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In the end, it was anticlimactic.
After weeks of hype stirred by dueling promotions, parallel shows and back-and-forth jibber jabber typical of this industry, Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko showed up on Saturday and did exactly what most everyone expected them to do. They dominated a pair of woefully overmatched opponents with seeming ease.
Maybe former NFL coach Dennis Green unwittingly said it best back in 2006, when his Arizona Cardinals coughed up a loss to the Super Bowl-bound Chicago Bears. Silva and Fedor are who we thought they were. The two best fighters in the world.
At the first pay per view for the fledgling Affliction promotion, the
boy king reaffirmed his claim to the throne. As much as any other
commentator in MMA, we crowed long and loud last week about how Tim
Sylvia had a chance to beat Fedor. He was so big, such a seasoned vet,
possessed such power in his hands, we said he had a shot to give the
Russian a run for his money.
Boy, are we dumb.
As it turns out, Sylvia had no chance against Fedor. None. The former Pride FC champ dispatched the former UFC champ with extreme prejudice in just 36 seconds in Affliction’s main event, all without changing the expression on his placid face. It was as if Fedor’s handlers had promised him an extra scoop of ice cream if he finished Sylvia in under a minute. Eat up, big fella.
Someone on the Affliction broadcast team described the look on Fedor’s face as “the executioner walking out to do his job,” during the 6-foot, 230-pounders ring entrance, and we think that is about right.
Seriously, if it suddenly turned out Fedor had been lying about his age, that he was really 11 years-old, would anybody be surprised? If his reward for winning a fight was he got to stay up an hour past his bedtime and then go to sleep in his racecar bed, would you be shocked? Not us.
The guy giggled like a school kid in the post-fight interview when ‘Big’ John McCarthy asked him who he wanted to fight next. Fedor sheepishly admitted he wanted to have it out with Randy Couture and then Couture jumped in the ring so the two fighters could do their best to out-nice each other. This is a fight that needs to happen, though after last night, we’re not as sure as we once were that Couture would have much chance.
For his part, at a UFC show designed solely to take some of the wind out of Affliction’s sails, Anderson Silva took 61 seconds to deal with James Irvin in the Spider’s debut at light heavyweight. Irvin barely put up a fight, succumbing to a straight right and then a series of punches on the ground. The bigger fighter left the Octagon with a huge gash on his face.
“Yeah, people say speed kills,” Irvin had said in his pre-fight hype video montage. “But it doesn’t matter how fast you are when you’re knocked out.”
Indeed, sir. Indeed.
Silva, another consummate nice guy, hinted he’d rather fight at 185-pounds – where he’s the champ, for cripes sake – than 205-pounds, but said he wanted to take biggest fights, no matter the weight class. If that’s the case, you gotta wonder what in the blue hell he was doing in the cage with Jamie Irvin.
OK.
You’re going to have to forgive us for this. We’re probably just swept up in the excitement of last night, but we’re going to say something crazy.
We’re going to suggest something that’s unfeasible on any number of different levels, not the least of which are a pair of iron-clad contracts and the complete impossibility of Affliction and the UFC ever working together. We understand all that, but we’re going on this flight of fancy anyway. Just ignore it, if you think it’s a stupid idea.
Assume for a minute Fedor and Couture fight in October and Fedor wins. If Anderson Silva can fight at 205-pounds, and Fedor Emelianenko can (in theory) get to 205-pounds … hey … a guy can dream, right?
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