O brasileiro José Aldo faturou nesta madruga o cinturão do WEC. Foto: reprodução sherdog.com

Quando José Aldo subiu no Octagon do WEC, na madrugada desta quinta-feira, o combate parecia ser entre dois brasileiros, José Aldo,  atleta da Nova União,  tinha em seu córner Pedro Rizzo e Dedé Pederneira. O americano Mike Brow defende a ATT (Americam Top Tem), equipe formada por brasileiros, e contava com  Conan Silveira, Ricardo Libório e Parrumpinha.

O primeiro round começou com Aldo bloqueando as quedas de Brow e  contra atacando com boas joelhadas e chutes, fazendo com que seu oponente se abrigasse no clinche e na luta de chão.

O segundo round foi dominado pelo brasileiro, após acertar bons golpes em Brow e levar   a luta para o chão, Aldo conseguiu a  montada e pegar as costas. Quando colocou os ganchos, desferiu vários socos em seu oponente, forçando o juiz a encerrar o combate e se tornando o novo campeão dos penas do WEC.

Tendo vencido suas últimas cinco lutas por nocaute, o brasileiro mostrou ao público  como seu Jiu-Jitsu é afiado e, por sua excelente apresentação, Aldo recebeu um bônus de US$ 10 Mil, pela “melhor luta da noite”

-Assista aqui a luta.

- Mike Brow vs Josá Aldo

Resultados completos: WEC 44
- Card principal:
 
José Aldo derrotou Mike Thomas Brown por nocaute técnico a 1min20s do R2;

Manny Gamburyan derrotou Leonard Garcia na decisão unânime dos juízes;

Karen Darabedyan derrotou Rob McCullough na decisão dividida dos juízes;

Shane Roller finalizou Danny Castillo com um mata-leão no R3;

Kamal Shalorus derrotou Will Kerr por nocaute técnico no R1;

- Lutas preliminares:

L.C. Davis derrotou Diego Nunes na decisão unânime dos juízes;

Cub Swanson finalizou John Franchi com uma guilhotina no R3;

Antonio Banuelos derrotou Kenji Osawa na decisão unânime dos juízes;

Ricardo Lamas derrotou James Krause na decisão unânime dos juízes;

Frank Gomez derrotou Seth Dikun na decisão unânime dos juízes.

Fonte: Mano a Mano

Postado por – Emerson Reis

1. Jeff Monson

Monson just lost at Bitetti Combat to Pedro Rizzo, but he had been super active and on a big winning streak. Monson, a former UFC fighter is a longtime journeyman who could decide to settle down somewhere. 8 months ago there was a lot fo talk about the UFC wanting to sign Mosnon and match him with Cheick Kongo, but that fell through and his current legal troubles may make him a liability for a big time organization. He could land with Strikeforce and work his way to a Fedor fight, but I would say Monson is Japan bound for a while.

2. Aleksander Emelianenko

Emelianenko stands in the shadows of his brother, but he is a solid fighter as well. He backed out of a upcoming fight citing a lack of communication with the promoter and is now a free agent. There are two problems with Aleks. One is that he is managed by the same Russians that manage his brother which make the UFC very unlikely. Second, no one knows the full extent of his medical problems. Speculation arose following being pulled from the first Affliction card. Aleks said it was due to not getting some medical papers there in time other speculated it was Hepatitis. Whatever the case may be those things could hinder him from making it to the big stage.

3. Pedro Rizzo

Rizzo rebounded from a tough loss to Gilbert Yvel with a decision win over Jeff Monson this past weekend. The former UFC fighter is a solid fighter who may have his best days behind him. Rizzo however proved against Monson that he can still be a top 25 fighter. Rizzo is most likely going to land with Strikeforce, but I would not be shocked to see UFC seek him to keep him away from Strikeforce.

4. Ricco Rodriguez

Ricco, a former UFC champ has been down for a while, but a recent win and a few upcoming fights could catapolt him back into the fray. I would not be shocked to see Ricco in a big organization by year’s end.

5. Seth Petruzelli

The former UFC fighter and TUF veteran is best known for KO’ing Kimbo Slice and essentially KO’ing EliteXC. A recent win may have moved him back to the UFC. An interview with MMAWeekly indicates that Joe Silva is trying to get Petruzelli a fight. Petruzelli vs. Kimbo at the TUF Finale anyone?

