Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski Preview and Prediction
By Robert Rousseau
Yahoo Sports has informed us all that Fedor Emelianenko will be taking on Andrei "Pitbull" Arlovski on October 11th at the next Affliction card. Talk about a dream match up. Once again, we're talking about a former UFC Heavyweight Champion versus a former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion. Of course, we were talking about the same thing when Tim Sylvia took on Fedor and look what happened there.
A 36 second stoppage.
Regardless, in this Russian vs. Russian match, does Andrei Arlovski have the stuff to make good where Tim Sylvia failed? Can Arlovski really compete with The Last Emperor on October 11, 2008?
That's what we here at Submit To MMA aim to try and tell you.
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski for the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship of the world
Fedor Emelianenko will bring an overall MMA record of 28-1 with 6 (T)KO's and 15 submission victories to his credit into this fight. In sum, he's widely considered to be the best heavyweight fighter in the world today. In fact, many believe that he's the best heavyweight fighter that the world has ever seen.
Now that's saying something.
Fedor is simply the most well-rounded fighter in his weight class. His takedowns and takedown defense are well above average. His strength is legendary. Fedor's ground and pound is literally scary, as his punches on the ground seem more powerful than those that most heavyweights can generate on their feet. His technical striking skills are solid and he demonstrates a lot of power on his feet as well. Heck, the guy even has well above average submission skills, including those that emanate from the guard position.
It's a rare fighter that can mix the ground and pound skills that Fedor has with an excellent guard.
Beyond the aforementioned, Fedor is a very smart and tough fighter that always comes to fight in shape. He's known to be someone that comes up with great game plans, such as was the case when he crowded Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic on his feet when they fought way back in 2005.
He's awesome, plain and simple.
Andrei Arlovski will bring an overall MMA record of 13-5 with 9 (T)KO's and 13 submission victories to his credit into this match up. Arlovski was once the UFC Heavyweight Champion for a reason.
Namely, he possesses outstanding boxing skills and ridiculous power and athleticism on his feet. Further, he has very strong takedown defense and some decent takedown capabilities that are rarely put on display because he uses his wrestling to allow him to bang it out with opponents.
On the ground, Arlovski has some pretty decent submission skills; but his jiu jitsu is not his strength.
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski Prediction
The bottom line is that many believed Tim Sylvia would win against Fedor if he kept the fight standing. Instead, he got pummeled on his feet and then choked out.
Still, Arlovski would seem to have the better hands in this match up. In other words, crowding his opponent on his feet, as Fedor did against Mirko Cro Cop, probably wouldn't work against Arlovski. Rather, when Fedor gets inside against him he can and should look for the takedown. Can he get it?
He's likely to take some punishment on the way in, but the best guess is that Fedor will eventually take Arlovski down, possibly some time in the first round. There he'll likely execute some serious ground and pound on the former UFC Champion that will change him for the rest of the fight.
Arlovski certainly could pull this off with a big punch that he's fully capable of; but guess is that Fedor will take this one on the ground at some point via submission or TKO. Of course, Arlovski has never been submitted during his illustrious MMA career.
So perhaps this one will go the TKO route.
Fedor Emelianenko wins via TKO (ground and pound) in round two.
