The Sprawl 7.27.08: Volume 9 - Silva & Fedor Reign Supreme, Plus UFC & Affliction Coverage.
Posted by Alex Mattis on 07.27.2008
A look back at the night in MMA that was July 19, 2008 right here on "The Sprawl."
Hello all and welcome back to "The Sunday Sprawl!" Please excuse my absence last week, I was on vacation. But the week before last I took a preview look at the huge night for MMA that was July 19. Well that day has come and gone, and let's look at what we got:
UFC Fight Night: Silva Vs. Irvin
The Pound 4 Pound best fighter in the world proved his dominance this past Saturday with his destruction of the always game James Irvin. It didn't take long and it didn't take much for Anderson to prove why he is the best. He just showed patience and then landed his shots... well shot. I loved how Silva pretty much thought it was over when Irvin dropped and was reluctant to continue bringing the pain. But when he saw the ref wasn't stepping in he pounded Irvin's head until there was no disputing him being out. Incredibly dominant performance.
Other things that stick from this event was the "what the fuck kind of submission was that" choke from CB Dollaway on Jesse "JT I need Money to repair limo windows" Taylor. I love seeing pricks like Taylor getting their foot stuffed into their mouth (See Phil Baroni Vs. Frank Shamrock). I think Kevin Burns tickled Anthony Johnson's brain with that figure in the eye. The fact that that was ruled a TKO was possibly the worst call of the year. Brandon Vera had a less than impressive move to the light heavy weight division. Cain Velasquez... shit. This guy looks like a walking path of destruction. In what was the fight of the night Frankie Edgar did exactly what I said he was going to do, he Sean Sherk'd Hermes Franca. It was a good fight, but Edgar wanted no part of the stand up and used his superior wrestling to keep the always dangerous Franca at bay. And it what was undoubtedly the knock out of the night, Rory Markham took out Brodie Farber with a head kick that will be talked about for years. That thing was sick.
Affliction: Banned
The Affliction brand kicked started their organization with their debut show last Saturday night. The stacked card had a lot of hype to live up to and delivered on some levels. The undercard started off exciting with the impressive KO wins from Vitor Belfort (was that the old Vitor? Doubtful) and Lil' Nog who just tooled Edwin Dewees for the duration of their fight. Then things slowed down with rather boring decision win from Babalu and the predictable, but almost disastrous, decision win from Matt Lindland. Matt stumbled in the beginning of the 2nd round and looked to be on dream street for a bit courtesy of some punches and elbows from Negao. I was a bit weary that the event may not be able to live up to the hype during this first portion of the show, but then we got down to the meat and potatoes of the event and the questions were answered.
We moved along to.... MORE MEGADETH!!! Then, and only then, it was onto the featured three. Three huge heavyweight showdowns, it was even more impressive that they were on the same card. In the first heavyweight showdown of the card we had the top ranked Josh Barnett looking avenge his famous KO loss to Pedro Rizzo. Well he avenged it in fashion with a highlight reel knockout of his own over Rizzo. Seriously. Devastating. Then onto up and coming Beth Rothwell taking on former UFC champ Andre Arlovski. Many questioned Arlovski's heart in fighting and where his head has been over the past few years, well any and all question were answered in this fight. This truly looked like "The Pitbull" of old. Just a relentless, precise return to form. But props need to be given to Rothwell however; the man can take a hell of a beating. I thought that it was going to be over in the 2nd round for sure but Big Ben displayed his toughness and managed to get KO in the 3rd. One thing is for sure... the flying knee in the 2nd, gorgeous.
Then onto the main event. One of my favorites taking on one of the fighters I despise the most. This was the first Fedor fight in a long while that I was actually nervous. Well I didn't have any time to let my nerves get to me because this one was over before it even got started. This was a half minute of glory. Any and all doubters of Fedor should now have all their doubts completely answered. Fedor could not have made a bigger statement. Now it looks like the next challenge is going to be the fore mentioned Arlovski. Well that is a hell of a challenge, but if anyone can take it it's going to be the #1 heavyweight in the world... and that is Fedor.
One more look at greatness...
That's all for me this week, I'll see you right back here next week.
