HeavyMMA.com hands out their MMA Heavyweight rankings for February and Antonio Silva is the biggest mover of the month.

February’s biggest mover in the heavyweight division is Antonio Silva, who jumps up several spots based on the strength of his stunning win over Fedor Emelianenko. It’s true that Emelianenko is not what he once was, but that doesn’t make Silva’s win any less impressive. In 2005, he was heralded as the guy who had the tools and the size to defeat Emelianenko. In 2011, he finally made it happen, and his star is on the rise while Emelianenko’s is dangerously close to fading away for good.

Let’s take a look at February’s rankings for the heavyweight division.

1. Cain Velasquez
Velasquez will be on the mend for the foreseeable future after undergoing a medical prodecure, but he has returned to light cardio work at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose. Of course, “light cardio” for Cain Velasquez is about 10x longer than we’ve ever run in our entire life.

2. Brock Lesnar
You’d never know it to be true, but Lesnar is still in Vegas and is said to be enjoying his time coaching The Ultimate Fighter a great deal. Once he finishes the coaching gig, he’ll return to Minnesota and begin preparations for Junior dos Santos.

Check out the rest of the rankings.

Spencer Kyte of HeavyMMA.com shares ten things we learned from Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva” card.

It would be easy to start this assessment of the news that came out of Saturday’s Strikeforce event talking about Fedor Emelianenko, but that would be a disservice to Antonio Silva.

The massive Brazilian executed a tremendous game plan and showed he belongs in the hunt of the Heavyweight Grand Prix title, working a more technical approach in the opening round and stinging Emelianenko several times before taking him down at the outset of the second frame. From there, Silva put a beating on the iconic Russian, landing hammerfists from mount and cinching in strong chokes a couple different times.

When the round ended, Emelianenko was a mess, his right eye swollen shut and purple welts painting his face, leading the doctor to call an end to the bout. Silva was overjoyed, and showed the utmost respect for his opponent, walking over to kneel at Fedor’s feet before shaking his hand and giving him a kiss on the head.

Read the full article.

HeavyMMA.com writes that Fedor Emelianenko is pondering retirement after losing to Antonio Silva in the Stirkeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament.

We may have seen the legendary Fedor Emelianenko’s fighting career come to an end on Saturday at “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva” at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

“The Last Emperor” suffered his second loss in a row to Antonio Silva in the opening round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament via doctor stoppage.

The former Pride Champion may have announced his retirement following the loss.

“Something went wrong from the very beginning, and I couldn’t readjust myself. Maybe it’s time to leave,” Emelianenko said in his post-fight interview.

“Yes, maybe it’s the last time,” added Fedor. “Maybe it’s God’s will.”

Read the full article.

Jeremy Botter of HeavyMMA.com writes that American Kickboxing Academy product Mike Kyle will face Antonio Silva on Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu” even in San Jose.

Kyle replaces Valentijn Overeem, who pulled out of the fight last week with an elbow injury.
HeavyMMA.com confirmed the switch with a Strikeforce official on Monday afternoon. The news was first reported by MMA Junkie.

Kyle has competed mostly at light heavyweight this year, but will return to his original weight class to face Silva, who is considered a contender for Strikeforce’s heavyweight title. Since losing to Fabricio Werdum in August 2009, Kyle has put together a six-fight win streak.

Silva is coming off a win over Andrei Arlovski in May. His Strikeforce record stands at 1-1.

Read more MMA headlines.

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery takes place tonight at 10PM ET on Showtime with some interesting fights. The promotion is looking to erase the memory of the live brawl on CBS during its last show and to do so, they need some solid fights out of their heavyweights tonight. Here is my take on the bouts and who I think will win.

Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship – Alistair Overeem (32-11) vs. Brett Rogers (10-1) – Overeem hasn’t fought for Strikeforce since 2007, yet somehow is still their heavyweight champion. Despite the long layoff from the promotion, he has fought overseas a number of times, with his last seven fights ending in the first round and all six wins ending in less than two minutes. Rogers is coming off his first MMA loss, to Fedor Emelianenko last November. The key for him in this fight will be what did he learn from that loss. Overeem likes to attack and end the fight early, as does Rogers, but Overeem has the experience to know not to put himself in a bad position. I think experience pays off in this fight as Overeem is able to defeat Rogers by TKO late in the first.

Heavyweight Bout – Andrei Arlovski (15-7) vs. Antonio Silva (13-2) – Arlovski has fallen on hard times, getting quickly knocked out by Rogers and Fedor in his last two fights. This will be his first bout in nearly a year and he understands the importance of a win, as he has switched up camps and went to Jackson’s MMA and American Kickboxing Academy for training. Silva is a good fighter, but he hasn’t beaten anyone of note in his career. He could land a big punch on Arlovski’s weak chin, but look for the Bela-Russian to work combos and leg kicks to eventually earn a TKO in round three.

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Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Former UFC heavyweight Jeff Monson was charged with “malicious mischief” after he was photographed spraying an anarchy symbol on the Washington State capitol building. (That’s frowned upon, apparently.) He faces up to ten years in prison.

- “UFC Primetime” debuted Wednesday night on Spike TV. The slickly-produced three-part documentary series focuses on the rivalry between lightweight champion BJ Penn and welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, leading up to their superfight on January 31st in Las Vegas.

- Exiled from the U.S. because of a steroid charge, Brazilian heavyweight Antonio Silva may soon be fighting Aleksander Emelianenko in Japan. He’s also not the biggest fan of Kimbo Slice.

- We’d let sexy jiu-jitsu champion Kyra Gracie choke us out any day.

- T-shirt powerhouse Affliction will hold their second MMA show next Saturday in Anaheim, featuring a kick-ass main event. But will anybody be watching?

- Newly-crowned UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans may have to defend his belt against former champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson after just a ten-week layoff. It would be the first time in UFC history that two African-American fighters fought for a title.

- “UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson” goes down tomorrow in Dublin, Ireland. CagePotato.com will be liveblogging the pay-per-view broadcast beginning at 3 p.m. ET. For a preview of the action, check out this rundown of the three marquee matchups, these profiles on the five fighters who will be stepping into the Octagon for the first time, and some helpful betting advice.
Ben vs. Ben: UFC 93 Edition
UFC 93 New Guys
UFC 93 Gambling Addiction Enabler