FEDOR TALKS

"I just think he made a mistake," Emelianenko said. "I saw on opening and my automatic reaction was to throw the right hand."

The opening was a result of a reckless flying knee attempt by Arlovski, and the automatic reaction by Emelianenko left his opponent unconscious on the mat.

"For that [flying knee] of Arlovski's, we didn't really train or prepare for that particular move," Emelianenko said. "But there are certain scenarios that we prepare for based on what's going on in the ring. In that situation it was basically an automatic response.

"There are certain situations that we do train for, and that was my automatic response to the counter."

Emelianenko has now won an astounding 26-straight bouts. The knockout marked his second-straight destruction of a former UFC champion, and the result cements Emelianenko's position as the world's best heavyweight fighter.

And while some observers point to Arlovski's defeat as a moral victory of sorts, proof that the Russian does have some small strain of vulnerability, Emelianenko believes he was never behind on his path to a convincing -- and impressive -- WAMMA heavyweight title defense victory.

"Honestly I haven't seen the fight yet, but I felt based on just feeling myself in the ring, I felt it was an even fight -- up until the point I knocked him out."

FEDOR DROPS ARLOVSKI LIKE A HOT COAL

An emperor is defined as the sovereign ruler of a region. He is the monarch who dominates a particular domain. Perhaps no fighter's nickname has ever felt more appropriate than that of Fedor Emelianenko's moniker "The Last Emperor". Fedor has once again proved his dominance of not only the Heavyweight division of the world, but most assuredly his status as the pound for pound greatest after defeating fellow Eastern European native Andre Arlovski.. Much debate swirls around the pudgy seemingly almost naïve looking, certainly not imposing figure of Emelianenko, as to whether he really is as good as some like to claim. Tonight, he lays to rest any nay sayers with his one punch knock out of Arlovski. Andre's striking looked sharp in the first round as frustrated the shorter Fedor with sharp jabs and occasional straight rights. Andre, coached in boxing by 8count friend Freddie Roach, seemingly was in control of the up game early on. At around the 3 minute mark of the first round Arlovski landed a push kick that drove Fedor toward the corner of the ring. At this backpedaling of Fedor, Arlovski lunged forward with a flying knee attempt only to meet Fedor's looping right hand with his chin. Fedor's trademark right crashed into Arlovski's face and dropped him to the canvas at 3:14 in the first round where he was immediately saved by the referee with a KO stoppage.




Josh Barnett staked his claim for the next WAMMA title shot verses Fedor with his impressive dominating win over Gilbert Yvel , who tapped due to strikes at the 3:05 mark in the third round. At 185 pounds, Vitor Belfort had a destructive knockout win over Matt Linland, that left "the Law" eerily creeping around the ring on all fours for several minutes, while doctors and coaches tried to restrain him. Renato Sobral had a submission win over UFC castoff Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Paul Buentello man handled Fedor's 20 year old protégé Kirill Sidelnikov with a stiff consistent left jab and Dan Lauzon submitted last minute replacement Bobby Green with a rear naked choke in the events only other televised bout.

BAS SAYS JERRY'S AN A-HOLE!!!! ON TV!!!!

During the HDNet broadcast of today's Affliction: Day of Reckoning weigh-in, the retired MMA star turned announcer Bas Rutten had some choice words for M-1 Global executive Jerry Millen.

After Millen introduced Fedor Emelianenko, the camera lingered on him, and Rutten (who may or may not have known that his microphone was on) could be heard saying, "That's the a**hole. Oh, did I just say this on TV?"

Rutten and Millen worked together in Pride and have a long history of animosity, with Rutten claiming, among other things, that Millen knows nothing about MMA. If there's any down time during Saturday night's show, I'd love to see Rutten and Millen step into the ring together.

UFC 93 AND THE WAY IT WAS

PRELIMINARY CARD

* John Hathway def. Tom Egan via TKO (strikes) -- Round 1, 4:36
* Martin Kampmann def. Alexandre Barros via TKO (strikes) -- Round 2, 3:09
* Eric Schafer def. Antonio Mendes via TKO (punches) -- Round 1, 3:35
* Thomasz Drwal def. Ivan Serati via TKO (punches) -- Round 1, 2:02
* Dennis Siver def. Nate Mohr via TKO (strikes) -- Round 3, 3:47

FULL RESULTS

* Dan Henderson def. Rich Franklin via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
* Mauricio "Shogun" Rua def. Mark Coleman via TKO (strikes) -- Round 3, 4:36
* Rousimar Palhares def. Jeremy Horn via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
* Alan Belcher def. Denis Kang via submission (guillotine choke) -- Round 2, 4:36
* Marcus Davis def. Chris Lytle via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
* John Hathway def. Tom Egan via TKO (strikes) -- Round 1, 4:36
* Martin Kampmann def. Alexandre Barros via TKO (strikes) -- Round 2, 3:09
* Eric Schafer def. Antonio Mendes via TKO (punches) -- Round 1, 3:35
* Thomasz Drwal def. Ivan Serati via TKO (punches) -- Round 1, 2:02
* Dennis Siver def. Nate Mohr via TKO (strikes) -- Round 3, 3:47