6. Andrei Arlovski

He is torn between professional boxing and MMA. A string of bad losses put him in bad shape. Strikeforce does not want him. UFC does not want him. It looks like it will be smaller shows for now for the “Pitbull”. A few wins could change that however.

7. Tim Sylvia

Tim Sylvia got embarassed by former boxer Roy Mercer. Before that Sylvia got beat by Fedor badly. He has looked bad and out of shape. He has said he want to be back in the UFC, but Dana White said that he can get back only if he goes on the Ultimate Fighter. Sylvia has an upcoming fight at Adrenaline’s event, which he needs to win to get back into consideration for the big time. Again, I dount he will land with Strikeforce or the UFC.

8. Fabio Maldonado

He just earned a win at Bitetti Combat. It helps that he is Anderson Silva’s sparring parner. I have long thought that Maldonado would end up in the UFC, but he did not look particullarly good in his win Saturday. He may need another win. Also, it would be likely that he would fight at 205 in the UFC. Also, I would not be shocked to see Strikeforce use him for a Challengers event.

9. Gilbert Yvel

I have heard nothing regarding his status following the demise of Affliction. I would assume he has 1 or 2 fights left on his Affliction contract which the UFC certainly would honor. Yvel has said before he wanted to go to the UFC. The question is not whether he is good enough to get a chance in the octagon or not, but it is whether or not he can behave himself inside the cage. He may be a bit of a liability, but I think he ends up in the UFC.

10. Paul Buentello

He is for sure not going to Strikeforce as they parted ways. He is UFC bound, but no confirmation yet. I don’t look for the AKA trained heavyweight to wear a title, but he is certainly better than many of the UFC heavyweights and could make for some exciting match-ups.

Two other guys that could make a move…

- Alistair Overeem - his manager does nto like Strikeforce’s partnership with M-1 and called them crooks. It is rumored that the Strikeforce champ wants to part ways. He may opt to go the K-1 rout and he is in an upcoming K-1 tourney. The UFC has also expressed intrest in the Dutch Heavyweight.

- Sergei Kharitnov – He has been inactive for a while. He may be locked up with DREAM, but that could mean he fights some with Strikforce.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/arona-outpoints-eastman-at-bitetti-combat-4-19656

MMA fans had been waiting for a long time to see Ricardo Arona return to the ring and fight again and finally we all got out wish. Standing opposite  of Marvin “The Beastman” Eastman, Arona fought a tough 3 round fight in which he was rocked, twisted his knee, and while shaking off the ring rust, earned the unanimous decision victory. The Pride veteran looks to be dedicated once again and hopefully will be in action soon again.

Jeff “The Snowman” Monson had his 7-fight win streak snapped when Pedro Rizzo earned a Unanimous decision victory over “The Snowman.” After dominating the first round, Rizzo coasted and played defense which irritated the crowd. Rizzo apologized after but nonetheless became the first fighter to defeat Monson twice and ended his 2 fight losing streak.

Darren

This Saturday in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Bitetti Combat Nordeste 4 will take place. The event will be headlined by a bout between Ricardo Arona and Marvin Eastman. I believe that Bitetti can have a large impact on MMA and in particular this Saturday’s event can have an impact. Several fighters will be watched closely by Strikeforce and UFC. I believe that several guys on this card could wind up in one of the world’s premire organizations should they win Saturday. I would say the UFC could sign him simply to keep him away from Strikeforce.

First, I believe that should Ricardo Arona beat Marvin Eastman we will see him quickly signed by either the UFC or Strikeforce. It would seem that Arona is a UFC lean, but I am not sure what interest the UFC has in him. Arona was at one time highly regarded, but he has taken much time off and is now returning. Arona’s last appearance was a KO loss to Sokoudjou in the final days of PRIDE. Arona has said before he wanted to fight for the UFC. It would make sense as well. All the best light heavyweight are there. Strikeforce may go hard after him and secure him as an opponent to Mousasi. This is a big fight for Arona.

Also, former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho will take on Ultimate Fighter alum Alex Schoenauer. Filho is loking to rebound from a tough 2008. He alread bounced back with a win in DREAM over Melvin Manheof. I am not sure of Filho’s contract status, but if he is no longer tied to DREAM he could end up getting a shot at the UFC or Strikeforce. I would say that he still has some contracual obligation to DREAM. This is a big fight for Filho…one he should win.

