UFC 92:Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Vs. Frank Mir/Griffin Vs. Evans/Rampage Vs. Silva III

hubmann, funny that we were just speculating about fedor's sambo loss and how he would deal with that. it sounds like, from what he says, that he's not too worked up about it. had he won, would they have cancelled the press tour, i wonder? either way, probably a good idea to keep the focus on training for andrei.


Sambo loss prompts Fedor Emelianenko to cancel U.S. press tour
by Dann Stupp
Nov 28, 2008

Following his recent loss at the 2008 World Sambo Championships -- his first in eight years -- Fedor Emelianenko has canceled a planned public-relations tour to the U.S.

Instead, the Russian fighter and current WAMMA heavyweight title-holder will use the time to prepare for his Jan. 24 "Affliction: Day of Reckoning" main-event fight with Andrei Arlovski.

Representatives from M-1 today alerted MMAjunkie.com and other media outlets of Emelianenko's decision.

The 32-year-old Emelianenko suffered the Sambo loss to Blagoy Ivanov earlier this month. Emelianenko, like his upcoming opponent Arlovski, is considered a stand-out in the sport, which is a modern martial art developed in Russia as a self-defense system. In fact, Emelianenko won the championships four times, twice as a heavyweight and twice in the open-weight division. He finished third in the open-weight division this year.

In competitions such as the world championships, points are awarded for throws and maneuvering, though striking is limited.

"My trainers, Vladimir Voronov and Alexander Michkov, met with me in Russia after the World Sambo Championships, and we decided that the Arlovski [fight] is too important to delay a comprehensive training camp in exchange for press-tour obligations on the other side of the world," Emelianenko stated. "Andrei Arlovski is a dangerous fighter and has looked in prime condition and at the top of his game in his last few fights. He is one of the top three heavyweights in the world. This is not a fighter I will defeat if I am taking shortcuts in training."

Emelianenko had been scheduled to make stops in New York City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles in December.

He admits his recent Sambo loss received a surprising amount of attention. Last week videos of the match popped up all over the Web.

"Sambo is my hobby, and I enjoy very much participating in these tournaments to honor my country and use Sambo as the best training format for MMA," Emelianenko stated. "But MMA is my job, and I certainly approach my preparation differently. I had a nice run of Sambo victories since 2000, but I have lost in a Sambo match before this match as well. I think a lot of MMA fans have never seen Sambo before, so I guess you can say I am happy that the recent loss has made some people pay attention to the sport and see the differences between Sambo and MMA."

Emelianenko last competed in July, when he defeated Tim Sylvia with a quick and efficient TKO. Prior to the fight, like now, Emelianenko was considered one of the sport's top fighters and perhaps the No. 1 heavyweight. However, the former PRIDE heavyweight champion was still relatively unknown to casual MMA fans in the U.S. since all but one of his previous fights had taken place overseas.

"I wish I could see the fans in America to announce the (Arlovski) fight, but I will not be able to attend the press tour as I did for the Tim Sylvia fight," Emelianenko stated. "I received an incredibly warm welcome the last time I was in the United States and was looking forward to reuniting with my fans. But I must begin to prepare for Arlovski early and under the stringent training regimen and conditions that I have grown accustom to for all of my most dangerous opponents. There are people in MMA who attempt to paint a different picture of who the top fighters in the world are today and I must be fully prepared and focused to defend the reputation and status of my achievements in the sport."

http://mmajunkie.com/news/13352/sambo-loss-prompts-fedor-emelianenko-to-cancel-u-s-press-tour.mma

that's funny...we were talking about it, so i had to watch pride final conflict 2003 today just to see the first rampage vs. silva match again. man, that was a great show! it's been a while since i watched it and i forgot how good yoshida vs. silva was too...ended up watching the whole show again, of course! haha

i like your assessments of the fights. well said. one thing you mentioned about rampage's well being was something i forgot about. i saw an interview with him today and he sounded good and looked good. he said he's been working with a nutritionist for the first time and maybe the change to the wolf's lair could have done him some good. i hope he's prepared well too. sounds like he's got his head on straight. let's hope that doesn't change by the time he's walking to the octagon because this one has all the makings of an entertaining third chapter!

also, the big nog submission on mir and the arlovski ko predictions i like very much!

saw this last week and forgot to post it in case anyone missed it. a good story, and one that crodustress may have found of interest had the gonzaga vs. cro cop match not scared her away from the sport.

a courageous deed by the croatian, here's to goran!

Nov-21-2008
Reljic to the Rescue – Rising UFC Star Saves Two in Croatia
By Thomas Gerbasi

While 18 UFC fighters were competing in the Octagon last Saturday night in Las Vegas, another of the organization’s warriors, Goran Reljic, was in a fight of his own back in his home country of Croatia - one to save two young people who had driven off the road and into the Adriatic Sea.

