Breakdown: Fedor vs. Arlovski

With little more than a month to go before Affliction’s second event, “Day of Reckoning” scheduled for Jan. 24 in Anaheim, Calif., Sherdog.com’s Tim Leidecker breaks down the main event for the WAMMA heavyweight championship: No. 1-ranked Fedor Emelianenko vs. No. 3-ranked Andrei Arlovski.

Striking

Arlovski comes from a kickboxing background and always makes an effort to move well technically in his fights. However, with the exception of the overhand right he used to knock out Paul Buentello and Ben Rothwell, the Belarusian does not possess any true “winner” punches.

In addition, he has shown a tendency to lose much of his technique as fights progress into the later rounds (see the third bout in his trilogy with Tim Sylvia, as well as the Pedro Rizzo and Fabricio Werdum fights), as he adopts more of a brawling style. This has cost him on a number of occasions, including his knockout losses to Rizzo, Sylvia and obscure journeyman Viacheslav Datsik. The loss to Datsik in his professional debut earned Arlovski a reputation for having a glass jaw.

Emelianenko, meanwhile, has never been known as a world-class striker but has become feared for his ferocious ground-and-pound. Still, the stocky sambo stylist can more than hold his own against the best strikers in the game. He has outboxed K-1 veterans Gary Goodridge and Mirko Filipovic in the past and has used knockdowns to set up his submissions, most recently against the 6-foot-8 Sylvia at Affliction on July 19.

Though he may lack Arlovski’s technical skills, Emelianenko’s hand speed and power, especially from short distances and even inside the clinch, should not be underestimated.

Arlovski: 3.5 / 5
Emelianenko: 3 / 5

Grappling

Arlovski’s grappling backbone resides in sambo, the same Russian martial art Emelianenko uses to perfection in his fights. “The Pitbull” has medaled in sambo, taking second place at both the world championships and the world cup in 1999. These accolades also earned him the title of International Master of Sport in Russia, despite the fact that he hails from Belarus. Unlike Emelianenko, Arlovski mainly uses his sambo skills to keep the fight standing, where he is more comfortable.

Emelianenko is one of the most accomplished sambo practitioners of all time. In his 12-year career, he has won a total of 11 titles, including three of the last four combat sambo world championships -- at heavyweight and in the open-weight division. The fact that he usually finishes his fights within seconds and has often had opposing competitors refuse to fight him proves Fedor has outgrown the sport.

Fedor’s grappling skills have been strong enough to dominate jiu-jitsu black belts and Olympic-caliber wrestlers. His specialties are his unconventional takedowns, for which he often uses judo throws, and the unbelievable balance and top control he employs to either ground-and-pound opponents into submission or set up fight-ending armbars and chokes.

Arlovski: 3 / 5
Emelianenko: 5 / 5

Submissions

Even though Arlovski prefers to finish his fights by knockout, the Belarusian does possess underappreciated submission skills. He showed glimpses of them early in his career when he finished Dutch kickboxer Michael Tielrooy with a guillotine choke and American submission fighter turned porn star Aaron Brink by armbar. He also slapped a nasty Achilles lock on Sylvia in their February 2005 fight, becoming the first man to make the Pat Miletich protégé tap (Sylvia didn’t actually tap against Frank Mir).

Submissions, meanwhile, are Emelianenko’s favorite way to end the fight. Being a smart fighter, he instinctively goes for the appropriate hold at all times. You will not see any fancy gogoplatas or reverse triangles from him -- it’s the basics, like all variations of armlocks and chokes. His list of submission victims includes former UFC champions Mark Coleman (twice) and Kevin Randleman, as well as Olympic judo silver medalist Naoya Ogawa.

Arlovski: 3 / 5
Emelianenko: 4 / 5