MMA From An ADD Mind: UFC Fight Night 14, Affliction-Banned, And Tito Ortiz

This past weekend the MMA community was treated to a new entry into the game, as well as free Anderson Silva. While both events did what they needed to do, neither was a card of the year candidate.

Affliction:Banned

Overall, not a bad first outing for Affliction. The ring evoked Pride memories, the event moved along nicely, and they seemed to know what they were doing. With that said, the lighting was bad, I kept feeling I was watching an 80's rock concert. Then again considering Megadeth was performing, I was watching an 80's rock concert.

The commentary was adequate, not as bad as Elite XC, but not as good as Rogan and that dumb guy Goldberg.

The ring seemed out of place to me, but thats probably from watching too much UFC. In my mind, MMA is just supposed to be fought in a cage.

On to the fights, I wasn't particularly excited about anything until Barnett knocked Rizzo back to UFC 18. Note to Rizzo, stay active buddy. Layoffs can get you laid out.

Andrei Arlovski looked like he was prepping more for his boxing debut than for a fight with Fedor, as he threw beautiful combinations in his fight with Rothwell. I think he would be well served to try his hand in boxing, as the heavyweight division is wide open and really lacking in star power.

Somebody please tell me Fedor is human. I know we have rapped his weak opposition as of late, but after his fight with Silvia, I was left wondering when he was gonna fight someone FOR REAL again. He made Silvia look like a chump.

UFC Fight Night

Brandon Vera needs to stay around 220 if he is going to fight at 205. He looked like he barely made it to the finish line, and that won't cut it against the cream of the crop at light heavy. He is extremely talented, but it wont matter if he has nothing in the later rounds due to cutting too much weight.

Cain Velasquez looks like a monster in the making. I thought Irish Jake would be a good test for him, boy was i wrong.

Looks like the UFC is gonna ride Anderson Silva till the wheels fall off. If he keeps knocking guys out like he did the Sandman, who can blame them?

Random Thoughts

After watching Affliction live and then watching UFC on TiVo, I was left with a thought. I wonder how good Affliction would have been with Rogan on the announce team, the UFC production team, and a cage instead of a ring.

Anybody other than me know that the fight was 4over the minute they showed Fedor warming up? he looked fast, extremely fast. I knew Timmy was in trouble.

I'm starting to wonder why anybody wants to see Fedor fight Couture. Randy hasn't fought in almost a year, is 45, and is extremely beatable. I'm not even sure Fedor is human, let alone beatable, yet.

The UFC hype machine is wonderful. They are hyping Anderson Silva up so much I'm starting to buy in to it. Imagine what they would have done with Fedor.

I've seen WWE's Undertaker at many MMA events recently. Having closely followed his career I can tell you that if the UFC was around in his heyday, he would have been fighting for real, and not in fake casket matches.

Did anyone notice how Affliction saved Tito Ortiz for last when they announced celebs at their show, to give him maximum pop? I think that's a sign they want him, and intend to sign him.

If anyone needs an explanation of how worthless the WAMMA title is, think of this. Tito could defeat Babalu and Belfort, one of which could be for the WAMMA light heavy title. He could then legitimately claim to be the real champion at 205 in the world, since he has a victory over Forrest Griffin.

Final Thought

Why don't promoters realize fans don't need dancers or recording artists to make a good fight card? All you need is good production value, some short, informative fighter intros, good entrances that don't take 8 to 10 minutes, and good fights.