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“Affliction Banned” Fight Gallery \ Recap \ Results
July 19, 2008 Honda Center Anaheim, California
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In Baseball, I've been told that when you make your major league debut as a hitter, you hope to hit a home run....on July 19th, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, Affliction Banned did just that. With a solid line-up head-lined by the number one fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko, Affliction Banned debut show demonstrated that it will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
To witness the inaugural event were such notables such as Real Estate Tycoon & Television star Donald Trump, former UFC champion Tito Ortiz and his girlfriend Jenna Jameson, professional wrestling's Goldberg, The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin plus former UFC champions Randy Couture and Pat Miletich just to name a few.
The main event saw the PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko go up against former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. The bout started off with a touch of the gloves...then both looked to be trying to measure each other...Sylvia with a couple of jabs while Emelianenko just evaded the jabs...looking for an opening. Then Emelianenko faked a right and came in with a left which caused the fighters to clinch a bit - Sylvia trying for the Muay Thai clinch but Emelianenko quickly broke the hold and started throwing thunderous lefts and then combos that had Sylvia covering up and eventually going down to the canvas (face first) - Emelianenko quickly followed Sylvia down and got his back and continued peppering him with lefts to the side of the face - Sylvia tried to roll out but Emelianenko kept up the pressure by throwing punches non- stop - Sylvia turned and got to his knees and Emelianenko quickly went around and started throwing punches from Sylvia's back - Emelianenko managed to get his hooks in...worked to get his arms around Sylvia's neck....rolled him...stretched him out and applied the choke - Sylvia had no choice but to tap...in 36 seconds, it was over. Emelianenko showed why he is the number one fighter in the world.
Another featured bout showcased another former UFC heavyweight champion, Andre Arlovski. Arlovski took on IFL stand-out Ben Rothwell. These two put on an impressive performance - exchanging kicks and punches - each stunning the other on occasion and accounting for themselves well. But in the end, it would be Arlovski putting together a three punch combo in the third round that put Rothwell down for good.
All around fan favorite and the current Open-weight King of Pancrase Champion Josh Barnett took on the hard hitting Pedro Rizzo. Barnett was looking to avenge his knockout loss to Rizzo from 2001. From the start of this bout, you just got the feeling that the first fighter to make a mistake was going to lose....but it wasn't a mistake that ended the bout but rather a well timed and well placed left hook. In the second round, Barnett came up a little short with a right but stepped forward and followed through with a huge left hook that sent Rizzo down and out. The arena sounded like the roof was about to be blown off by the excitement demonstrated by the crowd.
Matt Lindland, Renato Sobral and Paul Buentello all walked away with unanimous decision wins - while the two Mike's - Pyle and Hominick both got submission wins. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira came away with a TKO victory over Edwin Dewees while Vitor Belfort extended his win streak to three by knocking out Terry Martin in two.
And let's not forget the live band that played in-between some of the fights. While I've never listened to heavy metal music before, I must admit Megadeth was awesome.
For an inaugural event, it had everything you would want in a show - energy, excitement and great fights. In short, Affliction Banned came up to the plate....and hit it out of the park.
Until next time Al Nava (Larry Landless contributed to this recap)
Once you've clicked on a link - to see the pictures full size, just click on the picture |
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Fight 1 - Paul Buentello vs. Gary Goodridge Fight 2 - Vitor Belfort vs. Terry Martin Fight 3 - Mike Pyle vs. JJ Ambrose Fight 4 - Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Edwin Dewees Fight 5 - Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Nascimento |
Fight 7 - Mark Hominick vs. Savant Young Fight 8 - Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo Fight 9 - Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell Fight 10 - Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia |
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(7/21/08) |
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