Affliction: Paul Buentello vs Aleksander Emelianenko
Former UFC heavyweight Paul Buentello (22–10) is rumored to be fighting Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3), former PRIDE heavyweight and little brother of Aflliction headliner Fedor Emelianenko, according to MMAWeekly.
Buentello, who is an accomplished mixed martial artist, has recently been mixing it up with other non-UFC heavyweights over in Strikeforce. Since losing to then UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski (10-5) at UFC 55 in 15 seconds of round one due to knockout, Buentello has been an impressive 4-1.
In fact, he’s 10-2 since 2003.
“The Headhunter” has his work cut out for him however against Emelianenko. Aside from having dangerous hands, Emelianenko has a vast array of submission moves and like his brother, has a history of success in Combat Sambo.
Emelianenko is on a four-fight winning streak, having last stopped Silvao Santos at M-1 Challenge via TKO back in April.
Affliction — one of the most recognized and popular clothing brands out right now — made its bid to become the latest mixed martial arts promoter official earlier this month during an episode of “Inside MMA†on the HDNet network.
It’s been known for some time now that Affliction would throw its hat into the MMA ring. In fact, the UFC and Elite XC recently banned their fighters from wearing Affliction gear during events because of the looming competition.
And if the proposed inaugural pay-per-view (PPV) fight card slated for the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. on July 19 is any indication of things to come, then Affliction will indeed pose some stiff competition.
Here’s what we can expect thus far:
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia
Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo
Paul Buentello vs. Aleksander Emelianenko
Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao
Renato “Babalu†Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead
Ben Rothwell vs. TBA
That’s one hell of a star-studded line up … and there’s more than likely still more to come.
Stay tuned.
Written by admin on May 13th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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