Article #2 "AFFLICTION", MY NEWEST ADDICTION!

Hello MMA fans and fighters! I am James "Balistik" Hizona and this is "MMA ALL THE WAY". My first article was about UFC Fight Night. This one is about "Affliction:Banned".

What did you think? Did you enjoy the fights? Do you think that Affliction can go toe-to-toe with the Goliath called Ultimate Fighting Championship? Just how good is Fedor Emelianenko?

Before Affliction, I thought that he was one of the best overall heavyweights in the world. Now, I personally think that he is the BEST fighter, period! No offense to UFC Middleweight Champion and now Light Heavyweight beast, Anderson Silva, Fedor is simply a machine that seems to walk on all comers as if they are a daily door mat of a gas station!

The man simply man-handled Tim Sylvia like a veteran schooling a rookie! Tim Sylvia is not the type of guy you just walk through and Fedor did it in less than 40 seconds!

All I can say is WOW!! I am very happy that MMA fans that are relatively new to the sport and fighters as well, now have the chance to see Fedor in the U.S. The man is getting the recognition he truly deserves! Major Props to "The Last Emperor"! Hope your reign continues!!!!

It is great to see "The Pitbull" Andrei Arlovski back in action! He is one of my favorite fighters, because of his relentless attacks and his natural ability as a fighter. Arlovski made a very good move when he acquired boxing trainer Freddie Roach. His performance against Ben Rothwell reminded me of his dominant days when he eating up opponents as the heavyweight champion. Now we'll see who his next opponent will be.

Another fighter that was good to see again was "The Phenom" Vitor Belfort. When I sparred with this guy I never knew how fast he was until he hit me with about 15 punches and a couple of knees in a matter of seconds!! That was in 1998! 10 years later nothing has changed. He isn't called "The Phenom" for nothing! After knocking out UFC fighter Terry Martin, I actually thought that his striking has improved even better (if that is possible). I still can't get Martin getting clocked by James Irvin's knee a few years ago. Anyway, Now that Belfort is in middleweight, I do believe that we will probably see the best Vitor Belfort ever!

A rematch between two former UFC champions manifested at Affliction. Josh "The Baby Faced Assassin" Barnett avenged his loss against Pedro "The Rock" Rizzo. 2001 was when Rizzo and Barnett collided for the first time and in my view that was a very impressive fight for both fighters. This time, Barnett was the one to make the knockout hit when he caught Rizzo with a left hook that sent the former UFC champion down and early in the second. Once Rizzo fell, "The Assassin" struck again on the ground and that was it. Now I would love to see Barnett and Fedor, just because the two have never met and I think that would be an epic battle!

Former UFC fighter Renato "Babalu" Sobral clashed with TUF season 2 alum Mike Whitehead. Babalu scored the win in a unanimous decision. Whitehead looked good in taking Sobral down, but he never did captilize on the situation. Babalu showed much improved striking and good take down defense to get the "W".

Other fights included Mark Hominick against Savant Young. Mark Hominick showed a lot of persistence when he submitted Savant Young in their match. Hominick kept throwing triangle after triangle after triangle and even was able to narrowly escape a Young power bomb that pretty much would have ended the fight. Hominick decided to make a transition from his last triangle attempt into an armbar that resulted in a Young tap. That was a very cool ground fight!

Paul "The Head Hunter" Buentello won a unanimous decision over PRIDE veteran Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge. It was Buentello being the aggressor through out most of the fight that gave him the win. (Remember when Buentello fought Arlovski for the UFC title? It seemed like it was a long time ago, but it really wasn't)

Matt "The Law" Lindland was another fighter that used his aggressiveness to earn a unanimous decision over Fabio Nascimento. Being a former wrestler , I had to cheer for Lindland, the conditioning you have to endure in Greco-Roman training combined with a an aggressive ground game is a very good tool in MMA. Lindland was able to out last Nascimento.

What about Nogueira? Not UFC Heavyweight Champion "Minotauro" Nogueira, but "Minotoro" in Antonio Rogerio Nogueira the smaller of the Nogueira twins. He looked very impressive showing excellent striking as he forced the ref to call it while he was throwing bombs on the face of Edwin "Baby Face" Dewees.

Last, but not least. Mike Pyle made short work of J.J. Ambrose in their fight. As Pyle took Ambrose down, Ambrose gave Pyle his back. And after several solid punches that led to an Abrose exposing his neck Pyle cinched in a choke that led to his win.

Well, those are my thoughts about Affliction, I liked it a lot and am very looking forward to what they have in store in the future. The UFC needs some type of competition! Now I want to hear your thoughts! What did you think of Affliction? Who should be next to stand against Fedor? Did Belfort make a good move dropping to Middleweight? Is there still a lot of bite left in "The Pitbull"? Let me know! Until next time, this is Balistik signing out.

Remember, "MMA ALL THE WAY!"