Fedor Emilanenko vs Tim Sylvia , Affliction BANNED

Fedor Emilianenko vs Kevin Randleman PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004

Shogun vs Rampage PRIDE Total Elimination 2005

What happened to Karo?

Early on in his career, Karo Parisyan was considered one of UFC's most highly touted fighters.

In his UFC 94 fight, Karo appears out of shape and gassed, and it's showing in his performance.
In observance of the Dong Hyun Kim versus Karo fight, I actually thought Karo was out fought the entire match.

Ever since his loss to Diego Sanchez, Karo's never looked the same; he put up a great fight, but reaching such a high and still losing in a close bout must have put a dent in his confidence. I love Karo's skill set, hes a very well rounded fighter. His judo throws and ability to get out of sticky submissions places him as one of the best Jiu Jitsu fighters, but he severely needs to work on his striking; versus Dong Hyun, Karo's striking was inadequate.

Don Hyun had his back for most of the match but never truly capitalized, he still managed to hit Karo more and attempt more submissions on the ground, which makes it hard to believe Karo should have won; this was purely on a name basis and it being Don Hyun's third fight in the UFC with not much name value whatsoever. 

Shogun Rua, a Mirage?

Born in Curitiba in Brazil, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, who is at a ripe age of 28, needs to prove to the world that he still belongs in the top rankings of the light heavyweight division. Shogun was highly touted in PRIDE, with big victories by knockout on Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Alistair Overeem, Ricardo Arona, and a unanimous decision over Antonio Rogeiro Nogueira. Shogun was the man to defeat in PRIDE and was feared by many fighters.

However, in 2007, Shogun made his debut in the octagon in UFC 76 against the winner of the first Ultimate Fighter, Forest Griffin. Entering the fight Shogun's MMA record was 16-2 with 13 of those victories by knockout. Shogun was considered as the heavy favorite to win the fight but Forest had different plans for him as he was able to submit him with a rear naked choke. Shogun appeared to gas very quickly in the fight and was unable to keep pace with the gym rat Griffin.

Preparing for UFC 85, Shogun had suffered a ruptured ACL during training which has kept him out of action for a full year. Shogun returned to the octagon in UFC 93 and had his revenge over Mark Coleman who had defeated him in PRIDE 31 because he had a elbow dislocation during a takedown by Coleman. Shogun won by TKO with uppercuts and strikes near the end of the third round. However, even with the win Shogun had appeared very tired and 'gassed' like he did against Forest Griffin. The stoppage by the referee was very questionable and his match was against a fighter who is very much past his prime.

One major transition that Shogun had to adapt to in the UFC was the use of soccer kicks and head stomps. In many of his fights in PRIDE, Rua had made great usage of these two techniques. However, in the UFC, you are not allowed to use knees and kicks to the a downed opponent, these are North America's MMA rules. Which could possibly explain his decline in the UFC.

Shogun's next fight is against Chuck Liddell in UFC 97 on April 19th. This fight is a must win for Shogun to be able to gain his reputation back as is for Liddell to return to the top. If Shogun does not increase his cardio and demonstrate his abilities like he did in PRIDE, Shogun will become what many mma fighters turn out to be, a mirage.

Pros (Rich Franklin) vs Joes

Thiago Alves, The #1 Contender

“It’ll be a great fight. I’m very excited, I can’t wait … It’s going to be great. I saw what he did with BJ Penn and I’ll have to beat him a lot, do my game. I expected and didn’t expect [St. Pierre to dominate Penn] understood? (laughs). I knew he would win, but not this way. He’s much bigger than the BJ, a better athlete, and the sport today, in that level, you have to be the best athlete. I’ll go there to knock him out.”

Thiago Alves is the #1 contender to face GSP for the Welterweight title and it definitely wont come easy. Thiago Alves began his Muay Thai training when he was 15 and mixed martial arts when he was 17, he currently holds a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Alves's most recent UFC success has come against Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck, both fighters who are highly respected in the UFC. In UFC 85, Alves failed to make weight for the welterweight fight, coming in with 174 pounds. However, Matt Hughes still agreed to fight and it was a big mistake. Alves had surprised the MMA world by dominating the former champion in every aspect. In the first round Alves showed us that he improved his takedown defense, as Matt Hughes could not take him down. Alves went on to earn a TKO stoppage by hitting Hughes with a flying knee and finishing him with ground and pound.

Josh Koscheck replaced Diego Sanchez in UFC 90 and lost to Alves by unanimous decision by throwing excellent leg kicks and knocking Koschek down multple times.

Dana White has announced that Alves, as the number one contender to face the winner of the welterweight championship fight in UFC 94, which we now know is GSP. Alves was surprised that GSP had dominated Penn in such a fashion and if Alves plans to strip GSP of his belt, he is going to have to improve on every aspect of his game.