Immediately following the end of Affliction: Day of Reckoning’s main event, PRO MMA (promma.info) caught up with Stephen Quadros. “The Fight Professor” is very familiar with the careers of most of the fighters on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card and gave us his thoughts on a slew of topics.
Fedor Emelianenko, Vitor Belfort, Affliction and pound-for-pound rankings were all points that the former PRIDE FC play-by-play man and expert MMA analyst discussed.
PRO MMA: Stephen did this event live up to the hype?
QUADROS: I think so and I was a little worried about the ticket sales but it was like 12,000 strong. It was a really good crowd and the fights delivered. We got some unpredictable things like Matt Lindland going freeze-dried from a Belfort left hand that kind of shocked me. Emelianenko, doing what I call the ‘fly swat punch’ when Arlovski decided out of the blue to fly through the air Gilbert Yvel style and he got caught and went down. It was like a triple thud getting hit with the punch and hitting the floor directly after that. I thought it was a spectacular event, actually. Including the undercard fights. Some of these guys, that are unknown fighters on this under card, I was really surprised with.
PRO MMA: Tito Ortiz talked to Vitor Belfort after his bout and said that “The Old Vitor” was back. Vitor said that he wants to ‘dominate’ the 185-pound division. If we are going to see ‘The Old Vitor’ would he have to stay at 185 and can he do it?
QUADROS: I think it is a good weight division for him and he looked really good. He knocked out Matt Lindland and Matt is a really hard guy to knock out. He has only been knocked out maybe once and then he knocked himself out with that body slam but I don’t really count that as a knock out from another person. I think that Vitor at 185, if he really sits down and really gets focused, and we know Vitor has got the physical skills, especially in his hands. That left hand has got lighting in it. So a lot of the 185 pounders are probably been thinking, “hmm..how do I beat this guy? I hope he just goes away.” 185, I think is a good move for him.
PRO MMA: The way that Josh Barnett performed tonight, would he be able to beat Fedor Emelianenko?
QUADROS: I think Fedor…everybody says ‘FAYDOOR’ but I pronounce it the way that he pronounces it, no worries though (smiles) I think that Emelianenko is going to be very hard to beat, including a great fighter like Josh Barnett. Josh Barnett, I thought, probably could have beaten Gilbert Yvel within the distance given that he mounted him and was dominating early in that second round, let alone the first round and he didn’t finish him…actually, he did finish him but after a long drawn out (fight). I think he actually could have submitted Gilbert but I wasn’t in there so Josh knows. A fight against Emelianenko, Emelianenko has beat bigger guys than Josh, but Josh is a highly skilled big guy. He brings a variety of problems. Emelianenko right now…I don’t know. I think his roller coaster is going to continue on the run. I think Josh Barnett is going to have to bring his Double-A game or Triple-A game. Just an ‘A’ game is not going to do it against the best fighter on the planet: Fedor Emelianenko.
PRO MMA: After tonight is there any doubt that Fedor is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world?
QUADROS: Well, pound-for-pound, that is a subjective thing and an opinionated thing. I would have to say, before this fight I thought he was the best heavyweight. He cemented that because Andrei Arlovski is a former UFC champion who’s coming off two really big wins, in my opinion, against great fighters in Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson. I think this is the best Andrei Arlovski we could have seen against Emelianenko and he was starting to turn the tide but as many people have done that in the past, Mark Hunt and all these other big monsters, Emelianenko is just a turn of the coin away. The arm gets snatched or tonight we see knock out power with an opponent who is flying in the air like Superman but goes down like Dracula.
PRO MMA: Affliction put on a good card tonight. Dana White says they won’t make it past January. Where do you see Affliction going in 2009 and beyond?
QUADROS: I hope Affliction does more shows like this. They have got Donald Trump, Golden Boy, there are some power players there. Let’s hope they get into the black a little bit because, as the UFC knows, they lost money for a couple years when ZUFFA assumed [ownership] but now they are the biggest and the best and that’s great. It would be great to see Affliction go forward and continue to climb. Wether they can or not, I don’t know because I’m not in the stock market business. If I was I would be rich like you! (Laughs)
PRO MMA: (laughs) Stephen thank you for joining us today.
QUADROS: My pleasure. Thanks a lot Matt
By: Matt De La Rosa
Quadros is the man, I wish he was involved in commentating for Affliction, Dream or WVR. Let’s just hope we don’t get Tito again.