Afflicted for how longer
When most people think of MMA they think of the UFC – and with good reason. There are 13 high-level MMA events currently scheduled though March and nine of them are UFC shows if you include WEC 38. The other organizations putting on shows are Adrenaline, Affliction, K-1, and Sengogku.
The best scheduled fight in most people’s minds would be “Fedor vs. Arlovski” who are set to fight at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning.” However, one has to wonder if the fight card may be postponed for a second time, or even canceled.
Golden Boy productions, which was supposedly a new partner of Affliction, has scheduled a welterweight superfight between Shane Mosley and Mexican sensation Antonio Margarito on January 24, the same date as Affliction’s pay-per-view card.
The Gold boy event could siphon much of the local interest in combat sports away from the Affliction card which could deliver a fatal blow to the new organization.
Two Dream matchups
With that being said, let’s look at the other two best scheduled fights not in the UFC. The first two fights are at K-1’s DYNAMITE!! 2008, which is scheduled to go down 4 days after UFC 92, on Dec 31. It has two of the best possible lightweight fights that an MMA fan could dream up.
The show will be a co-promotion between K-1 and DREAM, which are both owned by parent company FEG. The two LW fights are: Eddie Alvarez (No. 2 LW) vs. Shinya Aoki (No. 4 LW) and Joachim Hansen (No. 3 LW) vs. Gesias Cavalcante (No. 5 LW).
Never before has a fight card had four fighters, all ranked in the top five of their division, squaring off against each other. The UFC will come close at UFC 92, when four of the top ten light heavyweights will collide.
All four of these Dream lightweights are connected to some degree.
Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki were supposed to meet in the finals of Dream’s lightweight Tournament. Eddie Alvarez had gotten a decision win over Joachim Hansen in the quarterfinals and then went on record a TKO over Tatsuya Kawajiri in the semis.
However Eddie was injured in the semis and not allowed to continue. Joachim Hansen took his place and recorded a dramatic TKO victory over Shinya Aoki to claim DREAM’s lightweight title. Hansen’s win was even sweeter since it avenged a previous loss to Aoki two years prior in PRIDE.
In the other scheduled fight Joachim Hansen and Gesias Cavalcante faced each other back in 2004 at Shooto – Hansen won the fight by decision. If Gesias is able to avenge his loss to Hansen and Aoki were able to win, then those two would meet for a third time.
There first fight took place at DREAM 1 in the opening round of the LW tournament. It was ruled a no contest due to Cavalcante’s illegal elbows. They redid the fight at DREAM 2 and Aoki got the decision win.
To complete this circle, he advanced through the tournament to meet Joachim Hansen in the finals, who replaced by an injured Eddie Alvarez.
The winners, and possibly the losers, of these fights will likely meet each other in the spring on a DREAM fight card. None of the potential matchups would disappoint. From there, it will be interesting to see what competition emerges for these elite lightweights.
Honorable Mention
On January 4, 2009 two of MMA’s top unbeknown fighters will collide for Sengoku’s vacant middleweight title. While Kazuo Misaki vs. Jorge Santiago may not grab front page headlines it will be the most competitive MW fight outside the UFC since Dream’s MW GP Tournament. Both fighters are affiliated with Sengoku and Strikeforce.
Santiago recently won the Strikeforce Middleweight Tournament after defeating Sean Salmon and Trevor Prangley in the same night. He also became Sengoku’s first middleweight Grand Prix champion, by defeating Siyar Bahadurzada and Kazuhiro Nakamura in the same night. Despite that, he is the champion of neither. He is currently on an eight fight win streak.
Misaki isn’t riding an eight fight win streak but he has a much more decorated career. In the last seven years Kazuo has fought: Chris Lytle, Nate Marquardt (2), Ricardo Almeida, Jake Shields, Ed Herman, Dan Henderson (2), Phil Baroni, Paulo Filho, Dennis Kang, Frank Trigg, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Joe Riggs.
Look for both fighters to be back in action for Strikeforce – with the winner looking at a possible fight with Frank Trigg while the loser could fight Scott Smith. The last man standing should be in line to fight Cung Le whenever he takes a break from his movie career and/or Strikeforce requires him to defend his MW belt.
-While the UFC will dominate the MMA scene over the next couple of months keep an eye out for some of the other fights scheduled to take place. And don’t be shocked if Fedor vs. Arlovski gets postponed or never even goes down – at least not under Affliction’s banner.
