journal.wiredreflexes.com

I feel homeless. I’m not without a roof over my head, but I do feel a sincere lack of a sanctuary in my life. Every time I think I’ve got some place to rest something happens to show me what a laughable delusion that was.

This weekend saw the triumphant return of gaming, which went really very well, considering how long it’s been since we all gamed last. Participation was high, dialogue was good, and things are shaping up rather well. Then, when I finally got home, I had some time to devote to the ending of BioShock, which was much anticipated and has, over the last week or two, given me some alleviation from the worries of the daily grind. Sadly, I was a little dissatisfied with the ending, as it was too simple to defeat Fontaine, the last enemy that stands between you and freedom. Even though I had rescued all the Little Sisters that were available in the game, not nearly getting the amount of Adam you’re supposed to get when you harvest them, I was completely maxed out as I walked into the last level, and I gave Fontaine a beat-down that was bordering on felonious. The end of game cinematic was also a tad dissatisfying; simple, short, and not that great quality to begin with. Luckily, the game, its atmosphere, visuals and story, more than made up for the disappointing ending.

In other news, BJJ is going well, though with the dormancy of the last few months due to two different injuries (rib and shoulder), it’s quite a challenge getting my cardio back en par. The warm-up was brutal, and it made the rest of the class pretty difficult for me. I got submitted left right and center, and my only submission that evening came after the class, when one of the guys asked if anyone was still willing to roll one more time before the next class started. I was happy with that, but that extra bit of effort wasn’t something that my body was happy with. I was so exhausted that I threw up when I got to Eva’s. Well, it wasn’t so much an actual throw up, but more a dry-heave/cough combo. Still, it took me a while to stop shaking, and it’s probably going to take me a while before I can go through a training without wanting to cry afterwards. I’m such a pussy.

Speaking of crying; I’ve been incredibly emotional lately. Due to various relationship difficulties, frustrating miscommunication and misunderstandings, poor sleep, some pressure at work and little time to recover and rest, my defenses have been down, and things have been getting to me lately. I thought I was heading in the right direction regarding emotional control and handling emotional matters (loss, disappointment, grief, etc.), but it seems I still have some way to go before I am back to the level I had attained pre-2007. My parents are on my mind a lot, and like my brother and sister, I’m starting to understand only now, how much stress I have been under because of it. You don’t recognise it as such because you’re so busy taking care of things, you have a goal, you don’t have time to reflect. Or perhaps you don’t give yourself time to reflect because of the fear of what you’ll find. Regardless, I find myself fragile at times, weak at other times, belligerent, stubborn, abrasive, sad, hyper, quiet, personable, grumpy and pretty much every other emotion under the sun, lately. I’m a little unstable, I suppose, but only if you’re really close to me will you see that. So to those that are, bear with me, because I am getting better, I can feel it, and I am grateful for the patience, love and support. A true friend stands the test of time.

With the rare exception of food poisoning, I’ve been blessed with a very sturdy and resilient stomach. For some reason, however, for the last week or so, I’ve been hit with bouts of nausea, usually after I drink some tea. (Before anyone asks; I’m eating properly. The tea isn’t very strong, nor very sweet. There seems to be little else wrong with me, physically.) I’d be down like a clown if this could pass.

.: Affliction
It all started with two rivaling t-shirt companies vying for expensive real estate on the trunks of professional MMA fighters starring in the shows of the largest and most powerful MMA promotor in the world; the UFC. One struck an exclusive deal with the promotion, and the other, who had always enjoyed good relations with the promotion, found itself banned from the shows. The fighters couldn’t wear the t-shirts or mention its name. That other t-shirt company was Affliction, well known for their dark, menacing, Gothic fonted t-shirts, adorned with skulls and other assorted bad-assery. Affliction had always been a brand that liked to be associated with MMA, where clearly the owners and stake-holders were both practitioners as well as fans of the sport. Suddenly, they found their ability to reach their target audience diminished significantly, and their fighters were unable to generate the revenue that they needed to keep themselves in the fight game, and quickly went looking for other sponsors. So what did they do? They started their own MMA promotion. .: Banned
On July 19th, 2008, Affliction Entertainment organised its first event called Banned. Their card was pretty solid as far as their first time went, and obviously they sank a lot of money into creating a viable promotion that would, hopefully, be a good competitor against the dominance of the UFC. Their card included Pride FC heavy weight champion, Fedor Emelianenko, the undefeated Russian phenom, take on Tim Sylvia, the 6’8″ former UFC heavy weight champion. There were other notables on the card, Josh Barnett, Pedro Rizzo, Andrei Arlovski, Vitor Belfort and some IFL standouts, but what everyone came to see was Fedor. Nobody has quite the attraction that he does. With his docile and at times slightly goofy appearance, it’s easy to forget what a tremendous athlete he has shown himself to be; both durable and powerful, with a great submission game, fantastic standup game, and an absolutely sick ground and pound game. Fedor was the main attraction, but there was one problem; Fedor wasn’t very well known among the casual fans of MMA. Tim Sylvia on the other hand was well known in the United States. The hardcore fans, however, knew Fedor well, and the bookies quickly picked up on that and it wasn’t long before Sylvia was the clear underdog in the fight. Several appearances together on ESPN and Inside MMA, and hey presto, there was a marketable fighter. At one point, I realised their marketing blitzkrieg had worked very well, because as Fedor made his entrance, a camera cut to a woman in the crowd wearing a home-made, cardboard sign reading; “You are Fedorable.” Ugh. The much feared Tim Sylvia lasted 36 seconds before being hit in the face, being tossed to the ground like a rag doll, and choked out by Fedor. And a star was born. The American audiences that weren’t familiar with the Russian were now intimately familiar as they saw him absolutely annihilate one of their coveted heavy weights. Fedor was crowned the first heavy weight champion of the world under the new World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA), a promotion-independent sanctioning body (which the biggest promotion, the UFC, doesn’t recognise), and it was time to look towards show number two. Before I talk about show number two, let me quickly explain something; the compensation a MMA fighter gets is absolutely peanuts compared to what boxers get. Boxing, even though it is in rapid decline, will generally dish out upward of several million dollars for a top ten fighter, while MMA rarely sees a fighter make more than $150k for a fight. The fighters that have made millions by fighting can be counted on one hand, and most of that money came from sponsorship and other, related activities. The Banned show had a total disclosed payroll (not counting signing bonuses and other extras) of $3.3 million, the majority of which was spent on paying Fedor and Sylvia. Affliction wanted to put on a tremendous show, while also improving overall pay for the fighters, and they started right from the get-go. Normally this is a great idea, but many were afraid that if the promotion would rake up big debts in its opening stanza that it wouldn’t survive for their encore. Last year saw the bankruptcy of the IFL as well as EliteXC, the last of which was bought for pennies on the dollar due to its outstanding 40 million dollar debt. So people thought prudence was best. They pointed at the much lauded Strikeforce promotion, that was big enough to draw attention, but maintained a budget that saw them thrive rather than blow up. Their reasoning was that in order to challenge the UFC you need not raise the wages a tremendous amount, just enough to peek the interest. The bidding war would start when the promotion was more settled and more grounded. .: Day of Reckoning
