In looking back at the decade, I can’t think of another sport that grew so big quicker than MMA. In the United States, the UFC became a household name by the end of the decade. In Japan, MMA has dominated sports culture and shattered ratings records over the last ten years. While thousands have competed in MMA, only a handful have single handedly made an impact. Today I look back at the MMA Fighter of the Decade.

I can’t ever imagine another decade where MMA will experience the kind of growth that it experienced in the last ten years. The UFC came to pay-per-view here in the United States simply as a vehicle to promote Royce Gracie and Gracie BJJ. As we finish the decade, the “barbaric” events that created the UFC have morphed into a sport featuring Olympic and championship athletes from all over the world.

How do you come up with one MMA Fighter of the Decade? I based my decision on a variety of factors. The first factor would be success. It would be ridiculous to give this award to someone with a subpar record, no matter how big of a star he may be. Two, I look at the quality of opponents. There are some guys that step up and face the best, while there are others who do the best they can to avoid the competition. Third, I look at longevity. As impressive as Brock Lesnar is, he has had four fights in the UFC, and has only fought once in 2009. Four, I look at the impact of the fighter and how well they drew as an entertainer and box office attraction. Finally, I look at reputation and how the fighter is perceived in the world of MMA.

MMA Fighter of the Decade – Fedor Emelianenko

In doing the research for this blog, I put all of the obvious names on paper. The obvious names are Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn, Royce Gracie, and of course Fedor. The more research I did, the more Fedor just kept blowing these guys away in all of the criteria. By the time I was finished with my research, Fedor ran away with this award. Let’s break down all of the factors and see why Fedor Emelianenko is the MMA Fighter of the Decade.

1 – Success. Fedor has only lost one match in the entire decade. As a matter of a fact, the only loss Fedor suffered came at the end of the year 2000. He hasn’t lost a match in nine years. His overall record is 31-1-1. He fights an average of just under three fights a year, which is a lot in an era where most of the UFC champions fight 1-2 times a year. He has 24 fights that ended by either submission or knockout. There is no other fighter that even comes close to Fedor’s MMA record over the last decade.

2 – Quality of Opponents. Fedor is not a guy that won 31 fights over tomato cans. When Fedor finally made the jump from Rings to Pride, he fought top-level competition right off the bat. He has wins over four former UFC heavyweight champions. He has three wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (when he was considered arguably the best fighter in the world), as well as wins over Semmy Schilt, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Ricardo Arona, Mirko Cro Cop (when he was considered unbeatable), Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Matt Lindland, and Mark Hunt just to name a few. He fought most of those guys in their primes. There is no other UFC or MMA fighter that has the same number of quality wins overt he course of ten years that Fedor has. Not even close.

3 – Longevity. Fedor has been fighting for the entire decade. There were some years where he fought five times in one year. UFC president Dana White has criticized Fedor for not fighting frequently over the last few years. However, he has fought the same or more times than almost all of the top UFC fighters have over the last few years. In Pride, he fought 3-5 times a year. Just think for a second about how impressive it is to fight five times in one year! Randy Couture only fought more than twice a year once in 2000 and he is regareded as an MMA legend. Chuck Liddell never fought more than three times in one year. Fedor was a machine for most of the decade.

4 – MMA Impact. This is the only category where Fedor loses to anyone and that would be Chuck Liddell. Fedor was a ratings machine during most of the decade in Japan and some international markets. In the United States, Fedor has been a huge disappointment on pay-per-view and television. He had modest success with Strikeforce depending upon how you judge his CBS ratings. The chances are pretty good that Fedor could walk into a local gas station and nobody would know who he is, whereas Chuck Liddell is a mainstream celebrity. If the criteria were even all of the way for Fedor and Chuck, than Chuck would win based on the impact he had in MMA. Unfortunately, Chuck’s record and his slide over the last few years preclude that from happening. At the same time, Fedor was a megastar in Japan but those days are behind him.

