From Russia with gloves, "Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko(28-1) stamped his heavyweight dominance on "Maine-iac" Tim Sylvia's (24-5) head in Anaheim, east of Los Angeles, 19 July. His dismantling of "Big" Tim in 36 seconds earned him the Fighters.com Heavyweight Championship, jumping from sixth and dumping Sylvia from third to seventh. The "W" strips naked UFC President Dana White's proclamation that all other promotions are the minor leagues, at least at north of 205-pounds. In fact, Emelianenko's victory makes clear that the Octagon hasn't been the proving grounds for the world's top heavyweights for quite some time. The UFC Champ, second-ranked "Minotauro" Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1), took a thrashing from Sylvia in February before tapping the two-time UFC titlist in a guillotine. Nogueira loses his Fighters.com Heavyweight Championship, falling into the top contender spot, but a top contender whose register already records two UD losses to the new champ four years ago. Nog' is set to clash with un-ranked former UFC Champ Frank Mir (11-3) after Mir tapped rook' Brock Lesnar (1-1), which tells you all you need to know about the UFC heavyweight class. But, Emelianenko's new promoter, Affliction, is playing the name game too. ...

UFC heavyweight "The Truth" Brandon Vera (8-1) is in the Philippines promoting the UFC, which will begin to air in the nation on SkyCable Channel 34. Vera's father, Ernesto, is Filipino from Quezon and "The Truth" is Tagalog-fluent. A report by Manila Standard Today quotes Vera as describing his 6 June foe, Fighters.com's seventh-ranked heavyweight "Vai Cavalo" Fabricio Werdum, as "My most dangerous foe to date.  I’ve never fought someone as good and as dangerous as Fabricio." Vera will rebound from an October 2007 unanimous decision loss to Fighters.com's third-ranked heavyweight and former UFC champ "Maine-iac" Tim Sylvia (24-4) in which "The Truth" injured his thumb. "The fight was boring," Vera told the Manila Standard Today.  "It’s one of those fights that I wish I never fought.  It looked like it took half a day when it took only 15 minutes to finish it.” Vera and Werdum will fight in London on the undercard of the "Iceman" Chuck Liddell (21-5) versus Rashad Evans (11-0-1) main event. ...