Affliction’s second event, Day of Reckoning was scheduled soon after, but had to be rescheduled when the UFC counter-scheduled a big event on the same day – something they had done with Banned, and something Affliction would rather not see happening again. On top of that, Fedor had broken his hand during the bout with Sylvia, and would not be extended a fighter’s license from the athletic commission, and Affliction would rather not see a card without Fedor on it, so they postponed to January 24th, 2009. In the meantime some fighters fought in smaller promotions – Another thing that Affliction did differently than the UFC; no exclusive contracts. A fighter could fight for whoever they wanted. – Renato “Babalu” Sobral picked up the light heavy weight belt in Strikeforce, and Andrei Arlovski fought IFL standout Roy “Big Country” Nelson (after having defeated IFL’s Ben Rothwel at Banned), and the word of their involvement with Day of Reckoning got out. And then the card was released; Fedor Emelianenko (Russia) vs Andrei Arlovski (Belarus)
Josh Barnett (US) vs Gilbert Yvel (NL)
Renato “Babalu” Sobral (Brazil) vs Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Camaroon)
Matt “The Law” Lindland (US) vs Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort (Brazil)
Paul Buentello (US) vs Kirill Sidelnikov (Russia) This would be the main card, with a host of interesting undercard action, seeing the likes of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (not to be confused with his brother Minotauro), Vladimir Matyushenko, Jay Hieron and Chris Horodecki. .: The Main Event
Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski vs Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko, by Dennis “Obligatory Nickname” Steinmeijer. Seeing as how nobody has ever found a hole in Fedor’s defense, he seems to be unstoppable, but how many people weren’t defeated simply by his reputation and status alone? How many fighters had already lost before any punches or kicks had been thrown? Many people think that Fedor is not unbeatable, and Andrei Arlovski is one of them. Andrei Arlovski – The Challenger
Andrei Arlovski, once the heavy weight champion of the UFC (much like Tim Sylvia, Fedor’s previous opponent), has a record of 14-5-0 in mixed martial arts. He fought Tim Sylvia three times, winning the first bout, but losing the second one as well as the rubber match that followed. Looking at that alone one has to wonder what Andrei Arlovski has to offer that might pose a threat to the man who dispatched Sylvia in 36 seconds. The answer; boxing. Over the last few years, Arlovski, the 6’4″ tall ex-police officer who was born and raised in Minsk, Belarus, has trained more and more in boxing, leaving his combat sambo background behind. His punches are crisper and more clean than it has ever been, and his boxing is arguably the best boxing ever displayed in MMA. He cross-trains boxing, wrestling and BJJ in Chicago, and goes to California to train with renowned boxing coach Freddie Roach. He admitted to letting fame and fortune get in the way of his performances around the time he fought Sylvia, and that he has since rededicated himself to the MMA fight game, whicih is evident in the workman approach to his last few wins. He doesn’t have the most spectacular highlight reel out there, but it’s filled with tireless boxing, Sambo’s renowned leglocks and athleticism. He likes to push the fight, as could be seen in the Ben Rothwell fight, which was a three-round ass-whooping dished out by Arlovski. Punches, wrestling and flying knees all over the place. Many argue that this is what, if anything, will win Arlovski the fight with Fedor; Fedor has never been really pressed in a fight, probably due to the fatalistic approach a lot of his opponents have had. Bottom line, I would love for Arlovski to win because he’s one of my favourite fighters, if only he wasn’t fighting such a legend in Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor Emelianenko – The Champion
Fedor is a freak of nature, sporting a 28-1-0 record (1 no contest). His calm demeanor in the ring, never showing any real emotion, is scary at times. He’s humble, friendly and calm outside of the ring, but has a very explosive, T-1000-like work-ethic inside the ring. He’s virtually indestructible, as could be seen in the hyper-exciting fight with wrestling ace Kevin Randleman, where he was literally supplexed on his head only to win by kimura. Mind-boggling endurance and perseverence. His Sambo is world-class, and he still competes in the annual Sambo championships (which, interestingly, he lost a couple of weeks ago, the first time in four years). He has absolutely sick ground and pound, as can be seen in his almost felonious mauling of Minotauro. His highlight reel is filled with armbars, heavy punches and crazy durability. Bottom line, if Fedor can control Arlovski he should walk away with the win. .: Real Bottom Line
I can’t wait for this Saturday to come and go, because whatever is going to happen in the main event, it’s going to be spectacular. I now invite you to give your prediction on the outcome of the fight. Please specify who wins, in what fashion, and in what round. Personally, I think Fedor will take it in the first round by armbar. .: Video: Fedor Emelianenko vs Kevin Randleman
.: Video: Fedor Emelianenko vs Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira
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