Affliction Banned 7/19 PPV Re-Cap

Affliction Banned PPV

Affliction is really throwing money at this PPV as they have Michael Buffer doing the ring announcing and Megadeth starting off the show playing on stage. The music isn't very good but they have the fighters walking through the stage towards the ring and lining up on the stage which is a cool visual.

Jay Glazer and Frank Trigg are the two announcers. As i've previously stated they could have really used a Mauro Ranallo, Mike Goldberg and/or Lon McEachern type guy to anchor the broadcast.

Welterweight Fight- Mike Pyle (16-5-1) vs. JJ Ambrose(9-1)

R1- Pyle gets a take down about a minute into the fight and quickly mounts. Ambrose gives up his back. Pyle is just getting dominated and Pyle taps him quickly. Definitely a mismatch here. Very Elite XC squash feel to this fight to start off the night. Pyle looked good but Ambrose was fighting outside of his talent level. Good fight to put Pyle over for the next show, not so much for Ambrose as he didn't even contend. Decent opener as I'm sure that they didn't want to start out with a fight like Goodridge/Buentello had or have a fight go the distance to begin the first PPV.

Winner: Mike Pyle by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 2:51

Light Heavyweight Fight- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (13-3) vs. Edwin Dewees (35-12)

Frank Trigg says that Dewees is over matched going into this fight. Not much of a way to make me want to see them fight. This Nogueira is the brother of the UFC Heavyweight Champ.

R1- Slow start with Dewees hitting some leg kicks and circling Nog. Nog finally gets a take down (more like Dewees fell into the ropes and Nog took advantage). Nog got some shots in but then let Dewees back up. Nog gets a Muy Thai clinch and gets some shots in and then starts leveling Dewees in the corner and lights him up and lands more shots on him on the ground and Herb Dean stops the fight. Another match that felt like a "showcase" for one fighter and not really a competitive fight. Nothing wrong with that as long as they follow up at some point by giving these guys better fights. The only thing is that Ambrose and Dewees kind of come off as jobbers by not putting up much of a fight.

Winner: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by TKO (strikes) R1 4:06

Middleweight Fight- Fabio Negao (8-3) vs. Matt Lindland (20-5)

R1- Linland pops him about 10 seconds in and Negao folds and then Lindland grabs a guillotine and Negao looks like he is going to tap. Negao finally gets out of the move after about a minute and a half. Lindland hit a double fist shot and then a head butt (which he got a warning for). With one minute left Negao finally gets back to his feet. Both guys looking tired at the end of the round. Lindland is throwing some weak shots at this point. Lindland dominated this round but then really gassed at the end of the round. Lindland 10-9 (almost a 10-8 but Negao actually got in a couple of shots in the last minute after Lindland ran out of breath). Negao didn't show much offense but he survived and Lindland seems to be running out of gas.

R2- Negao gets in some shots here in Round 2. Lindland manages to get a take down about 2 minutes into the round. Lindland controls the rest of the round on the ground but never looked like he was going to finish Negao. Right now i've got Lindland 20-18.

R3- Both guys look really tired in this round. If either guy was in there with a younger in shape fighter that they would probably get finished here pretty quickly. Really sloppy looking fighting in this round as both guys are just dead tired. It's like they are fighting in slow motion. Lindland gets a take down that take Negao out of the ring (they need to do a better job of making sure that the ring is set up to ensure that this doesn't happen).

Lindland looked like a world better in the first 2 minutes and after that this was a very hard fight to watch with two fighters that didn't seem to have the proper conditioning needed. Lindland is going to take this 30-27. Really hard fight to watch. Not really looking forward to seeing these two guys fight anytime soon.

Winner: Matt Lindland by Decision (Unanimous)

"Still one of the top middleweights in the world, your winner Matt Lindland"- Big John McCarthy

Nice job toeing the company line but that fight probably doesn't even get Lindland in the Top 50 Middleweights in the world right now. Maybe once he gets back in ring shape but if he was in there against anyone in the Top 20 he would have been defeated easily at the end of the first round when he started to gas or in the second round.

Light Heavyweight Fight- Renato "Babalu" Sobral (29-7) vs. Mike Whitehead (21-5)

Whitehead is fighting out of Extreme Couture. It seems like at least one fighter from each fight has trained at Extreme Couture so far.

R1- They stand up for the first 4 and a half minutes and it's pretty even but doesn't really hold my attention. Babalu gets a quick take down but Whitehead pops back up.

R2- Whitehead gets a take down with 2 minutes gone in the round but Babalu looked like he wanted to be in the guard. Another decent round that just really didn't catch my attention. Babalu grabs an arm submission but Whitehead again gets out of it.

R3- They have another take down in this round that goes outside of the ring. Affliction really needs to fix this issue as it could end in somebody getting hurt. A minute or so later this happens again and the fight is stopped for a minute. Babalu grabs a guillotine with 2 and a half minutes left but Whitehead escapes and is in Babalu's guard.

