Hello, fellow MMA fans! We are not too far away from a busy month for MMA in August. I am truly excited for next month! Three big weekends in a row, my mind may go into MMA overload…August 1st we have Affliction: Trilogy, August 8th UFC 101: Declaration, August 9th WEC 42 and August 15th Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg!! Before I get into my predictions for the upcoming Affliction: Trilogy card I want to touch on a few topics that I’ve been pondering lately, so follow along with me as I let you in on my thoughts and opinions as of right now, regarding MMA.
First off is all the buzz surrounding Fedor Emelianenko being courted by the UFC…I for one, among many other MMA fan hope this happens! I don’t think the UFC will be able to come to terms with Fedor. Fedor wants to sign one fight deals, where he can jump around from place to place fighting wherever he wants. This would not make sense for the UFC business-wise…Fedor would become an instant huge star in the world if had the exposure the UFC could give him, not to mention if he were to fight Brock Lesnar for the heavyweight title and beat him! Fedor may have to eventually fight for the UFC, if he wants to cement his status as top heavyweight fighter in MMA. Lets face it; some of the best heavyweight fighters in MMA are in the UFC! If Fedor doesn’t sign with the UFC he may always be remembered as the guy ducking fights just to hold onto a impressive record. Lesnar and Fedor is a fight that must happen and one that I’m crossing my fingers on! Dana! Get your check book out!
Another thing I’ve been thinking about lately were the inductees into the UFC hall of fame. Chuck Liddell was a very good choice for the hall of fame but Charles “Mask” Lewis from the Tapout crew?? I know that Lewis has done great things for MMA and the MMA community but he was not a UFC fighter. I think past champions such as Don Frye or Pat Miletich are more deserving of hall of fame status. I hope the UFC chooses more carefully the next go around because in my opinion, that was kind of a joke…nice gesture but really kind of a slap in the face to some of the pioneers and legends of MMA….BTW, I will go to the next UFC fan expo! From what I’ve read and the pictures I’ve seen, it looks like a really good time!
I’ve read a lot recently on some MMA forums that people want the UFC to split up some divisions and create more weight classes, why?? I don’t want the UFC to become like boxing! So many different divisions and champions that it gets confusing. The reason that boxing did that was because of greed! They wanted all their fights to be title fights, so more interest would be created and more money would be made. Now you have fighters who have so many belts hanging off of them, that you have no idea what championship he has currently!! I like how in the UFC, I know who each champion is in every weight class without thinking about it. It would be so confusing if they split up divisions that I wouldn’t even want to think about it! Plus its so interesting and fun watching the fighters going at it for #1 contender spots!! You really wouldn’t have one truly undisputed champion and that would be stupid and would get stale after awhile.
Now onto my Affliction: Trilogy fight picks!! Here it goes:
Takanori Gomi vs. Rafaello Oliveira = Takanori Gomi wins by KO
Paul Buentello vs. Gilbert Yvel = Gilbert Yvel wins by TKO
Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago = Vitor Belfort wins by decision (split)
Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral = Renato "Babalu" Sobral wins by submission
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett = Josh Barnett by KO (Going out on a limb here and picking Barnett for the KO! I know I’m going to take some heat but I think Barnett might stand a chance and surprise some folks, just my opinion).
This will be my first time viewing the Affliction fights on PPV, I’m looking forward to seeing Affliction’s fights and seeing their production quality…I’m curious to see how it stacks up to the UFC/WEC shows as far as quality. Zuffa has enormous amounts of cash now; I’m just wanting to see how the smaller companies compete. Until next time MMA fans…enjoy the fights!!
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