As you can tell, this was really an race between Fedor and Chuck Liddell. While other fighters like Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz have had huge impacts on MMA over the decade, their records completely discount them from consideration. Couture was 23-8 and only beat one high-quality opponent in Chuck Liddell. I think Randy’s stature in the MMA world is more hype than fact. Tito hasn’t beaten anyone in years, unless you count an inexperienced Forrest Griffin three years ago as a huge win. There is no denying that Fedor has eclipsed all of the MMA heavy hitters in terms of big opponents and big matches.

I also think it wouldn’t be fair to write an article about the best MMA fighter of the decade without mentioning BJ Penn. Penn won championships in two different weight classes in the UFC. Penn has been one of the most dominant fighters in his division over the decade. It is arguable that if not for Penn himself, he may have run the table and went undefeated over the decade. Penn’s implosions kept him from reaching his potential until the end of the decade. Unfortunately those implosions came during the two biggest fights in Penn’s career. My suspicion is that if Penn could have pulled off those wins over GSP and Matt Hughes, we may be talking about BJ Penn as the Fighter of the Decade.

I don’t think there will be another fighter to dominate a decade like Fedor did. BJ Penn has a shot over the next ten years, but he has to win a  few Super Fights to be considered. Sure, there will be guys like Brock Lesnar that may fight once or twice a year but I don’t know if he will ever have the consistent level of competition that Fedor had in Pride FC. I can’t ever envision  a fighter that fights and beats high-quality opponents five times a year the way Fedor did a few times over the last decade. Dana White can make fun of Fedor all day, but nobody in the UFC has ever accomplished what Fedor has been able to do in MMA over an entire decade.

Fedor Emelianenko is truly the MMA Fighter of the Decade.

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The MMA video game wars started to heat up over the last few days. The UFC unveiled its first video look at the new UFC Undisputed 2010 with a May release date. EA Sports countered with an online ceremony revealing new fighters for their MMA video game. If EA’s counter was any indication as to how this war will play out, they may as well tap out before it gets ugly.

I sat online for an hour Tuesday in EA Sports’ live online chat and watched them announce fighters like they were announcing a Pro Bowl roster. The news started off with Cung Le who is a great fighter, but no surprise. The chat continued as producers would reveal a fighter with an intro video. By the end of the ceremony, I probably had less interest in playing this game than I ever had. Try and contain yourself as here are the additional roster names as revealed Tuesday by EA Sports;

Cung Le
Nick Thompson
Robbie Lawler
Scott Smith
Matt Lindland
Gilbert Melendez
Ronaldo Souza

Man, I can’t wait to recreate that Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith Elite XC series! These names join the already confirmed roster on EA’s website of;

Brett Rogers
Jake Shields
Frank Shamrock
Fedor Emelianenko
Randy Couture
Jason Miller
Renato Sobral
Gegard Mousasi
King Mo
Jay Hieron

As a longtime EA Sports fan, I was really looking forward to this game. However, if yesterday is any indication as to how this war is going to play out I think EA is in way over their heads here. I have no doubt that EA can produce a better game in the end. Yet, it looks like they will have an incredibly hard time marketing their game of subpar fighters against a UFC game that will feature Brock Lesnar, BJ Penn, Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Tito Ortiz, Forrest Griffin, Rampage Jackson, and Chuck Liddell to just name a few.

Additionally, there are unconfirmed reports that the EA MMA video game will not be released until mid-late September 2010. THQ and the UFC have a firm date of May 25, 2010 as a release date for UFC Undisputed 2010. It appeared that EA had been working longer on their game with a May release in mind. EA will now already be at a huge disadvantage by releasing their game four months later. On top of that, EA will be releasing Madden, NHL 11, NBA Live, and possibly Fight Night 5 all around the same time. EA’s biggest competitor here could very well be EA Sports themselves.

I think the next time EA promotes a big fight announcement day they should announce someone other than Elite XC and Strikeforce fighters. There are still fighters out there that could excite MMA fans. Dan Henderson is likely tied up to UFC Undisputed 2010 so I don’t expect him here. However, there are plenty of MMA legends like Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, and Dan Severn that UFC Undisputed gamers were clamoring for. Even though most casual MMA fans aren’t familiar with DREAM fighters, EA could have put together a nice video package and introduced some of their Japanese fighters into the game. I just expected a heck of a lot more than the obvious names. Hell, Josh Barnett would have been a nice surprise at this point.

