To be fair Fedor also moved up a weightclass when he fought all those SHW’s

Fedor re-made me a believer. It’ll be fun to see the revisionism about him not being a top5/10 heavyweight though. I can’t imagine how anyone can look at Noguiera as a legitimate champ after this. Noguiera survived Sylvia and Fedor annhilated him.

Really, the knocks on Affliction were, all around, sorta crazed to me. The production wasn’t bad (there’s been similar and worse gaffs with UFC: Remember UFN early this year having no sound for the first 20 minutes?), Megadeth worked as well as any live band could have and was a better break in the action than hearing Jay Glazer talk, etc. It was hardly a disaster: WFA 1-3? Disaster. Bodog in Vancouver? Disaster. There are so many UFCs that were disasterous under SEG and Zuffa it isn’t worth counting them (Fedor didn’t trip on anything in the dressing room, did he?) This? Not so much.

Not to mention the quality of bouts was pretty damn high. Whitehead/Babalu was really the only boring bout on the card. Everything else had a clean finish (can’t say that about UFN, heh). I also can’t see the fact that so many fights were stopped in the distance as being a negative. Did people have that view of UFC 65 or 81? Doubtful.

I disagree that he’s a winner because he “cluttered the landscape.” To be honest, I’m not quite what is even meant by that. Most people were not sitting tryng to watch both event simultaneously – I think you cluttered the landscape by yourself! :)

I don’t get why it is ONE OR THE OTHER.. Seriously, why can’t people enjoy (or try, that is the key word, try) both shows? Is UFC helping prop up BloodyElbow.com, official MMA blog of the SB nation?

I know so many fedor lovers are still choking on his manhood after his win but he still dodges the cage. ONCE AGAIN..if you look at the HW devision as your standard for fighters in MMA then you are missing the point. people always think HWs because of their size, but they are NOT NOW, nor are will THEY EVER be the best P4P fighters. so please, pull fedor out from your mouth and realize this. The HW devision will always lack in talent and fedor will always capitalize on this fact.

Its way past MMAsubb’s bedtime.

OK cage aside. and completely aside. Do you guys REALLY think someone who is dominant in HW is the best P4P fighter? I don’t know about you guys but I grew up watching ADCC, Shooto, etc. to think the weight of the talent is in the HW devision is stupid.

First off, let me clear things up. I have been a huge Fedor fan since day 1 and I completely consider him above pretty much everyone in many ways. I completely agree with you there. With Sylvia’s loss to Big Nog…. Thats nogs game. As a BJJ practitioner myself I loved watching it. But what I’m just trying to say is, with the HW devision there is only 1 or 2 or MAYBE 3 contenders in mind period. That is never the case with LHW or LW or WW. In the decade plus ive been watching MMA i have known that HW badasses often stay that way for a while. Why? because the pool of talent is not that thick at all! I don’t want to sound like an MMA newb fan, but there is a reason people like 205… its because there is an insane amount of talent there! Locust… over all I would mostly agree with you, my friend. I think Fedor will go down in HISTORY as some of the top handful of MMA fighters ever, NO questions asked. But for what has happened in the last year or 2 (which for MMA nuts is and should be all that matters) Anderson Silva is simply terrifying. But, I will say this to totally agree with your feelings… GOD I’m so happy to have fedor fighting in the states!

I am very thankful that the Affliction didn’t set up the matches I was hoping… Because to see any solid fight with the production from last night would’ve been a real shame. I have seen IFLs with better production.. The lighting, camera angles, commentary and cheesy metal show came off really poor on tv.. The Ring looked like a football field compared to the octagon, and everyones complaint on the octagon was that it was too big…

I think the major problem for Affliction for their second card and onward is the roster depth. After Randy/Josh/Arlovski vs Fedor, Sylvia vs Aleks(maybe), Babalu/Lil Nog, and Lindland/Belfort they will run thin.. They built their roster around just heavyweights and not much else.. EXC had the right frame of mind to partner with Cage Rage, Strikeforce, Icon and etc to be able to fill out their roster to put on as many shows as they have.

Affliction better sign some fighters and sign em fast or they won’t have enough fighters to put on a third show even. Which is a shame because I love the fact Affliction gives the UFC competition and makes them work harder to put on a good show.. UFC 87-89 are all great line ups and with other big matchups on the horizons. You have to thank Affliction and EXC for making the UFC constantly one up the competition.

The UFC is the king of the mountain and Affliction has a steep mountain to climb.
UFC made a major step in improving their broadcasts last night with better graphics and corner cams(something they dont normally have on Spike). They have the best fighters at FW, LW(arguable after DREAM LWGP), WW, MW LHW, and 2nd Best HW on their roster..

I’d love to see Affliction succeed but they will need to either partner with Dream, World Victory Road, or EXC to make it happen. Affliction hooked a lot of the die hard MMA fans but aren’t anywhere near getting the casual MMA fans excited.

