Real Deal Belarusian?

So The Pit Bull wins and easy fight again. So what? Who has he ever beaten and now everyone talks aobut him like he’s the best ever. Even if he beats Mir which I think he will, so what? Mir is washed up and wasn’t all that great anyhow. There’s no way Arlovski could compete with Pride’s best heavyweights. You know I’m right! — Ted J., Philly

Ted, I’ve got two words for you: anger management. Anyhow, you’ve got some salient points somewhere in that e-mail of yours. Clearly, Arlovski is the closest thing to a top-five heavyweight the UFC has right now. Mir was on his way to being that before jumping on his motorcycle. When he returns, which my most accounts should happen in October, who knows what kind of shape he’ll be.

(By the way, I can’t believe his first fight back will be against Arlovski. The UFC amazes me. For all the good it does, it still makes me wonder who’s in charge of promoting fights over there. Get Mir a couple of wins — at least let him shed some ring rust. Build up the fight with Arlovski! I mean, if they were willing to give Justin Eilers a title shot, there’s an argument out there that justifies allowing Mir a tune-up or two. Right? Am I crazy here?)

Freeman, Matyushenko, Cabbage, Sylvia – they’re all serviceable heavyweights. But none of those guys are close to the level of heavyweight you can find in PRIDE. And questions surrounding just how good Arlovski is will go unanswered until he fight a Cro Cop, Nogueira or Fedor. It’s just a sad fact of where the UFC is today in terms of its heavyweight division.

Congrats Rich … Now Please Defend the Thing!

I’m so happy for Rich Franklin. He beat Evan Tanner once and he did it again, he really deserves to be champion. You were stupid for picking Tanner in that debate you did with Mike Sloan, why did you do that? Maybe you’re not that smart. Hahah. Anyhow, what do you think now? I say Rich will be champ for years, like Matt Hughes. And now that he’s on the UFC reality show, he’ll be a star too. Way to go Rich! — Taylor H., Terra Haute, Indiana

Yeah, yeah … that’s the last time I’m doing one of those Great Sherdog Debates. Congrats Sloan *Jerk*. I really thought Tanner had a good shot.

Rich looked so much better at 185 this time around than the last time I saw him at that weight. Add that to the fact Tanner fought and absolutely awful fight thanks to an awful game plan and that made Rich’s night relatively smooth. He recovered from an early knockdown and owned the fight from the second round on. It was a great performance.

Will he be the first middleweight champion since Murilo Bustamante to hold onto the belt? Yes. But it won’t be an easy road. Middleweight is by far the best division in the UFC and he’ll have to be “aces” (sorry) to hold onto the belt for an extended period of time. Is he the next Matt Hughes? Not sure anyone’s that dominant but with his stint on the reality show and his recent victories, Franklin is poised to become a star.

Can Horn Gore Liddell?

I love the Liddell/Horn rematch for UFC 54. But I’m a diehard fan and I’ve followed Horn, I don’t get what the UFC is doing. Why are they risking this fight after having to wait so long for Liddell to be champ? He could lose to Horn! And since Horn hasn’t been in the UFC in years, a win wouldn’t do that much for Chuck in the eyes of the fans. How do you see this fight going down and what do you think of the matchup? Thanks. — No Name Given

I have little faith in the UFC’s ability to promote a fight that isn’t fool proof. So we’ll see how they promote Horn-Liddell. At this point, Chuck might be able to promote a fight card on his own. I don’t think so, though.

As far as the fight, we have a long time to analyze it. But let me ask a few questions:

1) Who is the best light heavyweight Jeremy Horn has beaten?
2) Which man has accomplished more since Horn defeated Liddell in ’99?
3) What’s more important to this fight: Liddell’s improved submission acumen or Horn’s improved striking game?

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