Fedro vs Arlovski to headline next affliction MMA card

Affliction Entertainment will announce the rescheduled date for their next MMA event sometime in the next couple of weeks.  The main event at the January card will be WAMMA World Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko defending his belt against former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei “The Pit Bull” Arlovski.  While the promotion has been considering several dates, the most likely is January 24, 2009 with the venue to once again be the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA.

Fedor Emelianenko is considered by most MMA cognoscenti to be the best heavyweight in the world, if not the best “pound for pound” fighter on the planet.  He’s never really been beaten--the one loss on his resume came after he was severely cut by an illegal strike and unable to advance in a tournament early in his career.  Due to the format of the event (which stipulated there must be a winner) his opponent advanced to the next round and Fedor received a loss on something of a technicality.  He avenged that “loss” to Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in dominant fashion at a PRIDE event in Japan.

He became a worldwide superstar due to his dominant run in PRIDE, where he became the promotion’s heavyweight champion defeating opponents including UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira twice, Mirko Cro Cop, Heath Herring, Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman.  On Affliction’s debut MMA event he submitted longtime UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia in 36 seconds to become the inaugural WAMMA World Heavyweight Champion.

Andrei Arlovski, a native of Belarus, is known for his quick hands and trademark vampire fang mouthguard.  He’s a former UFC heavyweight champion who fell out of a favor with the Las Vegas based promotion after a series of “boring” fights.  After leaving the UFC he began honing his already impressive standup skill with legendary boxing trainer Freddy Roach and the results have been highly impressive.  At the Affliction: Banned event in July he defeated a tough challenge from granite jawed Ben Rothwell, displaying some wicked boxing skills as he unloaded combination after combination on his opponent en route to a TKO victory.  Most recently, he defeated a game but technically overmatched Roy “Big Country” Nelson on the undercard of the nationally televised October 4th EliteXC show.

This fight was originally slated to occur in October but had to be scrapped due to a hand injury suffered by Fedor in his victory over Sylvia.  With Fedor unavailable, Affliction booked a fight between Arlovski and Josh Barnett.  After entering into a promotional partnership with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions the date was pushed back to January which facilitated Fedor’s involvement.   It also brought about a venue change from Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center back to the Honda Center in Anaheim, which was the site of Affliction: Banned.  That move was applauded by many MMA observers as the venue is simply one of the best in the world for mixed martial arts.

Undercard fights have not been announced yet, but rumor has it that Affliction is trying to put together a matchup between DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix winner Gegard Mousasi and tough veteran Vitor Belfort.  A rematch between Josh Barnett and Fedor’s younger brother Aleksander Emelianenko may also be in the works.