In the heavyweight division Pedro Rizzo will look to rebound from a loss to Gilbert Yvel against Jeff Monson. Monson has been closely looked at by the UFC and probably would have been brought back had it not been for his legal troubles. A win over Rizzo could bring Monson to the big time regardless of his legal situation.

Also pay attention to Glover Teixira. It was rumored about a year ago that he had signed with the UFC, but visa problems hindered him from fighting. Glover is known for being a training partner of Chuck Liddell at the Pit. I would say that if he wins and gets his visa problems fixed Glover could end up in the octagon soon.

One more fighter to watch is Fabio Maldonado. Maldonado is a training partner of Anderson Silva. He is probably being eyed by the UFC as well and could be with the promotion should he win Saturday.

Not a bad fight card at all, especially when you consider the fact that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was expected to compete in this event as well, but withdrew due to injury and was replaced by PRIDE and EliteXC veteran Murilo “Ninja” Rua.

Gilbert Yvel knocks out Pedro Rizzo in short order – Yahoo! Sports …

Gilbert Yvel knocks out Pedro Rizzo in short orderYahoo! Sports… knocking out Pedro Rizzo in 2:10 in the first round at Ultimate Chaos with a kick to the temple followed by several right hands. …and more »

MMA mania provides the most up-to-the-minute Ultimate Fighting Championship® news, event details and fight analysis. The blog also lets UFC fans discuss your thoughts and insights on the best MMA organization in the world.

MMA mania provides the most up-to-the-minute Ultimate Fighting Championship® news, event details and fight analysis. The blog also lets UFC fans discuss your thoughts and insights on the best MMA organization in the world.

MMA mania provides the most up-to-the-minute Ultimate Fighting Championship® news, event details and fight analysis. The blog also lets UFC fans discuss your thoughts and insights on the best MMA organization in the world.

MMA mania provides the most up-to-the-minute Ultimate Fighting Championship® news, event details and fight analysis. The blog also lets UFC fans discuss your thoughts and insights on the best MMA organization in the world.

Goddamn. Now that is some poor reffing. When you’re flat on your back, arms down and your lights are out, you shouldn’t take two more giant shots. That guy needs to get some training and quick, and here’s hoping Rizzo isn’t seriously hurt.

[Edit]: Updated video to one that hasn’t been shot down. Please lemme know if any video goes down and I’ll try and find a good link to replace it.

New MMAPlanet Heavyweight Rankings:

Others Considered: Justin McCully, Marcio Cruz

Below I posted my heavyweight rankings.  My other rankings will be posted today as well.  Certainly the rankings could change a litte bit following UFC 90.  I’d love to hear your debate and arguments as these rankings are somewhat subjective.

Here’s a pride video I hadn’t seen before. It’s Pedro Rizzo against Roman Zenzov. I have a lot of respect for Rizzo – he’s a natural striker with great timing and counterpunches, like Chuck Liddell – but Zenzov had his number in this fight. A brutal knockout. A bit like Rashad Evans beating Chuck at his own game.

Funny to see Fedor looking happier than when he wins his own fights. I’ve never seen him show so much emotion.

The next Affliction “Day of Reckoning” event is set to take place Saturday, October 11, 2008 at the Thomas and Mack Center Las Vegas, Nevada

Main event:

Heavyweight: Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski

185 lbs.: Matt Lindland  vs. Trevor Prangley
205 lbs.: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
205 lbs.: Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. TBA
265 lbs.: Roy Nelson vs. Paul Buentello
170 lbs.: Mike Pyle vs. Jason High
265 lbs.: Pedro Rizzo vs. Ben Rothwell
155 lbs.: Chris Horodecki  vs. Dan Lauzon

Don’t really think Arlovski stands a chance against Barnett.  Stylistically, a bad match-up for for Andrei.  Good to see Babalu back in the mix!

One of the questions that I keep thinking about is whether or not Affliction in here to stay and whether or not they will compete with the UFC.  No one disagrees that UFC is the standard of MMA right now, but Affliction is making up ground quickly.  It has been a tell tale sign of a slight change that Affliction has signed so many guys lately including many of the stars from the now defunt IFL, which was bought by the parent company of the UFC, Zuffa.  Affliction has signed Champs Roy Nelson and Vladimir Matyushenko.  They have signed lightweight star Chris Horodecki and are rumored to have welterweight champ Jay Hieron.  Affliction is cleaning up the free agents and doing better in that regard than even the UFC as of late.  So, what is there to judge a promotion…

1. Fighter Talent – Fight promotions are fight promotions.  There are other factors that come into play, but primarily if a promotion does not have top level talent they will not stay relevant.

