BREAKDOWN: AFFLICTION DAY OF RECKONING

By Mike Maniscalco | January 24, 2009

Don't miss all the action this Saturday, January 24th, when Affliction: "Day of Reckoning" takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA and live on Pay-Per-View. The loaded fight card includes 11 bouts of fierce, full-throttle action headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski. The six-fight PPV telecast begins at 9PM ET/6PM PT and features MMA stars Josh Barnett, Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Matt Lindland in separate bouts.

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski (WAMMA Heavyweight Championship)
WAMMA Heavyweight Champion and former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko defends his gold against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski in what looks to be the toughest challenge of late for the mighty Fedor. In his most recent fight, Arlovski defeated Roy Nelson back in October at EliteXC: Heat. It wasn't the most impressive victory for Arlovski, but he did manage to get a knockout win over Nelson. On the other hand, Fedor's last fight was a complete domination of the man who beat Arlovski twice, Tim "The Maniac" Sylvia. It took Fedor only 36 seconds to beat the former UFC Heavyweight Champion at Afflictions first event "Banned". Arlovski is not going to have two rounds to get it together like he had with Nelson. If Fedor sees a weakness in Arlovski in the first round, he will be all over him and will finish the fight in a heartbeat. Arlovski might be able to get that knockout punch on Fedor though as he's been working on his boxing skills with the legendary Freddie Roach. If Arlovski lands his punches, he could pull off this upset and become the first person to defeat Fedor since 2000. Fedor will probably look to get it to the ground and go for the submission. If Arlovski can get himself out of any bad positions on the ground, it will be a huge shock to Fedor and that's when Arlovski can capitalize and finish the fight.

Prediction:

Mike Maniscalco - Arlovski TKO2
Percy Crawford - Emelianenko SUB2
Ben Thompson - Emelianenko TKO1

Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel
The next contender for the winner of Arlovski vs. Fedor is expected to be the "Babyface Assasian" Josh Barnett and it looks like Affliction fed him a tune-up fight for this card in taking on PRIDE veteran Gilbert Yvel. At Affliction: Banned, Barnett avenged a previous loss by defeating UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo via knockout. Although Yvel may have had a lackluster record in PRIDE, he's been on a seven-fight win streak since 2006, last defeating Alexander Timonov at M-1 Challenge 9 and holding victories over Cheick Kongo, Gary Goodridge and Semmy Schillt. Even with all that going for him, the only way he is going to win this fight is if Barnett completely overlooks him as he sets his sites on Arlovski or Fedor. It's highly doubtful that will happen however as Barnett has been one of the most focused fighters in MMA over the years. Expect Barnett to cautiously scout out Yvel to start the first round before proceeding to throw a flurry of strikes, putting down Yvel and moving on to his WAMMA title shot.

Prediction:

Mike Maniscalco - Barnett TKO1
Percy Crawford - Barnett TKO2
Ben Thompson - Barnett SUB2

Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort
After losing his election for a seat in the Oregon House of Representitives, Matt Lindland now returns to battle as he faces off against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort. In his last fight, Lindland defeated realtively unknown fighter Fabio Negao. It took him three rounds and a judge's decision to do it. On the same card, Vitor Belfort took on and defeated somewhat estabished middleweight Terry Martin. Both fighter took on weaker oppenents in their last outing, which makes this one a little more difficult to call. It's going to be a "Striker vs. Grappler" match-up. Belfort needs to keep it standing and hope to catch Lindland with something that will hurt him. It could go either way, but Lindland's skills seem to be good enough to grind him out a decision victory.

Prediction:

Mike Maniscalco - Lindland by Unanimous Decision
Percy Crawford - Lindland by Unanimous Decision
Ben Thompson - Lindland by Unanimous Decision

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Renato Sobral
It didn't take Sokoudjou long to get some action after being dropped by the UFC. Now he finds himself in with the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Renato "Babalu" Sobral. In his last fight, Sokoudjou lost via TKO to light heavyweight up-and-comer Luiz Cane. Sobral, on the other hand, is coming off two big wins by defeating Mike Whitehead at Affliction: Banned and Bobby Southworth at Strikeforce: Destruction. Expect Babalu to try and get Sokoudjou to the ground early to avoid having to stand and risk eating a big bomb from the African Assasian. Sokoudjou will need to pace himself and take his time as he avoids the takedowns and looks for the openings he needs to pounce on Babalu like a rabid dog in hopes of getting his career back on track.

Prediction:

Mike Maniscalco - Sokoudjou TKO2
Percy Crawford - Sokoudjou TKO1
Ben Thompson - Sobral SUB3

Other Bouts: