MMA Melee 7/30/08

1st things 1st, the greatest fighter in the world Fedor Emelianenko may have an opponent to try and wrest his new WAMMA Heavywieght Title in the form of Andrei Arlovski. This is definitely what Affliction wants to headline their 2nd event October 11. Arlovski was impressive in his victory over Ben Rothwell but Fedor was more impressive stopping Tim Sylvia in 33 seconds. Though Josh Barnett is ranked higher and had a KO of Pedro Rizzo at the same show, it looks like Andrei has leapfrogged over him for the title shot on popularity alone. The crowd popped huge for Arlovski and only cheered louder for Fedor so Affliction smells money. It may not be the best fight to put together for hardcore MMA fans who know Barnett deserves a shot, but the fledgling company does need to make money so you have 2 high profile warriors who hailed from very close to each other (Arlovski Belarus, Fedor Russia) ready to war over the WAMMA title.

Speaking of Affliction's October card, it seems Tito Ortiz is close to signing with the company where he is expected to debut at said show against Renato "Babalu" Sobral. Babalu said it was a "dream fight" for him and wants it badly. This could be a real interesting fight between to MMA stars.

James "Sandman" Irvin has tested positive for banned painkillers Methadone and Oxymorphone from his destruction at the hands of Anderson Silva. Irvin may not have felt pain in his fight with Silva but he wasn't conscious that long either. Congrats to the NSAC (Nevada State Athletic Commission) for catching another cheater, and for their new policy to try and test fighters year round to make sure fighters are clean! This is a great policy if they can get fighters and promotions to accept the new rules. Irvin has yet to respond to the charges.

Welterweight John Alessio has signed a 3-fight contract with Elite XC, while Fabricio Werdum who has been looking great recently, signed a 5-fight deal with the UFC. IFL Lightweight Champion Ryan Schultz has bolted from the imploding company to sign a deal with Sengoku and may try his luck against Takanori Gomi.

UFC 89 is loading up with talent as Keith Jardine, coming off a loss to Wanderlei Silva is set to fact Brandon Vera who won but looked sloppy against Reese Andy. The weight loss didn't serve Vera well so it will be interesting to see how he does at 205 again against a top fighter like Jardine who is hungry to win after being stopped so quickly in his previous bout.

Also on UFC 89, the undefeateds face each other as Lyoto Machida 13-0 will fight Thiago Silva. Lyoto trains with the Nogueira brothers and Anderson Silva over at Black House while Silva is another Chute Boxe fighter named Silva. Its like Smith over in Brazil I guess. The winner there definitely has a title shot coming at Light Heavyweight!

Mirko Cro Cop has accepted a challenge from Alistair Overeem to a fight but DREAM may have him face their most hated fighter in Yoshihiro Akiyama. Mirko said he would fight either man but to me Overeem, a successful Heavyweight (Strikeforce Champion) and similar kickboxing style would make more sense than Akiyama who is a Middleweight and DREAM just wants a villan (he's the guy who got caught oiling up against Sakuraba) for their most popular fighter.

Brazilian Top Team's tank Ricardo Arona has resurfaced after taking over a year off to be with his family and heal old wounds. He is currently mulling over contracts from almost all the MMA companies as he would be a huge addition to any ones Light Heavyweight roster. He had two great wars with Wanderlei Silva in Pride FC where both men won and has beaten greats like Sakuraba, Dean Lister, Dan Henderson, Jeremy Horn, Alistair Overeem and many more to a commanding resume.

Frank Shamrock is almost ready to return to action after suffering a broken arm at the hands of Cung Le who also took his Strikeforce belt, and has a short list of fights he wants including Robbie Lawler (who just defeated Scott Smith last week and has the Elite XC Middleweight Title) and stepbrother Ken Shamrock. Fighting Ken would sell tickets which seems to be Franks aim these days, but a fight with Lawler could show whether or not Frank can still hang with the top tier Middleweights in the world. Since Cung Le is out of action till 2009, my guess would be the easy fight with big brother to continue running his giant never silent mouth. If Frank is going to keep calling himself an "icon" and such he has to fight some top Middleweights and I'm not sure he could beat any of the Top 10 guys on my rankings.