2. Show Quality -  While good fighters is essential, the promotion must put on a good show.  They must entertain fans.  This includes exciting fights, good commentators and a solid show production.  Promotions have to build shows people will come to or buy.

3.  Solid Managment -  Managment is important to a fight promotion, not just anyone can do it.  A promotion may suceed or fail based ont he business savvy of the fight promoter or president.  The PR, fighter pay, contracts, TV deals, etc. all come into play here.

With that said, let’s see how Affliction is doing…

1. Fighter Talent…

There is a lot of hype around Affliction’s fighter talent.  Here is who I can think of off hand that they have and will use on their cards

• Fedor Emelianenko
• Andrei Arlovski
• Josh Barnett
• Tim Sylvia
• Ben Rothwell
• Roy Nelson
• Pedro Rizzo
• Paul Buentello
• Aleksander Emelianenko
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Tito Ortiz
• Vladimir Matyushenko
• Renato “Babalu” Sobral
• Mike Whitehead
• Edwin DeWees
• Vernon White
• Vitor Belfort
• Matt Lindland
• Jay Hieron
• Mike Pyle
• J.J. Ambrose
• Chris Horodecki

I went to HDNet’s Rankings to see how many Affliction Fighters were ranked in the top 100 pound for pound or top in their divisons  here is the results.

(Pound for Pound Rank, Divison Rank)

Put this into perspective, out of the top 100 the promotions faires like this in pound for pound top 100 fighters…

• UFC -39
• Affliction – 13
• DREAM -12
• WEC – 10
• EliteXC – 10
• Strikeforce – 5
• World Victory Road – 3

The point is that Affliction’s talent is overrated. 

• They are right about the level of DREAM talent wise
• They are no where near the talent level of the UFC
• 10 of the Affliction guys that appeared on the rankings list have fought in the UFC before.  Some have been sucessful.  There are several former UFC champs (Sylvia, Barnett, Rizzo, Ortiz and Arlovski), however most of them did no better than fair in the UFC (see Matyushenko, Hieron, et. al)
• Most of the top Affliction guys are in the second half of their careers and are past their prime.  They still have fight left in them, don’t get me wrong, but not for the long haul
• What happens if two or three of those gusy get injured?  Affliction is hanging their hat on Fedor, Barnett, Arlovski and Ortiz.  They cannot keep putting everyone on every card, they will run out of match-ups.
• To their credit, they can put on good fights.  The talent isn’t bad.  Their guys can fight exciting fighter, but they have exciting fights at tough man competitions. They need to sign younger talent and more talent.

Show Quality…

• I cannot judge them solely on their sole show.  Affliction needs to improve their show quality as far as commentating, interviews and production is concerned
• Also, I thought with the exception of the last 3 fights the card wasn’t what it was billed to be
• They are nowhere near the UFC level as far as enjoyability to watch

Solid Managment:

• The UFC with Dana White and the Fertitas is still the managment standard.  I have problems with the UFC and Dana White’s managing style.  I don’t like his constant expletives, I don’t like the way he trashes other promotions, I don’t like the stubborness he exhibits with signing guys like Lindland and Barnett, and even Fedor.  However, Dana is crafty.  Atencio is no Dana White.  Watch his video below where he can’t remember Josh Barnett’s name and he is the main event for the second show. 
• Affliction does have the deep pocketed Donald Trump behind them which helps.  Trump is a business guiness, but he doesn’t neccessarily know MMA.  The money helps thought he same way it helped having Lorezon and Frank in the UFC early days when they lost tons of money.

Here is the point folks…Affliction is a solid upstart company.  They may be around for a while, but before we jump ont he bandwagon and label them peers to the UFC and competitors to the UFC let them get through a few shows first.  Let’s see how much money they lose after 3 events.  Let’s see how many fights they can do after 3 card.  They could compete, but as for now it is the UFC and then everyone else.  Zuffa is sitting pretty in the MMA world.  They are the big leagues, everything else is just the minors.  Affliction, EliteXC and DREAM are in the same boat and in a year from now at least one of them will be non-existent.

