Fedor Emelianenko: What to do after he beats Josh Barnett?

With a third round submission victory over Gilbert Yvel at Affliction: Day of Reckoning, Josh Barnett looks likely to be the next opponent for Fedor Emelianenko's WAMMA Heavyweight Championship. Fedor, having dispatched of Andrei Arlovski with a highlight reel knockout, continues to show why he is considered the best pound for pound fighter in the world (and I realize it is really a dead heat for #1 P4P with Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre). Should Fedor beat Barnett, which I except him to do with ease, what will be left for the Russian to do against the Affliction roster?

There is not another top heavyweight waiting in the wings for the Fedor/Barnett winner. After Affliction's first card, most people were proclaiming that the group of heavyweights was far better than what the UFC had. Now that may have been true at first, the depth of competition leaves much to be desired. So let's look at what is left.

Former IFL heavyweights Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson have not measured up in their last fights to warrant a title shot. With Rothwell now fighting for Adrenaline MMA after losing to Arlovski, and Nelson's last fight also being a knockout loss to Arlovski, neither have proven that they deserve to be in the same ring with the best heavyweight on the planet.

Fedor has already beaten two former UFC champions in Arlovski and Tim Sylvia. Andrei Arlovski is looking forward to making his professional boxing debut, so an immediate rematch is not going to happen. Sylvia has lost three of his last four bouts, and has become the guy that no one wants to watch fight anymore (I am yawning just thinking about watching another Sylvia fight). This makes the two most deserving opponents currently signed to Affliction not viable options.

There are only five other heavyweights that have fought for Affliction thus far. Gary Goodridge, Pedro Rizzo, Kirill Sidelnikov, and Gilbert Yvel have all lost their only fights with the company. That leaves Paul Buentello, who is 2-0. In his two wins, he didn't look overly impressive. He also as called out Kimbo Slice, a fight he should be able to win. It just does not seem to me that Buentello's mental approach is not ready for a high profile match the magnitude of a tilt versus Fedor.

Unless Affliction can bring in some big names from Japan or steal a major star from the UFC, the promotion may be in bigger trouble than it is rumored to be in already. Affliction has centered both of it's cards around Emelianenko, but they have been against former champions of the UFC. Josh Barnett is not a household name in the United States, but true MMA fans know this is also a very good opponent.

Should he defeat Barnett and run his record to 3-0 since coming stateside, it looks like Emelianenko will have to go elsewhere to find someone worth training for. Whether he goes to Japan for possible fights with Alistair Overreem or Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, or finally comes to terms with the UFC for matches with the likes of Randy Couture, Brock Lesner, or Frank Mir, I would hope that Fedor won't just wait for the next tomato can Affliction will throw at him.

Billy Gillispie and the Kentucky Wildcats: What's Going Wrong in SEC Play

After starting SEC play 5-0, the Kentucky Wildcats have dropped their last three. The fans are getting restless with the play of this year's team. So what will it take to get the Cats back to their winning ways.

Some of the problems start with the perimeter defense. After ten years of Tubby Smith's philosophy of the "Ball Line Defense", this year's poor performance defending the three-ball may make the fans want to call Minnesota to apology for running him off. Not every team is going to hit 32 footers all night long like Mississippi State did, but UK has to pressure the outside threats a lot better.

This team also need to find a third and fourth scorer. It is well documented how great of a scoring duo Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson are this year. But if I am the opposing coach, I double team both with the understanding that my five guys can outscore Kentucky's other three. The rest of the team needs to have the confidence to take the open shot in order to free up the two main threats. It would not hurt for the open shots to go in on occasion, as well.

The biggest problem seems to be a combination of turnovers and inconsistent point guard play. These two go hand in hand, but the whole team is guilty of turnovers. Whether it is youthful mistakes or the occasional brain hiccup, UK has found almost every conceivable way to give the ball to the other team. They may have even invented some new ones.

The point guard positions is being played by committee, with each man having their own problems. Michael Porter shows flashes of great passing, but won't shoot enough and makes too many stupid mistakes. DeAndre Liggins makes a lot of freshman mistakes. He also shoots too many bad shots, as evident with his current 38.6% field goal average. And Kevin Galloway has not developed as expected, and his lack of minutes is not helping his confidence.

This team does have a huge upside. They have a Player of the Year candidate who can blow up for 50 points at any time in Jodie Meeks. Patrick Patterson is the best big man in the SEC. There is only one senior, which means this is a team that has potential to keep getting better. The new guys on this team like Liggins, Galloway, Darius Miller, and Josh Harrellson keep getting better every time out, Wildcat fans are some of the best in the nation and they have a tendency to push the team through hard times. This is also only coach Billy Gillispie's second year leading the troops in Rupp Arena. He proved he is a very good coach at Texas A&M, he just needs time to build the program.

The players need to continue to adapt to the coach's scheme. Billy G. needs to continue to bring in great recruiting classes. Someone need to teach these guys how to hang on to the ball and how to hit an open shot. Although this team may not get Kentucky back to the NCAA Final Four, it won't be long until the Wildcats are right back atop the rankings as an elite program again. Let's just hope they don't throw that chance away.

Strikeforce Buys EliteXC, Hopefully Didn't Buy Love Affair with Kimbo

With Strikeforce buying the the assets, video library, and some of the fighter contracts from the now extinct EliteXC, the question is what to do with all the new toys. The obvious focus will be on which fighters will compete under the Strikeforce banner, especially Robbie Lawler, Gina Carano, and of course Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson.

I would hope that Strikeforce watched the mess that EliteXC made by resting all hopes on a cult figure rather than around the best representation of mixed martial artists on the roster. With guys like Lawler, Scott Smith, Yves Edwards, and Nick Diaz under contract, the promotion has many familiar names to bring in hardcore fans. You add in a good mix of young up-and-comers and you have the recipe for good fight cards.

Strikeforce can use Gina Carano as the focal point to bring female MMA fighters into the mainstream. With proper marketing, good matchmaking, and the recognizable face of the former "American Gladiator" to draw ratings, the women's division can that something different needed to compete against the likes of Affliction and the UFC.

The production needs to be better as well. They need their announcers build up the credentials of each fighter, not tell us how badly they failed in the UFC. They need put together fighters that make for an exciting matches based on their styles, rather than put all the top guys against tomato cans to build a false reputation. They need to promote the fighters that deserve to be headliners, and let the less experienced guys and girls learn the ropes on the undercard.

And that brings us to Mr. Ferguson. If Strikeforce wants to make a quick buck, then featuring Kimbo is the way to go. The general MMA fan will tune in to see if he can bounce back from the embarrassment at the hands of Seth Petruzelli, hoping the previous hype was justified and the loss was a fluke. True MMA followers may watch to if Slice is still the fraud that hardcore fans always thought he was, wishing for another brutal beating by another underachiever. That is, of course, if they tune in at all.

I hope that Strikeforce paid attention to the mistakes made by the previous owners of its latest acquisitions. Because building your franchise around a guy with very little experience, a decent cult following, and virtually nothing to offer other than a Youtube built reputation works great. Just look at what that did for EliteXC.