Note: fights subject to change

Affliction Mixed Martial Arts

In a star studded mixed martial arts line up that can only be rivaled by Dream or the UFC, Affliction’s first MMA shows is one of the best to come along in a long while. The staff at www.fighting-mma.com have come up with the best possible online MMA betting scenario for online sports bettors with Affliction MMA handicapping picks for the main event fights.

Check out Bookmaker and BetCRIS for the latest Affliction online betting lines

Heavyweight Championship bout:  Fedor Emelianenko (-400) vs Tim Sylvia (+320)

The former pound for pound best MMA fighter in the world will look to recapture his status as the Last Emperor Fedor Emelianenko (28-1) will look to take on a high quality for the first time in almost 2 years. His last real competition took place on December 31, 2006 at PRIDE Shockwave 2006 against Mark Hunt. Fedor will be fighting top ten heavyweight and former UFC heavyweight champion Tim “The Maniac” Sylvia (24-4).

Fedor has fought every top heavyweight in the world from grapplers, strikers, large fighters, wrestlers, boxers, K1 fighters and he has beaten them all. He has beaten Mark Hunt, Mark Coleman, Mirko Filipović, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Kevin Randleman, Gary Goodridge, Kazuyuki Fujita, Heath Herring, Renato Sobral, and Ricardo Arona. If you think Fedor will have trouble with Sylvia’s height and power Fedor has beaten large fighters like Zula, Hong-Man Choi and Semmy Schilt.

To put it simply Fedor Emelianenko is the best fighter in the world and he will beat Tim Sylvia. Fedor has it all as a fighter. He is a world sambo champion with one of the best grappling skills in the heavyweight division. He has hard striking abilities and will be able to strike with Sylvia. Fedor has great judo skills and has the ability to take down bigger fighters like he did with Semmy Schilt.

Sylvia will have to avoid the take down attempts by Fedor but once this fight hits the ground it will be over quite fast; exactly how Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira disposed of Sylvia so easily. Fedor is a dangerous fighter no matter what situation the fight goes and Sylvia will have to pick his poison.

One thing about Tim Sylvia is that he is a good fighter. Amongst hard core MMA fans he is the most hated for some unknown reason. It may be the fact his fights are boring to watch but he has the ability to go toe to toe with anyone in the world. Sylvia has good striking and kicks and at any moment he has a puncher's chance to beat Emelianenko. Sylvia will keep this fight close with his effective sprawl but he will be vulnerable to Fedor’s powerful over hand right. For online sports bettors the bet on this fight is the Over in the Over/Under bet. This fight has the potential to go the distance or late into the fight.

Bottom Line: The only thing Sylvia has over Fedor is height. Once the fight progresses Fedor will be able to figure out the distance and either land hard overhand rights to Sylvia’s head that will send him to the ground or shoot in for a takedown. If this fight ever hits the ground it will be over fast with either a ground and pound or submission. Sylvia loses have all come by submission and Fedor is as good or better than all of the fighters that have submitted Sylvia in the past like Frank Mir at UFC 48: Payback, Andrei Arlovsk at UFC 51: Super Saturday, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 81: Breaking Point.  Sylvia’s one loss to a decision was against Randy Couture at UFC 68: Uprising who beat him at the stand up game.

As a bettor take the over/under bet as Sylvia will be able to take this fight into the late rounds due to his size and effective sprawl. However, Fedor is the best fighter in the world and he will be looking to reclaim his pound for pound status with either a unanimous decision victory or late submission victory.

Andrei Arlovski vs  Ben Rothwell

The online sports betting odds for this fight have not been announced but I would assume that Andrei “The Pit-bull” Arlovski (13-5) would be sportsbooks favorite due to him being a more recognizable name and being a former UFC heavyweight champion. However, I would place my money on Ben Rothwell (27-5) who has not lost since September 17, 2005 and is on a 13 fight win streak. At 6 foot 5 Rothwell is a bigger stronger fighter than Arlovski. Ben Rothwell is a very strong fighter with a core wresting strength that you can only get from wrestling with the boys at the Miletich Martial Arts.

For me Andrei Arlovski is not the dominate fighter he once was. He is no where near as aggressive as he use to be. Arlovski was fearless, before he got KO’ed by Tim Sylvia at UFC 59: Reality Check. After that fight he seems to be scared to engage with fighters. Arlovski has seemed to have lost his furiousness and natural instinct to fight mixed martial arts. Doubting yourself will only get you hurt and delaying your reactions and fight game makes you a weaker fighter. If this fight was 3 years Arlovski would have cleaned Rothwell. But not today.