Here are the best non-UFC fighters.  This shows where the UFC is stacked and where they lack.  There competition is mainly in Affliction at heavyweight and DREAM at lightweight.  Here are the best non-UFC guys that the UFC should look to sign if possible. 

The pay of the fighters is the disclosed amount to the CSAC.  The fighters likely were paid more than that when you include other bonuses and sponsor’s pay. 

A few thoughts on the pay of the Affliction fighters…

·         The pay was very, very high in contrast to even UFC fighters.  For example, Matt Lindlad took home $100,000 more than Anderson Silva did for his fight on the same night. 

·         Fedor was grossly underpaid in comparison to other fighters.  I thought he was making more than $1 million for this fight.  Perhaps he is. 

·         Tim Sylvia is very overpaid

·         Some fighters by this scale were still overpaid

·         Some fighters by this scale were still underpaid.  I am shocked Nogueira only made $50,000, the same amount as Mike Whitehead. 

·         I don’t know what UFC fighters come away with, but the biggest competition Affliction will give the UFC is fighter pay

·         It will be hard for them to cover this financially.  God thing they have Trump. 

Tim Sylvia: $800,000

Andrei Arlovski: $750,000 (includes $250,000 win bonus)

Fedor Emelianenko: $300,000 (no win bonus)
Josh Barnett: $300,000 (no win bonus)

Matt Lindland: $300,000 (includes $75,000 win bonus)

Ben Rothell: $250,000

Vitor Belfort: $140,000 (includes $70,000 win bonus)

Renato “Babalu” Sobral: $90,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)

Paul Buentello: $80,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
Pedro Rizzo: $70,000

Mike Whitehead: $50,000

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: $50,000 (no win bonus)

Terry Martin: $30,000

Gary Goodridge: $25,000

Fabio Nascimento: $20,00O
Mike Pyle: $20,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)

Edwin Dewees: $15,000

Mark Hominick: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Savant Young: $7,000

Justin Levens: $6000
JJ Ambrose: $5,000

Ray Lizama: $3,000

Total Payout

A disclosed total of $3,332,100 was paid out to the fighters.

Live Gate:

Paid attendance: 11,242
Complimentary attendance: 3,590
Total attendance: 14,832

Gross receipt from ticket sales (live gate): $2,085,510

Let me share the negatives first:

• The fights went as expected.  Out of the 9 fights that I predicted I got 9 right.  There were not any upsets
• The announcers were sub par to say the least
• I did not like that fights were cancelled last second like the Aleksander Emelianenko fight, it seemed to show some disorder
• I thought the fights were slow paced, but the last 3 fights were good as was the Nogueira fight and the Belfort fight.

The Good:

• Fedor.  Let the debate begin as to who the number one pound for pound fighter is.  Only two names are in the discussion (Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko).  In my opinion, both guys helped plead their cases for that title last night.  Fedor crushed Silva.  I didn’t expect that bad of a beating.  I picked Fedor, but I thought it would last more than one minute.  Fedor beat Sylvia easier than he beat Hong Man Choi.  He punched him and dropped him.  He did what Randy could not do and that is finish the fight with Sylvia.  Fedor was the highlight of the show
• Josh Barnett looked great.  I know many people want to see Fedor vs. Couture next, and Randy was even brought into the ring to hype that fight, but Josh Barnett may be deserving of that fight.  The next card may feature Barnett vs. Arlovski and Couture vs. Fedor with the winners squaring off on the third card. 
• Arlovski looked imrpessive as well.  He looked better than he had previously in the last few fights in the UFC.  His boxing looked crisp and good.
• Vitor Belfort is back.  He looked great at 185.  I’d love to see Lindland vs. Belfort at 185.  Affliction has said they will likely use the winners of these fights on their next card, that fight is very possible.
• Congrats to Paul Buentello, Babalu, Matt Lindland, and Mike Pyle who also won as expected. 
• Apparently they sold out with over 13,000 people in attendance.  The crowd was loud at times.

If Affliction is going to use winners of this card to set up match ups for the next card the card could look like this:

• Fedor Emelianenko vs. Randy Couture
• Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski
• Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
• Tim Sylvia vs. Ben Rothwell
• Paul Buentello vs. Aleksander Emelianenko