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2008-07-21 05:26:05
The Biggest Winners and Losers from Saturday Night
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Saturday night is now finished, and UFC Fight Night 14 and Affliction: Banned are both in the books.
There are some pretty clear winners and losers after this "mega" night of fights. Here are the winners, followed by the losers:
WINNERS
1. Fedor Emelianenko. In my opinion, Fedor is the biggest winner after Saturday night. There were quite a few doubters before Fedor destroyed Tim Sylvia on Saturday night. Was Fedor really the #1 heavyweight in the world? If so, why was he fighting freak shows such as Hong-Man Choi, and not legitimate competition? Was he worth his asking price of seven figures per fight?
Fedor silenced quite a few doubters by destroyed Sylvia on Saturday night. Sylvia wasn't just beaten - he was pulverized in less than a minute. Keep in mind that Tim Sylvia is largely considered to be one of the top ten heavyweights in the world.
After this impressive performance, Fedor will continue to command top dollar. He has agreed to fight again for Affliction in the fall, likely against either Andrei Arlovski or Josh Barnett. After that, who knows - Fedor just may end up in the UFC after all. If Dana White truly wants the best fighters in the world in his promotion, then he needs to open the vault and sign Fedor to a deal. He's worth it, especially if the UFC is intent on expanding overseas.
2. Anderson "Spider" Silva. After destroying James Irvin in just over a minute, Silva can write his own ticket. He can either stay at middleweight and manhandle his competition, or he can continue to move up to light heavyweight for big fights against Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva, Quinton Jackson or Forrest Griffin. Or, he can do both, and possibly own two belts at once. Dana White and company will give Silva whatever he wants, and Silva doesn't back down from anybody. Expect some HUGE fights involving Anderson Silva over the next 12-18 months - this will truly be a golden time for MMA fans.
3. "Affliction". It's early. PPV numbers aren't in. Gate numbers aren't in. But the fact that "Affliction" even managed to put on their first card is worthy of a thumbs-up. Many people doubted that they would be able to land Fedor - they did. Many people doubted that they would secure the funds necessary to put on the card - they did. Sure, there were many things that Affliction will likely change on their second card, but that's to be expected for a company who is putting on their first show. Competition is a good thing, and Affliction gets a thumbs-up for pulling off their first show, faults and all.
4. Josh Barnett / Andrei Arlovski. Both fought spirited fights, and both have to be considered for a shot at Fedor. Both Barnett and Arlovski certainly didn't hurt their careers on Saturday night.
5. C.B. Dolloway. "The Doberman" had his back against the wall on Saturday night and came through with flying colors. Dolloway needed a victory (and badly) after his lackluster showing against Amir Sadollah on the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale. We'll be seeing more of Dolloway in the UFC after his impressive victory against Jesse Taylor on Saturday night.
LOSERS
1. Tim Sylvia. This was a HUGE fight for Sylvia, and he was completely destroyed. He has now lost three of his last four fights. He was paid a huge pile of money to fight Fedor on Saturday night - I have a hard time seeing him commanding this type of money again. He didn't have to beat Fedor on Saturday night, he simply had to put up a fight. He couldn't do that, and his market value went WAY down because of it. If "Affliction" doesn't want him back, then where will he go now? He's not exactly overwhelming popular with the fans, and the UFC won't take him back. I will be interested to see where Sylvia goes from here.
2. The UFC. A well-funded competitor launched on Saturday night. "Affliction" has some intriguing possible match-ups for its fall PPV that will likely attract even more fight fans. I would expect that "Affliction" will try to land Tito Ortiz for their promotion to increase their star power and attract even more casual fans. Affliction isn't going away anytime soon - not with Donald Trump's deep pockets backing the promotion. As mentioned, the Affliction production was full of mistakes, but it will get better, you can count on that. They will learn from their mistakes and churn out a better product next time.
3. Brandon Vera. Lackluster performance on Saturday night. Probably had to do with his cut down to 205, but still - a boring fight that disappointed many fans who expected Vera to unload on Reese Andy. Will be interesting to see how Vera does in his next fight in this weight class.
4. Jesse Taylor. Was going to be a finalist on the Ultimate Fighter 7, but was kicked off of the show after his drunken rampage. Apparently he straightened up his life, enrolled himself in Alcoholics Anonymous and begged Dana White to let him back into the promotion. White agreed to let him back in, and the UFC booked Taylor to fight Dolloway. Taylor was unlucky in that he caught a big illegal knee from Dolloway early in the first round and tapped out to a Peruvian necktie soon after. I have no doubt that the knee stunned Taylor and he never really recovered. Regardless, his showing on Saturday night certainly hurt his chances to earn a long-term contract with the UFC. I expect that he will get another chance though.
5. Dana White. Ate some crow and publicly admitted that he was impressed by Fedor's performance. Dana White doesn't like to eat crow (obviously). I think that his statement was a first step towards bringing Fedor into the UFC, but we'll see. The UFC is going to have to loosen their pursestrings in order to bring Fedor in, but I stick with my prediction that they will and that Fedor will be signed by the UFC within a year.
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