I have to say after watching this second CBS Saturday Night Fights with EliteXC that I will be a lot more enthusiastic about these fight nights in the future.  There was no sign of the first events glaring problems.  No Gary Shaw.  No extended fighter introductions.  No cheer-leader booty shaking.  CBS really did a makeover this go-around and I, as an MMA fan, definately appreciate it.

The were some great fights to go along with the better production to.  In the lady's side we had Chris Cyborg take on Shayna Baszler.  Christian Cyborg is no joke.  She's so good she had two victory celebrations!  Gina Carrano might want to pick this time to move on to acting or modeling or whatever she wants to do.  MMA just got a little more dangerous with Chris Cyborg running around.  Besides her performance Saturday, who would want to fight someone names "Cyborg" anyways?

Nick Diaz was a dissapointment.  Not because of his performance, he demolished his opponent Thomas Denny, but in the way he carries himself and interacts.  His style out of the cage gives MMA a bad reputation.

 In the nights main event, Robbie Lawler fought Scott Smith for the second time in a championship bout.  The two fought in EliteXC's first event on CBS but the bout was stopped because of an incidental eye-poke and ruled a no-contest.  It was the best fight of the evening up to that point.

Their second fight started off much the same.  A slow moving begining to the first round followed by Lawler turning up the heat towards the end of the round.  Scott Smith came back strong in the second round bloodying Lawler with elbows to the head.  Lawler looked as he pressed Smith against the cage and delivered knees to the mid-section.  One brutal knee after another dropped Smith and Lawler pounced with ground and pound.  The fight was halted in the second round and Lawler retained his belt.

During the interview Smith said he was waiting for the ref to stop the fight to check Lawler's head.  Let this be a reminder to MMA fighters to stay busy at all times in the cage!  I think this fight could have gone longer and been much more entertaining if Smith would have actually kept fighting.

I did not write a post after UFC's free event on spike TV since I was to busy watching Fedor Emelianenko DEMOLISH Tim Sylvia on Affliction:Banned. So here are some quick thoughts on the UFC event.

Anderson Silva is amazing. He makes everything in the cage look easy. Anderson makes his opponents look like they are moving in water - SLOW. James Irvin should have tapped out at the weigh-ins and saved himself a headache.

The Spider made quick work of Irvin catching a leg kick and throwing a stiff right. It was the third punch he threw. Irvin crumpled into a fetal position and Silva pounced throwing some more rights until Yamasaki had seen enough. One minute into the fight, Silva wins by TKO.

After watching him fight at 205 against a game up-and-comer like Irvin it really makes you wonder how far this guy can go. I have not seen him have a fight in the UFC where he's taken any kind of significant damage. He's taken on the best the 185lb. division has to offer and tore through them. What can he do at 205?

Just one thing to say: Fedor!  Wow.  That was a great first event for former T-Shirt company Affliction.  The heavyweights lived up to the hype Saturday.  Plenty of slugging and plenty of knockouts.

Andrei Arlovski was involved in one of these slugfests against Ben Rothwell.  "The Pitbull" definately came ready for war against the highly acclaimed Rothwell and, I believe, had the fight of the night of any orginization Saturday.

Arlovski hammered away at Rothwell with great, brutal combinations and even flying knees mixed in there.  Rothwell had a few flurries thrown in of his own and showed a very strong chin.  At first it didn't seem Andrei would be able to finish him.  Rothwell took some big shots in the second round and still came strong.  Then Arlovski rocked him in the third round and the ref stepped in for the save.

Fedor Emelianenko proved all the critics wrong Saturday night with a violent win over Tim Sylvia.  Fedor needed only 36 seconds to submit Sylvia with a deep rear naked choke.  It seemed Sylvia was tapping one second after "The Last Emperor" had the choke sunk in.  It was Fedor's first win over a big name opponent in over three years and may have put him back in the top 10 pound-for-pound rank again.

I had doubts about watching MMA in a ring instead of cage but all in all it wasn't bad.  I enjoyed the event more than the UFC event and will look forward to the next Affliction event!

Its taken me a few weeks to get to writing this post but can you blame me?  I did not enjoy the card much.  The main event between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson Vs. Forrest Griffin was a really good fight but the scoring of the rounds makes me wonder about MMA's current points system.

Seriously, I hate to go this route with this blog but this fight, as great a fight as it was, makes it hard to focus on anything other than the scoring.  Lets look at the round-by-round scoring as found in MMAJunkie:

 Round 1

• Adalaide Byrd: 10-9, Griffin
• Nelson Hamilton: 10-9, Jackson
• Roy Silbert: 10-9, Griffin

Round 2

• Byrd: 10-8, Griffin
• Hamilton: 10-8, Griffin
• Silbert: 10-9, Griffin

Round 3

• Byrd: 10-9, Griffin
• Hamilton: 10-9, Griffin
• Silbert: 10-9, Griffin

Round 4

• Byrd: 10-9, Jackson
• Hamilton: 10-9, Jackson
• Silbert: 10-9, Jackson

Round 5

• Byrd: 10-9, Jackson
• Hamilton: 10-9, Griffin
• Silbert: 10-9, Griffin

Fight Results

• Byrd: 48-46, Griffin
• Hamilton: 48-46, Griffin
• Silbert: 49-46, Griffin

Check out round one's scoring!  Two judges gave this round to Griffin while most of the sane world gave it to Rampage!

Now let me take a step back here.  I love Rampage Jackson.  I also love Forrest Griffin.  His rise to the top of the 205lb. weight class is nothing short of phenominal when you consider how many talented fighters that division has.  When you see Griffin fight you see none of the knockout power Chuck Liddel has.  He doesn't have the burst of speed and ferociousness of Wanderlei Silva.  He is not as strong as Quinton Jackson.  He has become the Light Heavyweight Champ by outworking every single one of these people and for anyone to argue that he doesn't deserve the belt is a travesty.

And that is exactly what is wrong with the scoring of this fight.  There is so much argument about whether Forrest or Rampage should have gotten the decision and that is where all the attention is.

Do I think the fight was fixed?  No.  Were the judges possibly influenced by the crowd?  Absolutely.  The decision could have gone to Griffin with the fight scored properly and this would be a lot less of an issue.  It was the fastest 5 round fight I have seen.  A very entertaining fight spoiled by judging.

My take on the fight?  I believe, with round two being a 10-8 round for Griffin, that it was a draw.  However, I do like Forrest as champ.  It opens up the division for some really good fights and, if Liddel beats Evans, we could see Forrest Vs. Liddel.

Moral of the story: Finish your fights kids.