CHUCK LIDDELL AND TITO ORTIZ TO COACH SEASON 11 OF THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER®

Once again Fedor Emelianenko came out on top with an incredible finish against Andrei Arlovski. It was actually looking bleak for Emelianenko as Arlovski was winning the stand up battle and moving in hard with aggressive strikes. One flying knee attempt later and Arlovski was floored on the canvas unconscious after a brutal right hook from Fedor. It was incredible explosive finish which emerged out of nowhere. Fedor once again showed an incredible ability to find ways to win fights. No matter what circumstance he seems to encounter he finds a way to come up with an explosive answer to. Kudos to Arlovski for brining out some chinks in Fedor’s armor up until that point. Good job by both fighters.

STRIKING

Fedor has shown some great ability to adapt to any circumstances thrown at him, including striking. Against Mirko Filipovic, he was expected to be tested greatly on the feet and potentially dominated in that realm. But in that classic Pride FC matchup, Fedor found a way to outwit and outstrike Filipovic at times to win the fight by decision. Against Tim Sylvia many expect the Russian to be in trouble due to the power and reach of the 6’8 American heavyweight. But once again Fedor rose to the occasion and Sylvia dropped fast as a result. Seconds into the fight a barrage of fists dropped Sylvia and Fedor quickly pounced to attack.

Arlovski has a strong striking arsenal and is more of a knockout machine than Fedor. He has been able to KO Paul Buentello, Justin Eilers, Ian Freeman and drop several fighters in the process.

Nonetheless when it comes to coming up with effective technique on the feet and adapting to fighters Fedor is exceptional. That ability can give him an edge here.

WRESTLING

Fedor has a great ability to get fights to the ground and work some of the most brutal ground and pound the sport has seen. His vicious beating of Nogueira, Schilt, Herring and others on the mat are classic displays of the effectiveness of ground and pound, when done methodically and paradoxically also hyper aggressively. He will likely find a way to get Arlovski down in the fight.

CARDIO

Neither fighter seems to tire in their pursuit of victory. Neither is likely to have an edge over the other in this fight.

CONSISTENCY

Fedor hasn’t lost a round in his career, aside from the cut defeat he suffered quickly and freakishly early in his career. He has been on one hell of a roll his entire career. Arlovski has been up and down, more up then down, but after his defeat to Tim Sylvia in their second bout he has shown some fluctuation in his performance levels.

AGGRESSION

If you rewind to the time Arlovski was champion in the UFC he would be even with Fedor or arguably ahead in this category. But in recent times “The Pitbull” of old has lost some of his bite. We’d have to again point to his KO loss to Tim Sylvia as a big turning point in this area. Arlovski came in aggressively to finish Sylvia in that fight but ended up eating a big right hand that dropped him in that process. That loss seemed to take some of the classic ultra aggression Arlovski brought to every fight.

Fedor on the other hand appears to be as maniacal as ever in the cage. Of course he is super calm and stoic when fighting, but is able to channel high levels of aggression in his attack when he fights. That underlying current of serenity somehow generates a surge of violence when the bell rings. He has the greater killer instinct as of late.

STRENGTH

Both fighters are very strong, but the functional strength in terms of submission and wrestling goes to Fedor. With punches, judo tosses, securing grappling techniques, he is able to generate a lot of power in ever one of those areas.

GAME PLANNING

Fedor is the master of game planners and is up their with Randy Couture in this area. While Arlovski finds ways to win in most fights, Fedor pretty much always wins every fight. He comes up with effective strategies to overcome the best his opponents have to offer.

CURRENT FORM

Both fighters looked good in their last fight, but Fedor is coming off one of the most impressive wins in his career. Tim Sylvia himself noted that the Russian doesn’t appear to be human after he was defeated by Fedor via rear naked choke. 

SUBMISSIONS

Both fighters will likely negate one another in this area. Sambo masters they both are, but Fedor has been more deadly in the ground submission game, securing some stellar armbars and rear naked chokes in his illustrious career.

THE OUTCOME

This fight would have been more appealing a few years back when both fighters where kings of their respective leagues, UFC champion Arlovski vs Pride champion Fedor. But this is nonetheless an amazing fight and a great opportunity for Arlovski to becoming the top dog in MMA at heavyweight by taking down the king of all fighters over 205 pounds. Arlovski could very well win this fight but you have to put your money on the seemingly unstoppable force that is Fedor Emelianenko. He is a man who was made to destroy fighters in the ring. He will come out on top in this fight.

The only way Andrei Arlovski can thwart Fedor Emelianenko in their upcoming battle is by striking. He can either knockout the Russian or outstrike his foe to win a decision. This is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination and nobody has done it so far. We can argue the point by pointing to the point of Tsuyoshi Kohsaka’s elbow which led to a cut early in Emelianenko’s career, but that is a minor blemish on what has been a spotless and undefeated career for “The Last Emperor” He has arguably not even lost a round in his career.

Despite immortal god-like status which has been placed Emelianenko, he does display human frailty, albeit in very short glimpses. The most potent example would have to be when Kazuyuki Fujita stunned the Russian in Pride years back and had Emelianenko wobbling in a daze after a huge punch from the Japanese brawler. Things looked grim for Emelianenko in what would have been the biggest upset of the year, but in the end Emelianenko amazingly prevailed.

Nonethless, there is a chink in his armor as there is with every fighter. Even the most un-KO-able fighters have hit the mat face first into the canvass at some point in their career. If you’re taken on the top competition in the sport at some point you’re going to get burned.

Striking will be the only Arlovski can win this fight. Emelianenko always seems to have a new bag of tricks specialized for each opponent. He probably has nailed the timing and rhythm of Arlovski from footable and come up with a great game plan. All that being said, Arlovski, when on his game, is a very explosive, technical and powerful striker. If he performs to his peak potential, unleashes the pitbull inside, as he did years back when he was lighting up heavyweights with his fists in the UFC, he can come out on top. He won’t submit Emelianenko, I don’t envision him transforming into a ground and pounder, but what he can do is his good striking arsenal, footwork and power to win this fight. Throw in a great sprawl into the mix and you have a good formula to actually win this battle.

After a spotless 8 years of fighting, Emelianenko is due for a loss. Let’s see if Arlovski rises to his greatest challenge he’s encountered in the ring and can pull it off.

1. Fedor in the UFC. The #1 organization in the world should have arguably the #1 fighter in the planet. Fedor Emelianenko is the top heavyweight on most pundits’ lists, and he is an asset that the UFC needs for their big boys division. A matchup between Fedor and Brock Lesnar, should the beast still be champion, would be an intriguing battle. Having the Russian in the Octagon would be a great sight to see.
2. Getting the UFC in New York, Boston and Toronto. 3 big MMA hubs need to get their political act in congruency with allowing MMA to get in their cities. Toronto might be the toughest nut to crack with their ardent athletic commisioner not yielding on the issue, but UFC president Dana White vows to get his product in Canada’s bigggest metropolis, once New York and Massachusetts is covered.
3. Anderson Silva to get top flight 205 matches. If Silva is looking to call it quits after a few more fights, it’d be great to see “The Spider” take a stab at the 205 pound title. He’s cleared out 185, so if he gets some big challenges at light heavyweight then we can witness some spectacular matches and see him potentially win 2 titles.
4. Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler, Matt Lindland, Cung Le in the Octagon. Shields would be an instant contender at 170 as would Lindland and Lawler at 185. Dana White has expressed much interest in Cung Le and he would add a lot of excitement to middlweight, as would the always entertaining Robbie Lawler.
5. Higher salaries and benefits to fighters. As the sport of MMA has flourished in a massive mainstream fashion over the past few years, it’d be great to see a great increase in fighters’ pay as well. It’d be great to see fighters be able to pursue their passion full time and receive great rewards for the risks, time and effort their bear on their MMA journey.