At this point it really just comes down to whether you want to play a Strikeforce MMA video game or a UFC video game. UFC Undisputed gamers wasted no time posting formulas to create Randy and Fedor for the last game. I wouldn’t be shocked if gamers find it almost too easy to create realistic versions of each fighter in the next game. Other than Randy and Fedor, there are no appealing fighters in the EA MMA game that would prompt me to choose it over UFC Undisputed at this point.

There is a reason nobody ran out to create a UFL game to compete with Madden. EA is about to learn that the hard way unless something changes quickly.

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It didn’t take long for Dana White to open his mouth. The blood isn’t even dry on the nose of Fedor Emelianenko, yet the UFC President has wasted no time blasting the one that got away. White still can’t get over the fact that Fedor said “no” to the kingpin. To the surprise of nobody, Dana White was not impressed with the Last Emperor’s knockout.

“The guy just got his face smashed in by Brett Rogers. Do you know what Brock or [UFC heavyweights] Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez would do to Brett Rogers?” White said. “It’s time to bring this guy [Fedor] in, to see Brock Lesnar smash his head,” said Dana White to the LA Times. Ah Dana, you are as predictable as the time of day.

I knew immediately following the fight that Dana White would take shots at Fedor for the fight. While I am not saying that Fedor would beat Brock Lesnar, I think Dana should think twice before comparing Fedor’s fight with Brett Rogers to Brock Lesnar. What Dana White failed to mention in his interview was that Brock Lesnar needed two rounds to beat a 45-year old fighter, couldn’t finish perennial journeyman fighter Heath Herring, and lost in the first round to Frank Mir! So if Dana is going to start jumping to conclusions about Fedor’s inability to put Rogers away early, he should think twice before comparing Fedor to Brock Lesnar.

As a fight fan, I do agree that going to Strikeforce over UFC was not a very brave move from Fedor. Whether it is competition or finances, Fed0r would have had the best of both worlds in UFC. There is nobody in Strikeforce now or on the horizon that is going to give Fedor any kind of a challenge. Don’t make me laugh with Fabrico Werdum, Alistair Overeem, or a rematch with Brett Rogers. Obviously the competition is in UFC and Fedor is fooling nobody by opting for a three-fight Strikeforce contract over the number one MMA promotion in the world.

At the same time, it is impossible to deduct how one fighter would do against another by simply looking at competition. Anderson Silva went five rounds with Thales Leites, yet nobody questioned Silva’s abilities following the fight. It also wasn’t as if Fedor couldn’t put Brett Rogers away. In one breath Dana White will tell you what a fraud Fedor is, yet in the other he will tell you he has a $30 million contract on the table for Fedor. If Fedor was really that much of a fraud, why would Dana White and the UFC be willing to be a fraud $30 million? Of course we know the answer to that, and so does Dana White.

The Brock-Fedor talk will never die and at some point I really do believe that the fight is going to happen. Fedor is a complete free agent in two more fights and could just as easily make a deal to come to the UFC at the end of next year as he could not. As big as Brock Lesnar is, I don’t think it is an automatic with all things being even that Lesnar beats Fedor. Fedor has 33 fights under his belt as compared to Brock Lesnar’s five fight career. Fedor has fought fighters of all sizes and has always come out on top. I don’t think it is as much of a given as people think that Brock Lesnar would win that fight.

However, it is time for Dana White to keep his mouth shut about Fedor. I am tired about hearing what a fraud Fedor is and what a farce Strikeforce is. We get it, the UFC is better but at the same time MMA fans are going to tune into Strikeforce to see one of the world’s greatest fighters. Fedor had a game plan Saturday and stuck with it. I don’t think there is anything to criticize him about. Unless Dana White is going to get the deal done, it is time to let it go and focus on who he does have in the UFC.

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Welcome to my new, weekly article for the Camel-Clutch Blog. Every week, I’ll fill this article full of all of the big mixed-martial arts news, rumors, upcoming cards, results and predictions. MMA is a passion of mine and has passed professional wrestling years ago as something that I follow 24/7. Enjoy “The Full Mount,” second edition; or as you will see, should maybe be known as the Strikeforce edition.

The Shot Heard Round the World

The big news of the week is undoubtedly the sickening knockout that Fedor Emelianenko delivered to Brett Rogers during Saturday night’s Strikeforce special on CBS. Fedor’s debut with an American organization ended up being exactly what expected. Casual MMA fans have always heard about the guy who had been called the best pound-for-pound mixed-martial artist in the world. That guy has earned the reputation as being able to take a beating and still win a fight in devastating fashion. That was last night’s tale; word-for-word.

Brett Rogers impressed a lot of people in this fight, myself included. We all knew that Rogers had heavy hands and a history of knocking out his opponents. In fact, he’s knocked his opponents out in nine of his ten matches. Brett Rogers had Fedor on the ropes in round 1. His very first jab of the fight broke Fedor’s nose. He also caught Fedor with a flush right hook midway through the round. Rogers even had a dominant ground-and-pound position on Fedor. Rogers won round 1. For whatever reason, Rogers came out looking much different in round 2. He looked hesitant. He backed away from his game plan. As Fedor mentioned in his post-fight interview, Rogers stopped pressing forward. Instead, he started taking baby-steps and lowered his hands. You can make that mistake against Andrei Arlovski, but not against the best fighter in the world. Fedor lunged forward with w highlight-reel straight right hand that caught Rogers on the button. This was a punch that produced a sickening thud. It was a shot that made you know that the fight would be over. If you weren’t a believer of Fedor before, you are now.

Taking a Slice out of the Ratings

Saturdays Strikeforce averaged 3.79 million viewers. This included a very impressive 1.7/6 rating share among the 18-49 demographic. The 1.7/6 share is triple the average number for CBS during that weekly time. Both numbers are below both of Kimbo Slice’s EliteXC on CBS battles. This cannot be viewed as a positive for Strikeforce when the best fighter on the planet can’t out-rate a YouTube street fighting legend. Why could this be?

Well, for one, a show on free, national television should naturally attract more casual MMA fans. That’s the whole reason for the CBS/MMA experiment. In order for Strikeforce to achieve the popularity and success of the UFC, they’re going to need to lure in casual and new MMA fans. These types of fans may just not know who Fedor Emelianenko or Brett Rogers are. Kimbo Slice gained fame on the internet. Many people who were not into MMA probably caught sight of a Kimbo Slice street fight or two at one point. It makes me wonder aloud if the addition of Gina Carano to this card would have pushed it above in the ratings race. My money says that, prior to Fedor’s knockout of Rogers, Carano would have been a bigger draw amongst the exact type of fans that they were targeting.

What’s Next for Strikeforce?

A Fedor Emelianenko/Fabricio Werdum fight is in the works. Also, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated that within the next 7-10 days, they will sign two top free-agent heavyweights. Andrei Arlovski and Bobby Lashley, anyone?
Strikeforce Fedor vs Rogers Review

In my predictions last week, I chose the winners of the four main bouts to be Fedor Emelianenko, Jake Shields, Gegard Mousasi, and Antonio Silva. I went an impressive 3-1 with these picks. My lone incorrect choice was Antonio Silva, who lost via decision to Fabricio Werdum. Of course, I believe that Silva won this match 29-28. The three judges that count, however, disagreed.

Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin Postponed Again

The Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin matchup originally scheduled for UFC 106 but postponed for UFC 108 is now postponed once again. This time, however, no new date has been announced. Lesnar has been stricken with mononucleosis and is unable to train at all. It is unknown at this time how long he will be on the sidelines. My guess is that this fight ends up at UFC 109 in February, 2009. This leaves the UFC year-end card now without a main event. The original card called for Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort to battle it out for the Middleweight title, but that match has been postponed as well due to Silva’s behind-schedule rehab from elbow surgery. Historically, the end of the year show has always been UFC’s biggest. As of now, Cain Velasquez/Big Nog and Rashad Evans/Thiago Silva will head this card. With injuries and A-Team movies throwing wrench after wrench into the UFC’s fight plans, who knows what they can put together to headline this card. I believe one such change could simply be to make the winner of the Velasquez-Nogueira match the interim Heavyweight Champion; thus, the winner of this match fighting the winner of Lesnar-Carwin.

UFC 105 Predictions

Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera
Prediction: Brandon Vera via TKO (Yes, you read that right.)

Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy
Prediction: Mike Swick via Decision

Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang
Prediction: Michael Bisping via TKO

James Wilks vs. Matt Brown
Prediction: James Wilks via Submission

Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley
Prediction: Ross Pearson via Decision

I hope you enjoyed the second edition of ‘The Full Mount”. If you have any questions that you would like answered in the next edition, please e-mail me at Brettley916@aol.com. Thanks.

Brett is 26 years old and from Millville, NJ. He has is a life-log fan of the Philadelphia sports teams as well as the Boston red Sox and Cincinnati Bengals. Brett is also a big fan of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. If you would like to comment on one of his stories, please e-mail him at Brettley916@aol.com

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Strikeforce and CBS will present Fedor Emelianenko to the country this Saturday night. Fedor will fight his first fight in a three-fight deal with Strikeforce. Fedor will fight relative unknown, Brett Rogers in what is being billed as the main-event. Rogers has the unenviable task of trying to survive against arguably the greatest MMA fighter of the 21st century.

To me, this fight is nothing but a huge farce. I think it is laughable that Strikeforce thinks any MMA fan with a brain would take Rogers as a serious threat to Fedor. Brett does boast an impressive record by the numbers, going 10-0 with nine knockouts. However, there is nothing impressive about the record once you take a look at Rogers’ opponents. Rogers’ biggest claim to fame was an awesome first-round knockout over former UFC champion, Andrei Arlovski. Other than the Arlovski fight, there isn’t much on Rogers’ record to get excited about.

Rogers has been turned into main-event fighter in Strikeforce by necessity. Dana White proclaimed the company, Strikefarce due to this kind of match-making. I agree with him. Arlovski hasn’t exactly been stellar the last couple of years. A knockout win over Arlovski is impressive for someone of Rogers’ inexperience, but that doesn’t make me believe he can hang with anyone like Fedor. This is truly a showcase fight for Fedor and nothing more in my opinion.

Something interesting to note about this fight is the betting line as of this writing. The line on the fight from BetUs.com is Fedor as a -550 favorite with Rogers as a +375 underdog. That is interesting to me, because Fedor was a -800 favorite against Marc Coleman two years ago. On paper, I would expect that Marc Coleman would have a better shot of beating Fedor in 2006 yet Rogers is getting a little more respect from Vegas. I am truly surprised that the betting line isn’t -1,000 or more for Fedor.

As for Fedor Emelianenko, the next three fights may be the biggest fights of his career. Fedor passed up a reported $30 million deal to sign with UFC for a three-fight Strikeforce deal. Anyone that follows MMA knows that Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar is the biggest money match not on the table right now. Until Fedor signs with the UFC, it isn’t going to happen. UFC president Dana White said that the offer to Fedor will still be available once his Strikeforce deal expires with one catch. White said he will pull the offer immediately if Fedor loses a fight. Theoretically, the financial future of Fedor and prosperity of a Brock Lesnar showdown starts this Saturday against Brett Rogers.

I don’t think there is a chance in the world that Fedor loses. Rogers does have incredible punching power, but he doesn’t have the ground game to hang with Fedor. To me, too much is being made of the shots Arlovski nailed Fedor with back in their January fight. Strikeforce likes to cite that moment to remind people that Fedor is beatable. The bottom line is that Fedor shook it off and put Arlovski on his butt for a knockout of his own and the win. Fedor is beatable, but Brett Rogers is not going to be the guy to beat Fedor.

