Affliction's "Day Of Reckoning"
at the Honda Center, Saturday, January 24
By: Chuck Mindenhall
Last July, Fedor Emelianenko stepped into the ring against former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia at the inaugural Affliction card in Anaheim, and 36 seconds later the 6-foot-8 Sylvia was crawling around the canvass in defeat, like a man searching for his dentures. The confetti pouring over the scene made for a surreal moment in MMA history. That was only the second time Fedor’d fought on U.S. soil; the first was when he obliterated Mark Coleman in Vegas, the fight where the award-winning photo of Coleman crying with his young daughters and his eye swollen shut was taken. Fedor, 29-1 overall, is a beast in MMA, a wrecking ball from some cold corner of the globe where mainstream press dares not venture. He trudges through snow, sledgehammers a tractor tire and chops wood in pellucid Stary Oskol, Russia to stay in fighting shape. He lacks any kind of natural charisma, and that combined with the gulf between him and the UFC has made him more mythological than American’s like their icons. But when he returns to the “Day Of Reckoning” card in Anaheim to take on the lycanthropic boxer Andrei Arlovski (15-5), his star will surely rise in the West. Should he overwhelm Arlovski (and here thinks he will), there’s still local boy Josh Barnett on the horizon, and untouchable UFC properties like Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar around the bend. Fedor’s even-keeled demeanor would suggest that somebody need to merely set them up and he’ll gladly knock them down, one-by-one. That is, if whatever promotion he’s in at the time stirs up a good enough kitty to entice him. (Chuck Mindenhall)
“Day Of Reckoning” with Fedor Emelianenko versus Andrei Arlovski at the Honda Center, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, (714) 704-2500; Sat., Jan. 24, 4:30PM. Tickets available by calling (714) 740-2000 or www.ticketmaster.com; $50-$1,000
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