As reported by Croatian newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija, and here in the States by AOL’s MMA Fanhouse, the unbeaten middleweight was resting at his home in Zadar when he was awakened by the crash of a car into the water. Reljic ran outside to see what was happening, and upon seeing the car sinking, he ran into the water, broke the side window of the car and pulled both passengers from the vehicle.

Amazingly, he did this while still nursing an injury that forced him to withdraw from a UFC 90 bout in October against Thales Leites.

“Even suffering a severe lower back injury, and without any training and exercise in the past month and a half he risked everything, jumping under cold water and helping save lives,” Reljic’s manager, Zoran Saric, told UFC.com Thursday night. “When I spoke with him earlier today, he said “I wasn’t even thinking about my injury or about myself, I just dove into the water and started punching the window; there was only one thing on my mind, to save them.”

All parties involved in what could have been a tragedy are doing well, with no injuries reported by Reljic or the two passengers in the car. And when it was over, Reljic simply went back to his home. But witnesses at the scene weren’t so shy about this rescue, and their retelling of Reljic’s exploits has made headlines across Croatia.

And according to Saric, it isn’t the first time the 24-year old Reljic has performed such a heroic deed.

“Actually this is second time that I know Goran saved a life in the water,” he recalled. “Two years ago, he jumped into a wild storm near the cliffs in the Adriatic Sea, where a person was swimming and trying to get out the water, but the waves and current were so strong that they were pulling the person back in. I have no idea how Goran
managed to pull that person out of the sea, but he did it.”

Next week, Reljic will undergo an MRI on his back to determine when he can return to the gym and begin training for his next bout. And when he returns, the 185-pound division will undoubtedly be put on notice that nothing – fists, knees, storms, or sea – will hold him back.

“This situation just reminds me of his braveness and toughness,” said Saric. “Shortly after I introduced him to the UFC, I decided to move him to the US for proper training, and there is no doubt for me that he is going to make it as a fighter, even in the world’s best organization, the UFC. He is truly a warrior who never gives up.”

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=16002

the match that was supposed to happen anyway gets put together for affliction, in a roundabout way... go vitor!


BABALU BUMPED, LINDLAND VS. BELFORT IN JANUARY
Monday, December 01, 2008
by Ken Pishna (Reporting by Tom Hamlin)
MMAWeekly.com


Renato "Babalu" Sobral defeated Bobby Southworth recently to capture the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship. One unfortunate side effect for the new titleholder, however, is that he has been removed from a fight against No. 3 ranked middleweight Matt Lindland.

Affliction had planned to pair Babalu and Lindland against each other at the promotion's Jan. 24 event at The Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. It now appears that Babalu's recent effort at 205 pounds for Strikeforce may have necessitated the bout with Lindland to be at a catch weight in the 190 to 195-pound range.

Affliction vice president Tom Atencio told MMAWeekly.com on Monday that he made an "executive decision" not to do the catch weight fight. He instead decided to pit Lindland against Vitor Belfort in a true middleweight contest at 185 pounds.

Belfort has been on a three-fight winning streak, his most recent effort being at Affliction's debut outing in July. There he defeated fellow UFC veteran Terry Martin, knocking him out in the second round. It was an impressive debut for the Brazilian at 185 pounds.

His most recent effort also being on Affliction's debut card, Lindland saw his first action in more than a year, defeating Fabio Nascimento in a three-round unanimous decision. He recently made a run at politics in his home state of Oregon, but lost his bid. Lindland has now returned to training for his January fight with a new focus.

Belfort and Lindland were scheduled to fight each other on the "Day of Reckoning" card when it was originally planned for October in Las Vegas. The move to January saw their bout split apart before the recent decision to put it back together.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=7695&zoneid=13

Goodfella1111 wrote:

Wow, four pages of mma talk and no one is excited for the forrest vs evans fight??? I think its the best one on this months card. I love forrest but I think evans is hungry and quick. I think its gonna be a brutal fight that will end in a bloody knockout. I'm leaning towards rashard right now, but haven't made a final decision yet.

Also , I think mir has no chance!

it is a bit strange now that you mention it! should be a good, close match, goodfella. i think i'm going with forrest in this one by decision or tko, though. like you said, rashad is hungry, athletic and should be riding high on confidence after knocking out chuck liddell. forrest, on the other hand, has had a lot of time off once again. we'll have to see if rust is an issue, but i doubt it considering how hard he trains and how the sparring goes with forrest. tough one to call! i don't really enjoy watching rashad too much, so perhaps i am just going with forrest for that reason! haha

it is a shame that this one does seem to be getting lost somewhat in between the HW interim title match and the third match between rampage and wanderlei.

+1 on mir...go big nog!!!