Could It Be Too Soon For The Kirill? Buentello-Sidelnikov at "Day Of Reckoning"

In eight days, American MMA fans will have an opportunity to witness Fedor Emelianenko's upstart protege Kirill Sidelnikov (pictured) step into the ring against seasoned MMA and UFC veteran Paul Buentello(26-10-0) at Affliction's Day of Reckoning.

Nicknamed "Baby Fedor," Sidelnikov(5-2) offers to shed his baby image, toeing the line with one of MMA's most lethal and technical strikers in Paul Buentello.

For 12 years Buentello has swapped leather with the best, his most recent and notable losses coming from his UFC 55 challenge for the Heavyweight title against Andrei Arlovski, and to Alistair Overeem in Strikeforce's Four Men Enter, One Man Survives.

With the exception of his losses to Arlvoski and Overeem, both ranked as Top Ten Heavyweights, Buentello has led a six year fight campaign with 11 solid victories, more than half of which came in the first round.

Unable to get over the Top Ten hump, Buentello has become a stalwart gate-keeper in recent years, and will be the first test Sidelnikov has faced outside of Eurasia and within America where spectators' affections are difficult to earn.

Unfortunate for Sidelnikov, he already has three critical strikes working against him.

First strike: his seven previous fights were scheduled as two five-minute rounds with a 90 second rest between rounds.

In amateur fights, the M-1 Challenge round stipulations are acceptable. But American fight fans will inherently be skeptical of Sidelnikov's conditioning.

To put the woes to rest, Sidelnikov trains with the Red Devil Fighting Team, a squad harboring Aleksander Emelianenko, Amar Suloev, and former team members Sergei Kharitonov, and Fedor Emelianenko, all fighters who are known for their stamina, long-term agility, and endurance.

Sidelnikov gassing in this fight would be as certain to happen as snow in the Sahara.

Second strike: he's known as "Baby Fedor."

Aside from the homoerotic and pseudo-incestuous overtones, it puts Sidelnikov in the shadow of Fedor. It may be complimentary and serve to condense long-winded descriptions of his potential MMA dominance, but at some point a new moniker must be created. 

Also, Sidelnikov's progression may make the impeccable gleam of Fedor's record pale in future events.

The third strike working against Sidelnikov is his close affiliation with M-1/Affliction.

For the time being, UFC dominates American MMA. The intensity of UFC's dominance reaches from the corporate table to actual fighters with McMahonesque control.

In Biography Channel's biopic of Randy Couture, Randy depicted UFC as an organization unwilling to support their two-time Heavyweight Champion because of his age.

The same favoritism could be read into the upcoming Penn-GSP match given that

1.  White granted Penn an unprecedented opportunity to challenge St. Pierre for the Welterweight title after Penn refused to take no for an answer,

2.  St. Pierre hasn't been granted a rubber match to compete to regain his belt should he lose,

and

3.  Since Penn's Lightweight belt isn't at risk, it's apparent that either Penn is favored to win the match, or St. Pierre didn't bring all his ammo to the contractual negotiations.

That said, it's no mystery that UFC's opinion of fighters weighs heavily on the conscience of new fans. And White's opinion of Sidelnikov could effect his advancement in American MMA shows.

Because UFC is waging a war of attrition with M-1/Affliction, it would come as no suprise if White spurned Sidelnikov's potential fame, keeping him from competing against other young UFC Heavyweights like Gabriel Gonzaga.

If viewers tune in to HDNet's broadcast of the undercard fights, they'll get to see the hybrid Emelianenko fighting style Sidelnikov presents and draw their own conclusions about the 21-year-old, 220 lb, 5'11" phenom.

But if you don't get to tune in, here's what I think you'll miss:

His boxing movement is light and precise, most like Aleksander's. His Sambo, takedown defense, and explosiveness has Fedor's fingerprints all over it. Kirill Sidelnikov has the true potential to be the next Fedor or Anderson Silva.

A victory for Kirill Sidelnikov is sure to make waves in the MMA world, and expect his next Affliction bout to make the main card. But a loss means it's back to the gym for the hard lessons, and Dana White has one less Russian to worry about...at least for a little while.

Prediction:  Sidelnikov TKO or Submission of Buentello early in the second round

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