Ten Things We Learned From Fedor vs. Silva

Another Former UFC Stalwart at the End of the Line

Andrei Arlovski is currently in the same position Chuck Liddell was earlier this year, minus the Vice Presidential position with the UFC waiting on the other side.

He’s now lost four straight, three by brutal knockout, leaving many to wonder what the future holds for “The Pitbull.” It is a question that will be difficult for Arlovski to answer, I’m sure, as his competitive instincts will try to push him passed the reality that he can’t take the punishment inside the cage any longer; at least not at this level.

There are a few paths Arlovski can take from here; a gatekeeper role to emerging talents with Strikeforce, a marquee attraction on the regional circuit against has-beens, never-was’es and unknowns looking to make a splash, or he can hang’em up.

Whatever he decides, it’s indicative of the evolution of this sport and the development of its fighters that another veteran, another stalwart from the emerging days of the UFC has been passed by.

Alternate Endings

The three alternate bouts that kicked off the card all ended in the opening round, and showed the best of what you’re going to get from each winner moving forward.

Shane del Rosario was the most impressive, although that’s like taking home first prize in a three-person spelling bee with two kids who can’t spell their own names. The best prospect on the Strikeforce heavyweight roster remained undefeated, but took a few shots from Lavar Johnson and showed there is still improvement needed before he takes the next step.

That said, his armbar victory was much better than the performances put forth by Chad Griggs and Valentijn Overeem.

The man who earned this opportunity to outlasting an exhausted Bobby Lashley swing hard and wild against Gian Villante, stopping the athletic youngster with a series of shots along the cage. While some will argue it was a strong showing, I tend to disagree; no one in the tournament field is going to stand in the pocket against Griggs the way Villante did, and an experienced fighter would have countered him to death.

It also didn’t hurt that Yves Lavigne called time to replace Villante’s mouthpiece right after he rocked Griggs with a headkick that popped his cauliflower ear.

As for the elder Overeem, he scored the submission victory over Ray Sefo that everyone should have seen coming. There was a clear path to victory for Valentijn and he took it, but no part of it was overly impressive.

Like Griggs, the older ‘Reem would likely be badly beaten by the remaining members of the tournament field, especially if he continued to finish takedowns by crawling on his knees.

Speaking of the Alternates…

Rumors started bubbling on the Internet that Strikeforce was entertaining the idea of Fedor now taking over the first alternate position from del Rosario.

As my colleague Jeremy Botter stated on Twitter, “I guess Shane Del Rosario and Lavar Johnson were fighting for the “Only if Fedor wins” tourney alternate spot.”

The sarcasm is understandable, as shifting gears to re-incorporate Emelianenko would be a colossal blow to the credibility of the tournament and the organization running it. Strikeforce certainly wouldn’t be considering bringing Arlovski back into the mix following his loss, or having the loser of Barnett vs. Rogers re-enter the field ahead of del Rosario, so doing so with Emelianenko shouldn’t be considered either.

Time for Better Delivery

Everything about the delivery of this event, and each of Strikeforce’s events to be honest, screams for an upgrade.

From the confusion at the end of the Fedor bout and Frank Shamrock totally ignoring Mauro Ranallo’s question about Fedor dropping down to introducing some fighters in the cage and others before they walked down the ramp, I can’t take this company seriously when I’ve seen regional shows with better production.

The three-man booth doesn’t work, especially when the lead man knows little about the sport and the other two are competing for airtime and who can promote their past more.

Jimmy Lennon Jr. sounds awkward in his post-fight delivery; he has all the right content, just everything is misaligned and comes out labored.

I know I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again, but if Strikeforce wants to be taken seriously, they need to clean up their production in every way possible.

Want more UFC news? The official HeavyMMA Twitter account is a great place to start. Just saying.