Posts tagged Andrei Arlovski at FanHouse

With just a couple of weeks to go before the Day of Reckoning show, Affliction is already planning to pair the winner of its co-main event (Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel) against the winner of its main event (Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski).

That means, if the two favorites win, we'll finally get to see the Barnett vs. Fedor fight that fans have been hoping to see (and many have accused Barnett of ducking) for years.

It also means two friends could be fighting each other for the generally recognized heavyweight championship in MMA, and on a call today to promote Day of Reckoning, I asked Barnett about his personal relationship with Fedor.

"When we were in Japan we spent time together, we'd go out and have dinner and hang out together, we'd wish each other happy birthdays, and do the stuff that regular friends do," Barnett said. "We understand in this sport, of course, people will develop friendships. But at the same time, in our business, you'll fight, and we're OK with that. ... I just make sure I'm in good shape to fight whoever's in front of me. If I were to fight Fedor I think it'd be a great match and I don't think there'd be any problem."

There could be a problem, however, with Barnett's fight with Yvel. Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio acknowledged it's possible that a replacement may need to be found for Yvel, who still hasn't been cleared by the California State Athletic Commission.

"I have a couple people in mind if this doesn't work out," Atencio said. "Josh is preparing for (Yvel), but I also know that Josh will fight anybody out there."

When Andrei Arlovski fights Fedor Emelianenko in three weeks at Affliction: Day of Reckoning, he's going to be a significant underdog. Fedor is, after all, the best heavyweight MMA fighter in the world.

But Arlovski is working with the boxing trainer Freddie Roach, and Roach thinks he's identified some significant weaknesses in Fedor's game. He tells Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated:

"He's flat-footed, has no technique, but he can punch," Roach said after the ping-ping-pings of a well-worn round timer died down and onlookers cleared out of his popularized Wild Card Boxing Club. "That always helps. He's accurate. He'll follow you right to the floor, so he's aggressive. But that aggressiveness can be used to our advantage, I think."

Roach also said Fedor's stance is flawed, and Arlovski, who approaches opponents in a traditional boxing stance, seems to think he'll be able to pick Fedor apart.

Of course, talking about a game plan is a lot easier than executing it against Fedor. But if there's anyone in MMA who has an advantage over Fedor on his feet, it's Arlovski. With Roach's help, he's got a puncher's chance.

Last weekend's UFC 92 was the biggest MMA card of 2008, and we're just four weeks away from UFC 94, with its main event of Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn -- which might be the best fight of 2009. So this is a good time to be an MMA fan.

But with those two cards -- plus UFC 93 on January 17 and Affliction: Day of Reckoning on January 24 -- all available only on pay-per-view, it's also an expensive time to be an MMA fan. So if the cost is going to keep you from buying one of those pay-per-views, which one should you cut out?

The full Affliction: Day of Reckoning fight card has been released, and it features a great heavyweight fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski in the main event, as well as a not-so-great heavyweight fight between Josh Barnett and Gilbert Yvel in the co-main event.

The card is separated into two programs, with the first six fights being shown live on pay-per-view and the final five fights being shown live on pay-per-view. The event takes place on January 24, 2009 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The full card is below.

There's something about Michael Buffer's booming voice and "Let's get ready to rumble" catchphrase that makes a fight feel more significant. So when Buffer worked as the ring announcer over the summer at Affliction: Banned and said "Let's get ready to rumble" before Fedor Emelianenko fought Tim Sylvia, it was just one more element that made it feel like a big-time event.

However, Buffer is a boxing guy first and an MMA guy second, and Golden Boy Promotions has confirmed to me that Buffer will call the Antonio Margarito-Shane Mosley fight on January 24, and not the Affliction: Day of Reckoning card the same night. So someone other than Buffer will be introducing Fedor and Andrei Arlovski.

Andrei Arlovski is back with the second part of Arlovski 360, the video series he's using to hype his fight with Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction: Day of Reckoning:

The most interesting comments come from Arlovski's boxing trainer, Freddie Roach, who talks about how he's teaching Arlovski to be an even better striker.

Andrei Arlovski has unveiled the first installment of Arlovski 360, a new video series to hype his upcoming fight with Fedor Emelianenko, and I have to say, it's pretty cool:

Although I'm not quite ready to buy into the hype that this is "the most anticipated heavyweight fight in mixed martial arts history," I do think Arlovski is doing a very good job of promoting his fight, which is the main event at Affliction: Day of Reckoning on January 24.

As Andrei Arlovski gets ready to take on Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction: Day of Reckoning, he says he's not buying into the mystique of Fedor as unbeatable:

"A couple weeks ago he lost his sambo match," Arlovski says on this week's episode of Inside MMA on HDNet. "He says it's just a hobby for him, but come on, let's be serious. He's just a human. Yeah, he's probably a little bit better -- he's unbeatable for like seven years. But he's a human."

Obviously, Arlovski is right that Fedor is beatable, because every athlete in every sport is beatable. But I'm just not convinced that losing that sambo match means anything at all. And I doubt Arlovski thinks it means anything, either. After all, he acknowledges that he didn't even watch Fedor's sambo match. If Arlovski really thought that sambo match exposed some weakness of Fedor's, wouldn't he have watched it by now?

Via MMA Junkie.

On a call today to promote the Affliction: Day of Reckoning card, Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio described the heavyweight picture in his promotion as "basically tournament style," with the two heavyweight fights on January 24 serving as the semifinals, and the winners facing each other in the finals.

So that means Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski will square off in the main event at Day of Reckoning, and the Josh Barnett-Gilbert Yvel fight will be the top undercard fight, and the winners of those two fights will fight each other at the third Affliction event.

And I guess I feel like this is the equivalent of the NCAA giving us a college football playoff in which Oklahoma played Florida in one semifinal and Texas played Bowling Green in the other. Sure, the winner of that tournament is great. But do you notice someone that doesn't belong?

MMA fans have two big heavyweight fights ahead of them in the next six weeks, with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira taking on Frank Mir at UFC 92 on December 27 and Fedor Emelianenko taking on Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: Day of Reckoning on January 24.

Tim Sylvia is uniquely qualified to comment on those two fights, because he's fought all four fighters. And Sylvia says he expects Nogueira to beat Mir and Fedor to beat Arlovski.

"Arlovski's looking good," Sylvia said on HDNet's Inside MMA. "He's recovered from the knockout I gave him a few years back, and he's looking better than ever. He's athletic enough, he's got a good shot, especially in this sport, where anything can happen. But I'm definitely picking Fedor in that fight."

As for the UFC 92 battle for the interim heavyweight title, Sylvia said he's taking the favorite in that one, too.