Fedor Emelianenko KO's Andrei Arlovski At Affliction's Day of Reckoning Event

The Last Emperor's kingdom is well-protected, at least for another night.

WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko was expected to have one of his toughest opponents to date in Andrei Arlovski and for 3:14, Arlovski was up to the test.

Then a right hand ended that, and Emelianenko once again had his hand raised as he successfully defended his title Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., as part of Affliction's Day of Reckoning event.

Arlovski kicked Emelianenko back into the ropes and when Fedor bounced back, he came off with a right hand that connected flush with Arlovski's chin for an immediate knockout.

Referee John McCarthy stopped the fight immediately and Emelianenko returned to his throne as arguably the best fighter in the world not in the UFC.

Arlovski's likely next opponent is Josh Barnett, who grounded and pounded Gilbert Yvel for almost three rounds before Yvel tapped out at 3:05 of the final frame. Barnett stuck to what he does best and was active in looking for kimuras in the first round.

He almost stopped the fight in the second round with a barrage of fists and elbows on Yvel, who did just enough to survive to the third.

Whether Barnett can give Emelianenko more of a challenge than Arlovski did (or if Affliction MMA will be around to promote the fight) will have to be seen.

*****

The PPV telecast opened up with Dan Lauzon against Bobby Green, the latter of which was called in on just a few days notice after Chris Horodecki wasn't medically cleared to fight.

The first round was marred by Green's repeated low blows with kicks and knees, the final of which was glancing at best. The long delays really killed the ebb and flow of the fight.

When action resumed, Lauzon kept taking Green down to the ground and looked for various submissions. Lauzon would eventually snag Green in a rear naked choke at :09 of the first round for the victory.

Crowd was booing Lauzon because they perceived him as milking the time stoppage for the low blows. For a guy that came in on just a few days notice, Green was ready to fight. During one of the stoppages, he even gave shoutouts to Oscar De La Hoya and Donald Trump at ringside.

Next up was Paul Buentello vs. Kiril Sidelnikov. The crowd popped big for Buentello's mariachi music. Bunetello was game early, peppering Sidelnikov with punches and raising a big welt under his left eye. Having a name like Baby Fedor can be tough to live up to, especially in your American debut.

Buentello continued to roll the rest of the fight which was stopped by the ringside doctor at 4:18 of the 3rd round. The 20-year-old Sidelnikov looked overmatched and overwhelmed by the 35-year-old, who made him look silly.

Next up was Renato Sobral vs. Rameau Sokodjou. The end came when Sobral had an Anaconda choke on and Sokodjou could not escape, tapping in the second round. Sobral started '09 just as he ended '08: winning fights, while Sokodjou continues to struggle on the main stage.

Vitor Belfort made a statement by knocking out Matt Lindland at just :37 seconds of the first round. Belfort connected with a left to the jaw and then connected with four unanswered punches that flattened Lindland out.

Post-fight, Lindland took a long time to get up and had a neck brace on at one point. He only threw one punch.

For the results/notes from the HDNet undercard, here's all of the details provided by Figure 4 Online/Wrestling Observer.

Notes/Observations

- Production was good the entire night with no major snafus. Graphics were crisp and reflected the look of the advertising.

- The ring still throws me off...just a personal preference for a cage, I guess.

- The entire PPV broadcast wrapped in three hours flat and there was a good pace the entire night with little-to-no breaks between fights.

- Tito Ortiz was on the broadcast team and did a good job, even though he referred to the UFC as "another organization" in a post-fight interview with Fedor.

The broadcast team was good the entire night, but were really trying to hard-sell late when they said it was one of the best MMA cards of all-time. However, I could do without Scott Ferrall and Chuck Zito, who added nothing to the telecast.

- Oscar De La Hoya was referred to during the HBO telecast of Mosley/Margarito, as Larry Merchant made a snide comment about how De La Hoya was paid a $5 million fee to appear for "a T-shirt company" doing a mixed martial arts event.

Merchant then added he would have to be paid that amount to go an MMA show, which got play-by-play man Jim Lampley to chuckle. Pathetic at best.

Josh Nason - josh [at] ropesringandcage [dot com] - has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com. Thank you for your support!