History was made tonight when Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko captured the inaugural WAMMA heavyweight title headlining “Affliction Banned,” before an enthusiastic, capacity crowd of 13,989, including many Hollywood and sports celebrities at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

“Affliction Live” on FSN kicked-off the evening with Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello (26-10) winning a three-round decision against Gary “Big Daddy” Goodrich (23-18-1), while Victor “The Phenom” Belfort (17-8) knocked out veteran Terry Martin (16-5) in the second round of their middleweight bout.

Emelianenko (28-1) cemented his legacy as the greatest MMA heavyweight fighter ever, arguably the No. 1 pound-for-pound MMA warrior of all-time, by forcing former 2-time UFC® heavyweight title-holder Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia (24-5) to tapout only 31-seonds into the first round of the main event.

After the fight Emelianenko, the former undisputed PRIDE® heavyweight champion and Russian M-1 legend, named superstar Randy Couture as his choice to fight next in what would be an All-World showdown of MMA’s two biggest stars. “I would be very honored to fight Randy Couture.”

Tim, although disheartened by the loss, spoke highly of his opponent, “I was amazed at how good he is. The guy’s a stud. I don’t think he’s human. He’s incredible. I don’t think anybody’s going to beat him for a while.”

“Affliction Banned,” presented by Affliction Entertainment in association with Roy Englebrecht Promotions, featured half of the top 10 heavyweights in the world fighting on pay-per-view. “I’m extremely happy,” Affliction vice president Tom Atencio said about the show. “It was an amazing crowd with amazing fights. Look for us again in November.”

The co-feature of the night was a classic MMA war between a pair of punishing strikers. Former UFC® heavyweight title-holder Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (13-5) exploded with a barrage of punches and kicks from all angles en route to a third-round KO of ex-IFL® titlist “Big” Ben Rothwell (29-6).

“The Pitbull” was jubilant as he returned to his old dominant form against Ben. “Tomorrow I’ll see what I did wrong, but tonight I’m going to celebrate this victory. I’m very excited. I’ve fought many great fighters and tonight I wanted to show my best performance.” Andrei even goes as far as to ask for his next opponent, “I want to fight Fedor, Josh or anybody Affliction chooses.”

The PPV action continued with three more monster battles as heavyweight Josh “The Baby Faced Assassin” Barnett (23-5) fought stateside for the first time in two years and avenged his only loss by knock out (7 years ago) with a vicious one-punch (left hook) stoppage of Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo (16-8); light heavyweight Renato “Babalu” Sobral (30-7) out-dueled three-time All-American wrestler Mike Whitehead (20-6) by third-round decision; 2000 Olympic Wrestling Silver Medalist and Oregon House of Representative candidate, Matt “The Law” Lindland (21-5) took a three-round decision versus middleweight Fabio “Negao” Nascimento (8-4).

Also on the “Affliction Banned” PPV show, heavyweight Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira (14-3) scored a first-round win by technical knockout against Edwin “Babyface” Dewees (35-13); welterweight Mike “Quicksand” Pyle (18-5-1) defeated JJ Ambrose (9-2) by second-round submission; lightweight Mark “The Machine” Hominick (16-8) made Savant Young (8-8) tapout in the second round.

Results:
Fedor Emelianenko def. Tim Sylvia by submission (rear naked choke) at :36 seconds, R1
Andrei Arlovski def. Ben Rothwell by KO at 1:13, R3
Josh Barnett def. Pedro Rizzo by KO at 1:44, R2
Mark Hominick def. Savant Young by submission (armbar) at 4:25, R2
Renato "Babalu" Sobral def. Mike Whitehead by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) R3
Matt Lindland def. Fabio Negao by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27) R3
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Edwin Dewees by TKO (punches on the ground) at 4:06, R1
Mike Pyle def. J.J. Ambrose by submission (rear naked choke) at 2:51, R1
Vitor Belfort def. Terry Marin by KO at 3:12, R2
Paul Buentello def. Gary Goodridge by Unanimous Decision (30-27 All Three Cards)