Tito Ortiz

The "big announcement" at Affliction's press conference concerning Tito Ortiz was held today.  Although most assumed Ortiz would be siging a fight deal with Affliction, instead Ortiz will be siging on as a color commentator for the January 24th fight card, Affliction: Day of Reckoning.

Tito Ortiz is coming off back surgery and is expected to need about six more months to heal properly.  Ortiz is not ruling out a potential fight with Affliction.  Affliction plans on holding four events in 2009.

The headliner of Affliction: Day of Reckoning is a highly anticipated bout between Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski vs. Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko.  Both are coming off victories from their last bouts, Arlovski defeating Ben Rothwell, and Emelianenko defeating Tim Sylvia.

First off I want to say that Randy Couture is about as classy as a fighter can be.  Most who have seen him fight, lose and win would say the same.  So, regardless of how this post might come across, I am a huge Randy Couture fan.

With that said, I wish he would just finish his UFC contract already.  I mean, honestly, regardless of what his beef with Dana White or the UFC might be, the dude signed his name to a piece of paper and promised to fight for a certain amount of time and that is exactly what he should do.  Tito Ortiz finished it.  Why can't Randy?

Ok.  So the UFC screwed you with the some money stuff.  And let's not forget the Emeliananko fight that never transpired.  Those stipulations were not in your contract Randy!  You agreed to fight a certain amount of fights.  Period.  Stick to your word, keep your mouth shut in the meantime and finish it!

I can't wait to see Randy "The Natural" Couture take on Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko.  I have no doubt that the fight will live up to all the hype and that those two men will put on a MMA show for the ages.  But I feel like the whole thing is sullied a bit with Randy breaking his word with the organization that put MMA on the map.  Is the UFC perfect?  No way, no how.  But they do have a contract with Randy's sig on it.  That is all the courts will need.

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!