Arlovski is a better all round fighter than Rothwell but I think Roth well will use his size and power to throw off Arlovski. I don’t see Arlovski being able to take Rothwell down and submit him. This fight will turn into a stand up battle and Rothwell is a much better stinker than Arlovski is.

For mixed martial arts bettors this will be a great underdog bet to make. Look for Rothwell to upset and win with a first round KO over the former UFC champ.

Josh Barnett  (-350) vs  Pedro Rizzo (+280)

Josh Barnett is still one of the best heavyweights in the world and is the only real threat to beating Fedor these days. The Baby Faced Assassin (22-5) has been busy fighting with result victories over Jeff Monson and Hidehiko Yoshida. Grappling wise Barrnett is head and tails above Pedro Rizzo (16-7) but the knock on the Barnett is that he does not do well with aggressive strikers. He has 3 losses to Cro Cop and has already been KO’ed by Rizzo at UFC 30 - Battle on the Boardwalk. But that was over 7 years ago and Pedro Rizzo is not the same fighter he use to be and Barnett is a much better fighter than he was when they first fought.

Rizzo is a very good striker and he was the first MMA fighter to perfect the sprawl to avoid being taken down. If this fight stays standing Rizzo does have a chance to win but Barnett is one of the best grapplers in the world and he has a great background in catch wrestling to be able to take Pedro down.

Bottom Line: MMA has evolved so fast over the last 5 years and Rizzo is still a one dimensional fighter and Barnett has kept continuing to work on his game. I see Barnett being able to take Rizzo down by avoiding his leg kicks and shooting in for a first round submission victory. At +280 at most online sportsbook don’t waste you money going for the large payout. Pedro will dome out firing but I think he lacks conditioning to last and Barnett will take over the fight after the first round.

Don’t vote for Pedro in this fight.

Matt Lindland (-400)  vs  Fabio Negao (+280)

Homer Simpson AKA Matt "The Law" Lindland (20-5) is probably one of the best middleweights in the world. Lindland starting mixed martial arts training with Randy Couture, Dan Henderson and others at Team Quest and has been one of the best fighters in the world for a long time now in the middleweight division. Strength wise Lindland is probably the strongest fighter in the world at 185 due to his wrestling background. He represented the United States in Greco-Roman Wrestling at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the 69-76 kg weight category, winning the silver medal.

The knock on Lindland is that he loses to strikers but he will be facing a Jiu-Jitsu black belt in Fabio "Negao" Nascimento (8-3). Nascimento is a good grappler but the problem is that he will not be able to get pass Linland’s strengthen and power on the ground. If Lindland gains top position Negao is going to have a hard time submitting Lindland from his back and getting back to guard due Lindland’s experience and power.

Bottom Line: Matt Lindland trains with the best fighters in the world and he has the experience, strengthen and knowledge to get out of anything Fabio Negao has. Betting wise I would shell out the money on Lindland to win. Negao is a great grappler but Lindland will be able to use his base and raw strength to pin Negao down with slams and a powerful ground and pound.

Renato Sobral  (-275) vs  Mike Whitehead (+215)

For me this is a great underdog bet to make as Mike Whitehead (20-5) is a very big light heavyweight. He will fighting Renato Sobral who is a great submission artist but Whitehead has never been submitted in his career.

Whitehead has fought his MMA career as a heavyweight and he has had KO loses to Brandon Vera and twice by Tim Sylvia. He also has a loss to Keith Jardine by Decision (Unanimous) at UFC 57 - Liddell vs Couture 3 which was his last lost over 2 years ago. Whitehead is on a 12 fight win streak and will come into the fight the bigger, stronger and more power striker in this fight. Whitehead will have to cut weight to make 205 but fighting at this weight class will give him a huge weight and strength advantage.  Mike Whitehead is a strong, versatile wrestler with excellent submissions and heavy hands when it comes to striking. Now that he is moving down to the light heavyweight division he will be a force to be reckoned with.

Babalu (29-7) does have the grappling advantage and has fought better opponents but he is submission fighter and he will have a hard time taking down Whitehead. Two of his last four fights (Jason Lambert at UFC 68: The Uprising and Chuck Liddell at UFC 62: Liddell vs Sobral) have been by KO and Whitehead will be ale to back off Babalu with his strikes. I don’t see Babalu taking Whitehead to the ground and this fight will be a standup war with Whitehead being able to land the hard shots. With only 2 KO victories to Babalu’s credit this will be a hard fight for him to win.

For mixed martial arts bettors this is a great bet to lay some money on for a good payout. Babalu is the better technical fighter with grappling and more experience but he will have to over come Whitehead's size and power, striking, wrestling and sprawls. I really don’t think Babalu can overcome Whitehead in this fight.

Bet big at the online sportsbooks for a big payout KO victory for Mike Whitehead.

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