People have been praising the Affliction card as if it’s the greatest MMA card of the year, but if you look closer it's at best a C level card. Take the Fedor-Sylvia fight away and it’s a top level fighter versus a body.
Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo sounds good, but Barnett is a top five fighter and Rizzo was five years ago and is now 2-2 in his last four fights. Although Rizzo has stellar KO power, Barnett is way too good of an all-around fighter not to know that the right hand is coming.
Matt Lindland is fighting a guy named Fabio Nascimento of whom no one has heard—and by no one, I mean no one. If the powers that be were to have selected someone with even half an ounce more recognition, this fight would have been appealing.
Bablau is fighting Mike Whitehead who was living in IFL land. Though some would consider this a good match on paper, the problem is that Whitehead’s current win streak is full of no bodies, and Bablau has been in the ring with a ton more talent and has done well.
The only fight on the main card that is somewhat exciting is Andre Arlovski versus Ben Rothwell. The problem with this fight is similar to the Bablau vs. Whitehead in that you have a solid top tier fighter against a fighter who has been in the ring with some suspect fighters who make him look like a true contender.
Now don’t look at this and think that I’m not going to watch this event, because I’m truly excited to see Fedor disembowel Sylvia. I just wish Affliction had made the rest of the card as equally exciting.
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