If Rogers does the unthinkable, Fedor’s reputation in MMA will take a huge hit. He has been vastly criticized for passing up the UFC deal for Strikeforce. A lot of fighters and writers feel that Fedor went to Strikeforce to avoid the more competitive UFC. To bolster UFC’s argument, UFC offered Fedor an immediate world title match in his first bout. Strikeforce’s champion hasn’t defended the title in two years. One would assume looking on the outside that Fedor is definitely taking an easier road by signing with Strikeforce. If Brett Rogers happens to pull off the unthinkable, all of Fedor’s critics will be proven right in that Fedor’s skills have declined and he isn’t the fighter he used to be.

My prediction is a first-round knockout. I have watched a ton of Fedor fights and I just don’t see a flaw in his game. The only flaw I see would be his size and the obvious mismatch in size that he would have to overcome against Brock Lesnar. Rogers is taller and has about 30-40 pounds on Fedor, but he doesn’t have the ground game to bully Fedor around like Lesnar could do. I think Fedor is out to prove a point Saturday and keep his $30 million UFC offer safe. Fedor saw what happened when Arlovski let his guard down and he won’t make the same mistake. My prediction is Fedor in a first-round knockout, and the Fedor-Lesnar talk starts once again.

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Welcome to my new, weekly article for the Camel-Clutch Blog. Every week, I’ll fill this article full of all of the big mixed-martial arts news, rumors, upcoming cards, results and predictions. MMA is a passion of mine and has passed professional wrestling years ago as something that I follow 24/7. Enjoy “The Full Mount.”

All Mixed Up
If there’s one thing for the casual fan to learn very quickly about MMA, it’s that a card is never actually set in stone until the night of an event. The bad news began on Monday when it was announced that the UFC 106 match between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin had been postponed to UFC 108 on January 2010. Then came the news that Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson will now co-main event UFC 106 to fill the void. I love Kos and I love “Rumble” Johnson, but this is no co-main event.

Remember when Jon Fitch was scheduled to face Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106? That matchup idea seems like so long ago. After Almeida backed out of the fight due to injury, they made a match between Fitch and Thiago Alves for UFC 107. This week then brought us the news that Alves is now injured and cannot compete in that fight. Fitch will now face rising newcomer, Mike Pierce at UFC 107. Pierce is 9-1, with 6 consecutive victories including his upset over Brock Larson at UFC Fight Night 19.

Today brings us the news that the UFC 108 main event between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort has been postponed as well. Silva recently had elbow surgery and is going to need more time to rehab. With Lesnar/Carwin moving to UFC 108, that more than fills the void left by Silva/Belfort. UFC 108 is stacked!

It’s A Bad Time To Be Champ
How’d bad is it to be a champion in the UFC right now? Here’s how bad:

UFC Heavyweight Champ Brock Lesnar – Out until January with some type of flu
Lightweight Champ Lyoto Machida – Out until April or May after surgery on his hand
Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva – Out until February or March after elbow surgery
Welterweight Champ Georges St. Pierre – Out until March with a torn abductor muscle
Lightweight Champ BJ Penn – Healthy, for now…but will he be after his UFC 107 match with Diego Sanchez? If being a champ in the UFC has anything to say about it, my guess is, no.

“Houston, We Have a Problem”
That was the line that Kimbo Slice updated his Twitter with on Friday. It was just a few minutes after he updated the account with “I Accept.” What was Kimbo exactly referencing? Dana White had stated in a radio interview over a month ago that we would see Kimbo Slice on The Ultimate Fighter 10 finale. There have been rumors for weeks regarding who Kimbo would be facing at that event. The rumors seemed to center around three specific names; Roy Nelson, Seth Petruzelli, and Houston Alexander.

MMAJunkie.com is reporting that Houston Alexander will be the man to face Slice. Alexander has applied for a license to fight with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Since bursting onto the UFC scene with highlight reel knockouts against Alessio Sakara and Keith Jardine, Houston was the victim of three straight UFC losses. He has since won one match in another organization. This will be his first match back with the UFC.