Anyone who has millions just sitting around like trump can take the homework and prep work done by Dana and the UFC and make it succesful. All they did was buy talent, they never had to worry about these guys being legit. The UFC and Pride made those fighters who they are and they bailed to fight in this new arena. If you cant make a successful show with already proven fighters and millions in your pocket you are an idiot. So, if Affliction succeeds its off the hardwork and prep done by UFC and Pride, and if they dont succeed then they are idiots and prove that they dont belong anywhere near the sport,

First of all, did anyone here really think that Irvin had a chance? I have never heard anyone say before his fight with Anderson that he was a gate keeper for the light heavyweight division. Beating a guy that really isn’t that great in another weight class doesn’t say much, nor does it prove that Anderson is the greatest fighter around. If B.J. Penn went to welterweight and beat Diego Sanchez or Dustin Hazelett, would people be going crazy about B.J. Penn being the best P4P?
Secondly, looking at the posts by bloggers and people who comment on said blogs, there is a real difference out there between UFC fans and MMA fans. Everything outside of a cage that Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg aren’t commentating (which is really suprising considering a lot of people’s dislike of both) is crap.
Affliction’s show wasn’t the best, but it was pretty awesome considering how many great fighters there were- and they didn’t have to sign outrageous contracts. I think the Affliction show says a lot about the possibilities there are when you are willing to pay for top tier fighters and not make them sell their souls with it.
Lastly, I really disagree with the idea that the Affliction show was looking in the past and the UFC is building stars. The only top 10 fighters at the UFC event were Anderson Silva and maybe Brandon Vera. Who are the others that the UFC are building up? Maybe Cain Velasquez.
Who was at the Affliction show? 6 or 7 Top ten fighters, many of which are in their prime.

I really don’t get it. Affliction boasted the “best heavyweight card” while their new lap dog John McCarthy has been blathering on and on about it, and yet all I saw, and yes I paid to see it, was an out of shape Matt Lindland who hasn’t fought ANYBODY in a year, a bunch of ex-UFC and Bodog castoffs that were mediocre at best. Jesus Christ all that was missing was Cabbage! I mean…come on…Rothwell?? Whitehead?? Arlovski?? Babalu? Babalu has been dwelling in obscurity as a mid carder in Cage Rage with the likes of Cyborg, Lindland…...well, what can you say about Lindland? He’s done NOTHING since his loss to Fedor. Lick his wounds maybe….but he’s been inactive. So how does he keep a top ten status when he’s not fighting?? Same with Arlovski. (though he looked better than he has in the past, he’s still a gamble as to which Arlovski will show up on any given night) Josh Barnett (while providing a decent knockout of another has-been in Pedro Rizzo) is more mouth than anything else and saying that Affliction should be happy to have him isn’t going to endear him to the promotion if they do manage to survive past their first disastrous PPV. And Megadeth??? I mean, if Affliction want’s to be seen as the ballsy, tattooed and pierced sets answer to 21st century sporting entertainment….could they not have found a band that has done something and mattered since the 90’s?? Why not bust out Judas Priest while you’re at it???

That being said….the UFC event was just as boring and crappy. While all you fanboys are arguing and picking sides, face the stark reality. Neither promotion put on a show worth paying for.

Brandon Vera’s only truth is he’s boring as shit when put in the spotlight. Did anybody REALLY believe Anderson Silva’s fight would last one round?? Irvin saying he’s bigger and that Silva should stay in 185, that’s why they have weight classes only made him look even more ridiculous when his head was bouncing off the canvas after throwing a lazy kick at Silva. Then you have a fight which should have ended in disqualification or n/c at the most yet somehow turns into a win for a guy who was warned repeatedly about his fingers (and the broken hand excuse was weak regardless. who throws palm strikes in mma these days except for Royce when he’s on his back?) and then the snore fest that was Franca/Edgar. JT Chump Change…err I mean Money should never have been let back into the UFC period after Dana’s comments about him running around the bar screaming “Do you know who I am??? I’m a UFC fighter!” But that’s White for you. His word is meaningless. He’ll do whatever to make a buck even if that’s putting two guys who would barely cut it in TKO or KOTC on his card. How many chances do you give a guy (Dollaway) after he loses to a mediocre submission artist, when there’s plenty of better fighters out there.

Bottom line is Affliction is doing ONE thing and ONE thing only. Building up to what they think will be the superfight of all time in Couture vs Fedor. They don’t care about all the other weight classes. And once they’ve done that….they’ll disappear into obscurity. Trump gets bored easily and if Affliction thinks he’ll have their backs for long they’re delusional.

Dana is an overreacting, Vince McMahon wannabe who is also delusional if he thinks the UFC is going to always be the only promotion worth watching.

Finally, somebody explain to me Silvia’s comments about the WAMMA belt unifying the title of top heavyweight when he’s not even close to being a top heavyweight? He’s an EX champ. Fedor…sure I can see him being at the top of the pile, but how does Tim figure he’s the number one contender? How does Couture figure into the number 3 spot when he’s inactive and hasn’t fought in ages? How does WAMMA think that their meaningless belt is going to be seen by the top organisations when they’re only support comes from M-1 and maybe Bodog? Oh, the questions…....

It was somewhat satisfying to see Sylvia exposed once again though….the same way Keith Jardine has been exposed…..as mid-carders with limited skills.