Fedor KO's Arlovski in First Round

Fedor Emelianenko confirmed his status as the world’s number one heavyweight with a KO victory over Andrei Arlovski on Saturday night.

A near capacity crowd rocked the Honda Center in Anaheim on for Affliction: Day of Reckoning, the promotion’s second highly successful MMA event. A paid attendance of 12,335 turned up for the loaded fight card including 11 action-packed bouts headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski.

Emelianenko of Stary Oskol, Russia, defeated Andrei Arlovski of Chicago, IL by KO at 3:14 in the initial round.

The “Last Emperor” was understandably delighted after his victory. He told reporters:

"I feel great. I feel really good about it. I want to thank God for my victory and thank everyone that was behind me. I knew that Arlovski was prone to making mistakes and at that moment I caught him. I really didn't think I would knock him out but it happened. You don't expect it to happen but it did. He is my friend. He is a very interesting fighter. It was very interesting to be in the ring with him. He is quick. I had a feeling he was going to make a mistake and I was waiting to capitalize. I noticed that after he attacked he opened up and I was just waiting for his next attack to strike."

The former UFC champ Arlovski was hard on himself after the fight. He told MMAWeekly.com:

"I just talked to my trainers about the fight and they tell me just need to be more disciplined. I think it is a problem for me. I think it was the reason I lost my fight against Fedor tonight. I can blame only on myself. I saw all my punches landed in right place. I don't know why it was idea was in my head to do flying knee... He just cocked his right hand and one thing about Fedor, his punch all the time is very accurate and he caught me on my jaw."

"My trainers, they told me, do everything 100 percent. Not from one trainer, all of my trainers. Everyone had told me I have to be 100 percent disciplined and I have to be 100 percent disciplined about everything, about training, about life, about, like, I have to keep clear my head."

"I think it's another lesson for me, and 100 percent, I will take lesson from my loss tonight to Emelianenko."

Fedor Emelianenko remains the WAMMA world heavyweight champion.

Next on the list for Fedor may well be Josh Barnett. He also made it two wins out of two with Affliction. The “Baby Faced Assassin” defeated Gilbert Yvel of Amsterdam, by submission due to strikes after 3:14 of the third round with Yvel tapping out. The pair have emerged as the stars of the stacked Affliction heavyweight division and the pressure is building for them to meet.

Ringside at the event were the ever-present Donald J. Trump alongside Oscar De La Hoya. The Hollywood calibre of audience included the likes of Jason Statham, Michael Clark Duncan, Scott Cahn among others. The crowd was also punctuated by presence of MMA fighters Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler and the legendary Royce Gracie.

Affliction: Day of Reckoning was promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and brought to you by Trump's Affliction Entertainment and its partners, Donald J. Trump and M-1 Global.