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Affliction Light Heavyweight Division Fight
Renato “Babalu” Sobral (29-7-0) vs. Mike Whitehead (21-5-0)
This will be the first pay-per-view appearance for Renato Sobral since UFC 74, where he got released from the UFC after refusing to release a chokehold on David Heath. In his only post UFC appearance thus far, Renato Sobral defeated Rodney Faverus at a Ring Of Fire event. Despite his past UFC controversy, Renato Sobral is a well traveled MMA competitor who has fought Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, Maurice Smith, Kevin Randleman, Elvis Sinosic, Mauricio Rua and Jeremy Horn. Almost five years ago in September 2003, Renato Sobral won the International Fighting Championships Global Domination Tournament. Renato Sobral will want to do what he always does when in competition and take his opponent to the ground, with sixteen victories coming by submission. With the pending doom of the International Fight League, one of the companies biggest stars was Mike Whitehead, who went undefeated with four victories in the promotion. In the early days of World Extreme Cagefighting, Mike Whitehead competed in a heavyweight division tournament, but lost to Brandon Vera in the second round. Oddly enough, Mike Whitehead once fought and lost to Tim Sylvia twice in two days during the Super Brawl Return Of The Heavyweights events. Like Renato Sobral, Mike Whitehead will want to put this fight to the ground, with eleven career victories coming by submission.
My Prediction: Renato Sobral
Affliction Middleweight Division Fight
Matt “The Law” Lindland (20-5-0) vs. Fabio Negao (8-3-0)
Matt Lindland is widely considered to be the top middleweight fighter in the world outside of Anderson Silva, with fights against top MMA stars like Phil Baroni, Ricardo Almeida, Pat Miletech, Murilo Bustamante, David Terrell, Travis Lutter, Quinton Jackson, Jeremy Horn, Carlos Newton and Fedor Emelianenko under his belt. It has been more than a year since his last fight, a loss to Fedor Emelianenko in April 2007, at a Bodog Fight event. With all of his recent attention focused on politics in the state of Oregon, it will be interesting to see how much focus Matt Lindland will have when the fight starts. Matt Lindland is a fighter who is comfortable with the fight standing or on the ground, with fourteen total victories coming by knockout and submission. Despite not being a nationally recognized fighter, Fabio Negao has fought top international MMA fighters Damien Maia and Roan Carneiro. In October of 2006, Fabio Negao competed in the first ever Super Challenge tournament, losing in the finals. Fabio Negao is going to want to keep the fight standing to achieve victory, with half of his career victories coming by knockout.
My Prediction: Matt Lindland
Affliction Heavyweight Division Fight
“The Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (22-5-0) vs. Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo (16-7-0)
This is a rematch from a fight that occurred at UFC 30 in February 2001, where Josh Barnett lost to Pedro Rizzo by knockout. During his time in the UFC, Pedro Rizzo was considered the top heavyweight fighter of his time, but hasn’t been a top heavyweight fighter n recent years. In the first year of his career, Pedro Rizzo won the second annual World Vale Tudo Championships by winning all of his fights in the first round. Before losing his first career fight at UFC 26, Pedro Rizzo was on a nine fight winning streak, with five of those victories by knockout. Prior to coming to Affliction, Pedro Rizzo last competed in the Art Of War promotion, defeating Jeff Monson and Justin Eilers. Josh Barnett is easily one of the most underrated American fighters in MMA today, having fought Mirko Cro Cop, Pedro Rizzo, Dan Severn, Semmy Schilt, Randy Couture, Mark Hunt, Aleksander Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Jeff Monson. Josh Barnett considers his style of MMA fighting to be pro wrestling, in which he does have experience in, mainly competing in Japanese pro wrestling. Josh Barnett is going to want to ground the striker in Pedro Rizzo, with fourteen career victories coming by submission.
My Prediction: Josh Barnett
Affliction Heavyweight Division Fight
“The Pit Bull” Andrei Arlovski (12-5-0) vs. Ben Rothwell (29-5-0)
This fight for Andrei Arlovski will be the first time in over eight years that Andrei Arlovski has competed in an MMA fight outside of the UFC. Early in his MMA career, Andrei Arlovski won the M-1 MFC European Championships 2000 Tournament, defeating Roman Zentsov in the finals. During his eight years in the UFC, Andrei Arlovski was a one time UFC Heavyweight Champion and has fought the UFC elite like Pedro Rizzo, Ricco Rodriquez, Vladimir Matyushenko, Tim Sylvia, Justin Eilers, Paul Buentello, Fabricio Werdum and Jake O’Brien. Andrei Arlovski is currently on a three fight winning streak and his striking power is also something to fear, with eight victories coming by knockout. Ben Rothwell has been fighting under the MMA radar for the last seven years, despite competing against top MMA names like Tim Sylvia, Mike Whitehead and Ricco Rodriquez. Ben Rothwell is currently on a thirteen fight winning streak, with nine of those victories coming in the International Fight League. It has been nearly a year since Ben Rothwell last competed, so his physical condition could be in question against Andrei Arlovski. Like Andrei Arlovski, Ben Rothwell is a viscous striker who has won seventeen professional fights by knockout.
My Prediction: Ben Rothwell
WAMMA Heavyweight Title Decision Fight
“The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (27-1-0) vs. “The Maine-iac” Tim Sylvia (24-4-0)
This fight will answer three very important questions…who will become the first WAMMA Heavyweight Champion? Is Fedor Emelianenko still the most dominant heavyweight fighter in MMA? Is Tim Sylvia going to thrive outside of the UFC? It is interesting to note that the UFC’s biggest rivals main event features a former UFC Heavyweight Champion (Tim Sylvia) and the fighter that inadvertently caused a UFC Heavyweight Champion (Randy Couture) to leave the company. In his long MMA career spanning twenty eight fights, Fedor Emelianenko has only fought once before in the United States, defeating Mark Coleman at PRIDE 32. Fedor Emelianenko is widely considered to be the best heavyweight fighter competing today, having defeated Renato Sobral, Ricardo Arona, Semmy Schilt, Heath Herring, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Gary Goodridge, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Hunt, Matt Lindland and Hong Man Choi. You may have noticed a “1” in Fedor Emelianenko’s loss column, that came in a December 2000 fight to Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Fedor Emelianenko should want to keep the fight on the ground, where he has secured fourteen victories by submission. For such a menacing fighter, Tim Sylvia kicked off his MMA career in style, winning sixteen straight fights before losing his first career fight. In his illustrious MMA career, Tim Sylvia has fought top MMA fighters like Ben Rothwell, Mike Whitehead, Jason Lambert, Cabbage, Ricco Rodriquez, Frank Mir, Wes Simms, Andrei Arlovski, Jeff Monson, Randy Couture, Brandon Vera and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. This fight against Fedor Emelianenko in Affliction will be the first time Tim Sylvia has fought outside of the UFC in three years. Tim Sylvia will want to do the opposite of Fedor Emelianenko and keep the fight standing because Tim Sylvia has secured sixteen career victories by knockout.
My Prediction: Fedor Emelianenko
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
