We've been handing out our half year MMA awards, so here's my take on the biggest upset of the last six months.
As is often the case in MMA, there were plenty of upsets to choose from. But at the end of the day, I had to go with Joe Warren defeating Kid Yamamoto via split decision at Dream.9 on May 26 (part one of the fight is above; part two is here.)
Tom Atencio, the promoter who runs the Affliction MMA organization, stepped into the cage Saturday night at the Ultimate Chaos MMA event in Biloxi, Mississippi, beating Randy Hedderick by TKO in a back-and-forth fight that Atencio has every right to be proud of winning.
Last week, UFC President Dana White surprised a few people by saying that he'd like to put together a matchup between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and current Affliction middleweight Vitor Belfort.
The statement was surprising because White's been burned in the past announcing matchups that never happened and deals that fell through. Most recently, he did a verbal contract with Mirko Cro Cop prior to UFC 99, but the Croatian star bolted after one fight. Most famously, he had then-PRIDE fighter Wanderlei Silva enter the octagon at UFC 61 to announce a matchup with UFC superstar Chuck Liddell. But talks soon fizzled and White wasn't able to put the two together until after he bought PRIDE and acquired Silva's contract.
So what do those situations tell us about Belfort?
Is Vitor Belfort headed back to the UFC? During Saturday night's "Ultimate Finale" telecast on Spike, UFC president Dana White told Amir Sadollah during an "Inside the Octagon" segment that he is considering booking the former UFC light heavyweight champion in a middleweight title fight against current champion, Anderson Silva.
"If his head is right, he's a dangerous, dangerous guy," White said. "I think that would be a great a match-up."
Update: Affliction Vice President, Tom Atencio, just informed FanHouse that he received an unexpected call from a member of Takanori Gomi's management team about reaching an agreement on a new contract that benefits both parties. Stay tuned.
Takanori Gomi won't be competing at "Affliction: Trilogy" after all. FanHouse has learned that Affliction Entertainment could not reach an agreement with the Japanese MMA star to fight on their upcoming show on August 1 in Anaheim, Calif. Affliction Entertainment Vice President, Tom Atencio, told FanHouse on Friday that after weeks of negotiation, the two sides couldn't agree on a contract. Gomi was offered a fight against Rafael Rivera.
Welcome to FanHouse's new and improved MMA podcast. It's so improved that we decided to change its name to FightHouse Radio, tape it from the AOL Studios in Manhattan and stick a video camera in the booth. That's right, you can choose to either download and listen to the show or just watch it below.
In this episode, I am joined by MDS, Mike Chiappetta and AOL Studios' Mike Rubens to talk about the Tim Sylvia vs. Ray Mercer mess, UFC 99 fallout and the weekend ahead in MMA. Oh, we're also joined by WEC featherweight star Urijah Faber (23:00 mark). Enjoy.
Tim Sylvia's shocking nine-second knockout loss to Ray Mercer on Saturday has proven to be more costly than originally thought. Affliction Entertainment vice president, Tom Atencio, informed FanHouse on Monday that Sylvia has now been taken off the upcoming "Affliction: Trilogy" card. "It's his second knockout in a row, and I don't want to take a chance on anything," Atencio said. "The fight is less than 60 days away."
After UFC 99, I wrote that Cain Velasquez looks like a future UFC heavyweight champion. I've heard some pushback on that from people who take a contrary view, saying Velasquez didn't look very good in the stand-up, and that he ate some hard punches from Cheick Kongo at the start of all three rounds of their fight.
I agree that Velasquez needs to work on his stand-up, and he definitely needs to learn better head movement so he doesn't get punched right on the button the way he did against Kongo. But I also think Velasquez showed a lot of heart in taking those punches from Kongo and managing to quickly take him down in all three rounds, and I think people are too quick to dismiss how impressive it is to win all three rounds against Kongo: In nine previous UFC fights, Kongo was 7-2, and the two losses were by split decision. No one has ever dominated Kongo in the Octagon the way Velasquez did. And that's why Velasquez is on my list of the Top 10 heavyweights in MMA, which is below.
Lost in the aftermath of Tim Sylvia's shocking nine-second knockout loss to Ray Mercer on Saturday night is how it may drastically affected Paul Buentello's summer plans. "The Headhunter" was scheduled to face Sylvia at "Affliction: Trilogy" on August, but is now unsure as to whether or not that fight will happen.
FanHouse spoke to Buentello on Sunday about his thoughts on Sylvia's loss and why he may now have to wait a little longer to face the former UFC heavyweight champion.
Imagine my surprise when I saw the face of Fedor Emelianenko atop a New York City taxi this weekend. 
Tom Atencio, the promoter who runs the Affliction MMA organization, stepped into the cage Saturday night at the Ultimate Chaos MMA event in Biloxi, Mississippi, beating Randy Hedderick by TKO in a back-and-forth fight that Atencio has every right to be proud of winning. 
Welcome to FanHouse's new and improved MMA podcast. It's so improved that we decided to change its name to FightHouse Radio, tape it from the AOL Studios in Manhattan and stick a video camera in the booth. That's right, you can choose to either download and listen to the show or just watch it below.
Tim Sylvia's shocking nine-second knockout loss to Ray Mercer on Saturday has proven to be more costly than originally thought. Affliction Entertainment vice president, Tom Atencio, informed FanHouse on Monday that Sylvia has now been taken off the upcoming "Affliction: Trilogy" card. "It's his second knockout in a row, and I don't want to take a chance on anything," Atencio said. "The fight is less than 60 days away."
After UFC 99, I wrote that Cain Velasquez looks like a future UFC heavyweight champion. I've heard some pushback on that from people who take a contrary view, saying Velasquez didn't look very good in the stand-up, and that he ate some hard punches from Cheick Kongo at the start of all three rounds of their fight.
