In a year during which the featherweight division has played a pivotal role, perhaps it is fitting that the division's hottest prospect will close out 2009 as its top-ranked competitor.
At WEC 44, Jose Aldo took his game to yet another level in his fourth fight of the year. The native of Manaus ... Read More
A month full of MMA is already stirring movement in Sherdog’s rankings. Check out the latest update as we move into the second half of a very busy November. ... Read More
After newly crowned middleweight champion Jake Shields admitted Saturday that he thinks he’s a stronger fighter at 170 pounds and might go back down there, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker didn’t bat an eyelash. ... Read More
(PRESS RELEASE) -- The stakes will be high when STRIKEFORCE closes out a spectacular 2009 with the return of one of the most prolific and exciting fighters in Mixed Martial Arts - unbeaten former STRIKEFORCE world middleweight champion Cung Le ... Read More
The expectations created by Fedor Emelianenko’s media profile make it impossible for him to perform in a way that pleases everyone: if he had crumbled Brett Rogers Saturday in a manner akin to Tim Sylvia -- women sobbing cageside, Medivacs hovering overhead -- fans would sigh and complain that Rogers never belonged in the ring with him.
In taking nearly seven minutes to finish Rogers off, gushing blood all the while, Emelianenko is instead viewed by a portion of the audience as a less-than-prime fighter. The paint, some would argue, is coming off the pedestal.
There is some truth in the idea that we don’t yet know how impressive it really was to beat Rogers: maybe he’s a devastating heavyweight who hasn’t had much of a chance to show off. (His lone win over a top-10 opponent, Andrei Arlovski, earned him this slot.) Maybe he’s a one-dimensional athlete who won’t go much further. ... Read More
Because Saturday’s network television broadcast of Strikeforce pre-empts “CSI: NY,” we have, in a sense, already won. But event producers may not be satisfied with paving over the career of Skeet Ulrich: what they really want is to snag an appreciable share of the coveted 18-49 male demo, that segment of the population most likely to enjoy repeated punches to the head and advertisements for beef jerky.
To attract them, CBS and Strikeforce are hoping the monosyllabic Russian Fedor Emelianenko will outgrow his cult popularity among tape collectors to become a mass-audience draw. On their side: he’s exciting, dangerous, and far less likely than Kimbo Slice to be knocked out by a man in a dress.
Working against them: he’s a bit flabby, and has never seen the inside of a tattoo shop.
Like Slice before him, Emelianenko appears to be gaining notoriety in the farm league known as YouTube. ... Read More
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