutout three round decision over Hermes Franca.

Scores were 30-27 across the board for Edgar.

The fighters went to the mat early, with Edgar doing nice work from the top as he pounded away on Franca. Suddenly though, with 2:30 left, Franca sprung into action with an armbar that appeared to be locked in. Edgar showed the benefit of his recent training with Ricardo Almeida and was able to escape, and when the two stood, he held his own striking with the heavy-handed Brazilian before scoring another takedown before the end of the frame.

Franca came out for round two with a big knot between his eyes and plenty of urgency. Despite this, Edgar refused to back down, and after some crisp exchanges, he scored the takedown and resumed the ground and pound attack that worked so well for him in the opening stanza. With under two minutes to go, Edgar got Franca’s back and continued landing punches, and the onslaught continued even when Franca was able to roll back out of danger.

Trying to turn the tide, Franca – whose face was bruised and swollen – tried with all he had to take Edgar out, but even when he landed, the New Jersey native took each shot without flinching, except for a right knee that appeared to rock him momentarily. In the end though, it was too little, too late for the Brazilian, who saw his return for the first time in a year spoiled.

With the win, Edgar improves to 9-1; Franca falls to 19-7.

Heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez probably gained even more believers in his bout tonight as he pounded out fellow up and comer Jake O’Brien in just two minutes and two seconds.

There was no getting acquainted period for these old wrestling rivals, as they got after it immediately, with Velasquez (4-0) taking an early lead due to some solid striking on the mat. By the second minute though, Velasquez pulled away, pinning O’Brien (10-2) to the mat and firing away with a series of unanswered blows until referee Mario Yamasaki called a stop to the bout.

A competitive welterweight bout between up and comers Kevin Burns and Anthony Johnson ended in controversial fashion when an inadvertent poke in the eye by Burns led to an unpopular third round TKO victory for the Iowan.

“It was extremely accidental,” said Burns, now 8-1. “I throw palm strikes because I broke my left hand three times in 16 months.”

“This is a fight,” said a classy Johnson, 5-2. “Anything can happen. He fought hard.”

Ultimate Fighter cast member Jesse Taylor made his first appearance since being removed from the show due to an off-camera incident, but after a strong start, he was dismantled by fellow TUF fighter CB Dollaway, who submitted him in the first round of their middleweight contest.

“It’s one of my favorite moves, it was there for me, and I took it,” said Dollaway.

Taylor swarmed Dollaway, pinning him against the fence in the opening minute. By the second minute the fight hit the mat, but Dollaway wound up getting docked a point for a knee to Taylor’s head while he was down. When the fight was restarted, it went back to the mat, and this time Dollaway took control briefly, getting Taylor’s back before the Californian escaped and fought his way back into his foe’s guard. Taylor worked well there, but a momentary lapse of judgment gave Dollaway the opening he needed and he reversed position and locked in a Peruvian necktie, forcing Taylor to tap out at the 3:58 mark.

With the win, Dollaway improves to 8-2; Taylor falls to 7-3.

Former IFL standout Rory Markham lived up to his reputation as a knockout artist in his first UFC bout, spectacularly taking out Brodie Farber with a kick to the head in just 97 seconds of their UFC Fight Night preliminary bout at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas.

Despite the outcome, Farber won the standup battle in the early moments of the bout, rocking Markham repeatedly, primarily with his right hand. Markham backpedaled, trying to clear his head, but as Farber moved in a little too recklessly, the Chicago native stopped and exploded with a right kick to the jaw, knocking Farber down and out at the 1:37 mark.