Another major note is that this match with be at a catchweight of 215 lbs. Alexander has always fought at 205 and Slice’s most recent TUF match against Roy Nelson was at 230 lbs. It has been assumed that since Slice joined American Top Team, that he would move down to 205 lbs. Slice stands a much better chance against the likes of Liddell and Couture than against guys like Cain and Dos Santos. Heavyweights now know that Slice can be tossed around at will. And, according to Nelson, all you need to do is sit on Slice’s chest and softly tap his head 12 times in order to beat him. 205 lbs. is where Slice needs to end up and it seems that this 215 catchweight bout is American Top Team’s way of moving him towards that mark.

It’s way too early for a prediction. Don’t expect to see any arm bars and triangle chokes in this match. These guys will be swinging for the fences. One of these two guys is virtually guaranteed the Knockout of the Night Bonus. This is a match that Kimbo Slice can win just as much as it is a match that can earn Houston Alexander a new UFC contract.

Strikeforce: Fedor Emelianenko vs Brett Rogers Predictions
Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers takes place this coming Saturday, November 7 live on CBS. It will be the first nationally-televised on network TV event since Kimbo Slice got TKO’d by Seth Petruzelli. Fedor Emelianenko makes his much-anticipated Strikeforce debut. He will be fighting the undefeated Brett Rogers. Rogers is 10-0 with 9 knockouts. Rogers has never had a match last longer than a minute-thirty eight through the send round. His notable wins are over James Thompson and Andrei Arlovski. Fedor, however, is 30-1 with 1 no contest. His one loss was due to a doctor stoppage after an illegal, accidentally elbow from Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. He holds victories over Mark Coleman, Antonio Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, Tim Sylvia, Heath Herring and Andrei Arvlovski. Fedor is commonly called the top-ranked all-around fighter on the planet. I’m just not sold on that. I’ll take GSP and Anderson Silva over Fedor on that list any day of the week.

Here’s why I am not sold on Fedor. We all know that the most talented organization in the world is the UFC. Until Fedor fights in the UFC and beats some of the heavyweights there, he can’t possibly be the best heavyweight, better yet, the best all-around fighter in the world. Who has Fedor beaten that earns him any prize? In my opinion, his only victory worth noting is over Nogueira. His victories over Coleman, Cro Cop, Sylvia, Herring and Arvlovski came way after any of those fighters’ primes. Each of those guys were on the downside of their careers. He hasn’t beaten anyone that Brett Rogers couldn’t beat. This is exactly why Fedor has joined Strikeforce. Though it’s not the UFC, it’s better than where he’s been. A few victories in Strikeforce will at least give him credibility. Still, until Fedor steps inside of a UFC octagon and fights the likes of Lesnar, Carwin, Couture, Velasquez, Mir, Kongo, and Dos Santos, he simply will always have an asterisk next to his name. With that said…it’s prediction time.

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers

Prediction: Fedor Emelianenko via Submission

Middleweight Championship Bout: Jason Miller vs. Jake Shields (c)
Prediction: Jake Shields via Decision

Light-Heavyweight Non-Title Bout: Gegard Mousasi vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Prediction: Gegard Mousasi via Knockout

Antonio Silva vs. Fabricio Werdum
Prediction: Antonio Silva via TKO

I hope you enjoyed the first edition of ‘The Full Mount”. If you have any questions that you would like answered in the next edition, please e-mail me at Brettley916@aol.com. Thanks.

Brett is 26 years old and from Millville, NJ. He has is a life-log fan of the Philadelphia sports teams as well as the Boston red Sox and Cincinnati Bengals. Brett is also a big fan of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. If you would like to comment on one of his stories, please e-mail him at Brettley916@aol.com

New Items Marked Down! Shop the UFC Sale at the UFC Store.

Buy UFC tickets at clicking here.

Pre-order the EA Sports: MMA Video Game featuring Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko by clicking here.