Undertaker is shown at ringside.Overall this just wasn't a very exciting fight. Babalu started to get the crowd into it late but overall it fell flat. I've got nothing against a fight being inside a ring instead of a cage but the ring ropes need to be fixed and be sturdier as they really halted a lot of momentum in this fight.

Judges score cards are: 30-27 on all score cards.

Winner: Renato "Babalu" Sobral by Decision (Unanimous)

Donald Trump is shown at ringside sitting next to Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson and in front of Steve Austin.

Four fights left. So far this has been a very lackluster PPV. The remaining four fights all have promise though so hopefully they will finish up strong.

Featherweight Fight- Mark Hominick (15-8) vs. Savant Young (9-7)

Homnick is working with Extreme Couture, shocking isn't it?

R1- I think the fact that they are using an over sized ring is actually discouraging action as it gives guys more room to move around and stay away from their opponent. Decent first round but still felt kind of flat to me.

R2- Young gets a take down with two minutes left in the round. Hominick tries to get a triangle but Young slams him. Hominick tries an arm bar and then switches back to try a triangle but can't seem to lock in anything like he wants to. Hominick finally gets his submission as Young taps to the arm bar.

This was a decent fight and probably the best on the show so far, which isn't saying much so far.

Winner: Mark Homnick by Submission (Arm Bar) 4:25

Megadeth plays another song. Fast Forward...

Heavyweight Fight- Josh Barnett (22-5) vs. Pedro Rizzo (16-7)

R1- Decent first round but kind of pedestrian. Seemed like more of a boxing match than a MMA fight.

R2- Out of nowhere Barnett just nails Rizzo and Rizzo falls back on his face knocked out. Nice finish by Barnett.

Winner: Josh Barnett by KO R2 1:44

Heavyweight Fight- Andrei Arlovski (12-5) vs. Ben Rothwell (29-5)

Arlovski gets a good reaction.

R1- Arlovski gets a take down with about 2 and a half minutes left and then attempts a heel hook but Rothwell gets out. Arlovski got some good shots in with about a minute left in the round. Arlvoski takes Round 1 10-9. Best round of the night so far one could argue.

R2- They mix it up pretty good at the beginning of the round and Arlovski goes to town on him but Rothwell hands on and then Arlovski takes him down. Arlovski went for the heel hook again and missed and Rothwell took Arlovski's guard. Rothwell's nose is busted open and he's bleeding all over Arlovski's chest. They stand the fight back up and Arlovski is all over Rothwell and Arlovski nails him with a knee. Great finish in this round by Arlovski to win the round. Arlovski is up 20-18

R3- They start off the round with clinching. Arlovski nails Rothwell with a big right hand and then a short combo and takes out Rothwell.

This was a good fight. Really the first fight on this show that I would classify as more than mediocre. Good showing by Arlovski as he sets himself up for a possible meeting with the winner of Fedor/Sylvia and/or Barnett.

Winner:Andrei Arlovski R3 1:13

Michael Buffer takes time to announce celebrities at ringside such as Michael Strahan, James Toney, Korn, Don Johnson, Bill Goldberg, Rob Schneider, Manny Ramirez (gets boos). While they introduce Donald Trump, Michael Madsen is standing right behind him but gets no love (I guess Buffer feels that Don Johnson is greater than Reservoir Dogs).

Megadeth plays again. Fast Forward...

Wamma Heavyweight Title Fight- Fedor Emelianenko (27-1) vs. Tim Sylvia (24-4)

Sylvia gets a round of boos when he is introduced. Fedor gets a decent round of applause.

R1- Fedor immediately hits Sylvia with about 8 quick punches and Sylvia goes down and then Fedor jumps on him and lands several shots and then Rear Naked Chokes him for the tap out victory. Just total decimation by Fedor. Great showing by Fedor as he definitely cemented his status as the top Heavyweight in the world and arguably the best fighter in the world.

Winner: Fedor Emelianenko by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1

Overall, a very lukewarm start for Affliction. They finished good with the Arlovski fight and the Fedor fight and Barnett put on a good showing but overall it was a very pedestrian night of fighting. It's tough to be too harsh on Affliction since this is their first PPV but I just didn't think this was a PPV quality event. The good news is that they have a lot of talent on the roster that they used like Fedor, Arlovski, Barnett, Babalu and Lil Nog. They definitely need to fix the ring so that fighters don't fall out of it. They also need to get a Play-By-Play Announcer because Jay Glazer just didn't do it for me. He would be decent as a third guy in the booth but he can't anchor the PPV. Trigg was decent enough and would probably be a lot better with someone better to play off of. It was kind of surreal the way they played the entire night around Randy Couture in that he was one of the first guys on the broadcast, his fighters fought all night long and then Fedor said that he would like to fight him during his post-match interview. They even bring Randy Couture to the middle of the ring and ask him he he wants to fight Fedor- to which he says he does.