On Saturday, January 24th, Affliction MMA will be running their second-ever MMA event at the very same venue where they hosted their first, the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. For a promotion that is slowly and steadily gaining ground and with ties to many prominent names in business, sports and entertainment such as Donald Trump and Golden Boy Promotions headed by boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya, Affliction has become known as more than just "those t-shirt guys" as UFC President Dana White infamously refers to them as.
Nothing could be more evident than a main event worthy of just about any MMA event in the world, an epic battle for the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship. It will be the champion Fedor Emelianenko, quite possibly the greatest fighter in the world today taking on the challenger Andrei Arlovski, a match only made possible thanks to the matchmakers at Affliction MMA. Here's a look at what could possibly be one of the biggest matches of the year!
WAMMA Heavyweight Title: Fedor Emelianenko (c) (28-1-1) vs. Andrei Arlovski (15-5)
Fedor Emelianenko. Just that name alone can bring attention to any MMA enthusiast from any different background. Fedor Emelianenko is synonymous to MMA much like Wayne Gretzky is to hockey, Tiger Woods is to golf, Michael Schumacher is to F-1, Zinedine Zidane is to soccer, Ernesto Hoost is to K-1 and Michael Jordan is to basketball. Despite being quite possibly the greatest MMA fighter in the world today, Emelianenko comes from a humble background. Born to a father who worked as a steel worker and a mother who worked as a teacher, Fedor is the second of four children in his family, with two of his younger brothers, Aleksander and Ivan both being MMA fighters, Aleksander being a professional MMA fighter while Ivan currently training in MMA. A master in the arts of sambo and judo, Emelianenko brought along his wealth of knowledge, skills and experience to Japan where MMA was beginning to take shape as THE sport to watch. Despite losing in controversial fashion in a RINGS event against Tsuyoshi Kosaka, Emelianenko bounced back from the loss when he ventured into PRIDE after winning the RINGS King of Kings 2002 Tournament and that's where his star shone. Emelianenko went up against the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira after defeating Heath Herring to become number one contender for the title. The title match took place at PRIDE 25 back in March 2003 and after a hard fought battle, Emelianenko was able to wrest the title away from Nogueira and in the process, became the second PRIDE Heavyweight Champion in history. Facing the likes of Kazuyuki Fujita, Naoya Ogawa, Mirko Filipovic, Mark Hunt and Mark Coleman, Emelianenko went undefeated in PRIDE and after the promotion folded, carried on the streak by defeating Matt Lindland in BodogFIGHT, Hong Man Choi at Yarennoka! and Tim Sylvia at the inaugural Affliction event, Banned, where he also became the first-ever WAMMA Heavyweight Champion.
Andrei Arlovski is another fighter who is also similar to his opponent, Fedor Emelianenko. Like Emelianenko, Arlovski also came from a humble background, is strong-willed and patient and most importantly, is an accomplished sambo wrestler as well. Unlike Emelianenko though, Arlovski decided not to go to Japan to become a well-known MMA fighter, but traveled to the United States instead and competed for the UFC. Early on in his UFC career, Arlovski was fed to top competitors, such as Ricco Rodriguez and Pedro Rizzo and had to take tough losses from both men, but several key wins after thrust the Belarus native into the spotlight. When UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir was injured due to a devastating motorcycle accident, the UFC decided to crown an Interim Heavyweight Champion and two of the fighters who would compete for the title were Tim Sylvia and Arlovski himself. At UFC 51: Super Saturday, Arlovski put his submission skills to the test, making the Maine-iac tap out to an ankle lock to become the UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion. After several title defenses against the late Justin Eilers and Paul Buntello, the UFC would then recognize Arlovski as the official UFC Heavyweight Champion after Frank Mir was still unable to recover from his injuries and had not been able to defend his title for a very long time. After a great run in the UFC, culminating in a fight against Jake O'Brien at UFC 82, Arlovski left the UFC and is now contracted to Affliction. At Affliction's inaugural event Banned, Arlovski was able to put an end to former IFL heavyweight stand-out Ben Rothwell's 13 fight win streak when he defeated Rothwell via TKO. After a match between Arlovski and Josh Barnett was postponed to another future Affliction event, Arlovski ventured into EliteXC: Heat where he defeated Roy Nelson, becoming the only fighter to ever finish Nelson in his MMA career.
PRIDE Heavyweight Champion vs. UFC Heavyweight Champion!
Another dream offering from Affliction and ironically enough, it involves Fedor Emelianenko, who headlined Affliction: Banned and is now headlining this upcoming Affliction event. There has been a lot of media hype surrounding this event, in particular the main event between Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski as many are considering this event (especially Oscar De La Hoya) to be as big of a match as heavyweight boxing fights of bygone days. Aside from being former heavyweight champions of their previous promotions, both Emelianenko and Arlovski also have the distinction of beating two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia in record time, Emelianenko defeating Sylvia in 36 seconds while Arlovski defeated Sylvia in 47 seconds. This is also a dream match as both of these men are two of the best sambo wrestlers in the world of MMA today and this match will showcase the power of sambo and also the power of MMA in the heavyweight division of just about any MMA promotion in the world today. Add to the fact that Arlovski's boxing has gotten better after being trained under legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach and this could possibly be Emelianenko's toughest fight to date just yet.
”おまえわもうしんでいる！”
To many fans of Japanese manga and anime, the line above is a signature phrase from Hokuto no Ken or Fist of the North Star, which literally means "You are already dead!" To many fans of MMA, it is the signature Japanese phrase of Josh Barnett, a devoted fan of the series himself. Seeing as to how Barnett was originally supposed to face Arlvoski and his desire to fight Emelianenko, Barnett, who has a fight against Gilbert Yvel the same evening, will be watching this hugely anticipated main event intently as it is certain that he will be the next in line to compete for the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship. If anything, both Emelianenko and Arlovski will have to study Barnett well as one of these two men could be facing the Baby-Faced Assassin in a future bout for Affliction someday.
As the event draws near, one thing can be certain and that is the fans will be treated to quite possibly one of the biggest MMA fights in recent years. Will The Last Emperor retain the title that further immortalizes him or will The Pitbull be the one to end an undefeated streak and be crowned the new champion?
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