IF you’re a fan of mixed martial arts, then Saturday, July 19 (Sunday, July 20 in Manila) was a great day because the debuting MMA promotion Affliction unleashed its first pay-per-view, Affliction: Banned, while the reigning MMA promotion, Ultimate Fighting Championship, countered this challenge by quickly putting together the UFC Fight Night 14 card, which it showed for free on Spike TV on the same day.

The Affliction: Banned main event featured the man many MMA aficionados consider the best heavyweight fighter and arguably the best MMA fighter of all time, Russia’s legendary Fedor Emelianenko. Going up against him was the former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, with the winner becoming the first World Alliance of Mixed Martial arts heavyweight champ. This was the icing on what was a great card that included Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Pedro Rizzo, Matt Lindland, Renato Sobral, and one of my all-time faves, Vitor Belfort.

Meanwhile, the main event for UFC Fight Night 14 was the UFC’s main star and the man being touted as the current best pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world, Anderson Silva, the UFC middleweight champion, who was making his debut in the light heavyweight division. I’m a huge Silva fan, and this guy has been dominant in the UFC middleweight division, but even though I felt he would win against James Irvin (best known for knocking out Houston Alexander in eight seconds), I have to admit I was wondering how wise it was for Silva to accept a bout in a higher weight class on short notice.

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