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Fedor Emelianenko, the Russian who's widely regarded as the best heavyweight in mixed martial arts, lived up to his reputation tonight with a victory over Tim Sylvia at the Affliction: Banned show in Anaheim.

Emelianenko took just 36 seconds to knock Sylvia down with a series of powerful strikes, take his back and force him to tap out with a rear-naked choke. Fedor absolutely destroyed the much bigger Sylvia -- it was a dominant performance.

The Affliction show was hyped as the best heavyweight card in the history of mixed martial arts, and it had some big knockouts, including Josh Barnett stopping Pedro Rizzo with a brutal left hook, and Andrei Arlovski knocking out Ben Rothwell with a powerful combination.

Other results on the Affliction card: Renato "Babalu" Sobral beat Mike Whitehead, Matt Lindland beat Fabio Nascimento, Paul Buentello beat Gary Goodridge, Vitor Belfort beat Terry Martin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueria beat Edwin DeWees.

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva moved up to light heavyweight tonight and did what he usually does: He dominated, beating James Irvin with a first-round TKO.

Silva showed once again that he is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, catching Irvin's kick in the first round, punching Irvin in the face with one hand while holding his foot with the other, and finishing the entire fight in just 1 minute, 1 second.

The Silva fight was the main event on a Spike TV card that UFC put together to go head-to-head with tonight's Affliction show on pay-per-view. In a pair of undercard fights featuring Ultimate Fighter season seven cast members, C.B. Dollaway beat Jesse Taylor and Tim Credeur beat Cale Yarbrough, both in the first round.

In what was supposed to be the most important of the undercard fights, Brandon Vera put together an incredibly lackluster unanimous decision victory over Reese Andy. It was a very disappointing showing by Vera, who just isn't as good a fighter as UFC wants him to be.

In other televised UFC fights tonight, Frank Edgar beat Hermes Franca with an impressive unanimous decision, Cain Velasquez dominated Jake O'Brien and Kevin Burns beat Anthony Johnson with a questionable TKO after Burns poked Johnson in the eye. In the non-televised fights, Rory Markham beat Brodie Farber, Nate Loughran beat Johnny Rees, Brad Blackburn beat James Giboo and Shannon Gugerty beat Dale Hartt.

Notes from a trip to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Patrick Ewing may be an assistant coach for the Magic, but as he was quick to tell me, his presence in Las Vegas this weekend is strictly for family reasons. I chatted with him yesterday as we watched his son, Patrick Ewing, Jr., and the rest of the Sacramento Kings take on the Golden State Warriors.

Matt Watson: Of all the young big men that you've seen so far, who sticks out the most?

Patrick Ewing: Dwight Howard. (Laughing.) I haven't watched enough of these [summer league players] to say who's sticking out. I'm just here to be a father, to watch my son. That's all I'm here to do, to watch him, to evaluate him.

MW: What is that like for you? Everything that you've gone through, to now see your son going through the whole process, too?

Ewing: I think it's great. That's his dream to play in the NBA. He's moved one step closer to his dream becoming a reality. And I'm just happy. I'm proud of him. He's done an outstanding job -- he's graduated college, had an outstanding college career, and he's just a great person.

Notes from a trip to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

You have to give it to Joey Dorsey. If you want to immediately show the coaching staff and your teammates that you're willing to stand up for your guys, getting thrown out of a summer league game is kind of the way to go. Apparently Dorsey found a hard foul given by Dee Brown to Gustavo Barrera was a bit out of line, and decided to let Brown know about it. He kept at it, and eventually the ref bounced him . The best part? Yeah, he was in street clothes. He tweaked his ankle yesterday, and took today off. So a 2nd round rookie managed to get himself thrown out of a summer league game that he wasn't actually playing in. We're not sure whether to reward the young man for his tenacity and passion, or simply tell the guy, "Dude. Summer league. Settle down. "

Oh, and by the way, Dee Brown ended up tipping in the game tying shot to send the game to overtime, where the Wizards defeated the Rockets. So there's that.

Notes from a trip to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Ronnie Turiaf gambled by exploring his options in free agency, and it panned out. He signed a 4 year $17 million offer sheet with the Warriors, who desperately need someone with his skillset. The Lakers elected not to match, and so now he's headed to the Bay. Turiaf's known as a fun and likable guy, and he was even kind enough to help out with a halftime activity at the Summer League with a lucky fan. He was nice enough to talk to me about his new teammates, what he brings to the Bay, and oh, yeah, he wouldn't get a head tattoo. Turiaf gave incredibly hard answers, and you can tell he's happy about how things worked out.

MM: How does it feel to sign the new contract?

RT: Huh? (Cocks eyebrow.)

MM: How does it feel to be a Warrior?

RT: Yeah, that's a better question. How does it feel to be a Warrior? It feels great. It's a young team that likes to play fun basketball. They like to run and gun, and play a high speed brand of basketball. So it's a great opportunity for me, and I feel very fortunate that the Warriors felt I could bring something to the table to help them win basketball games.

While I don't really know if "catty" is a valid word in this situation, it seemed like the best description of the confrontation Saturday afternoon at Mid-Ohio.

Two of the IRL IndyCar Series' female drivers, the always-involved Danica Patrick and the always-at-the-back-of-the-pack Milka Duno (occasionally pronounced Milk 'n' Donuts) had some sort of a tiff during a practice session at the road course track.

Or, as the Indianapolis Star's Curt Cavin called it, "an ugly exchange":

Danica Patrick's decision to confront Milka Duno about her driving today at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course led to an ugly exchange between the only two female drivers in the IndyCar Series.

Patrick went to the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing pit box after the morning practice to complain about her struggles to pass Duno, but Duno did not like Patrick's style. [...]

On a video shot by a friend of Duno's and shown to The Star, Duno told Patrick on several occasions to "go away." When Patrick didn't leave immediately, Duno twice threw a towel in Patrick's direction, prompting Patrick to use foul language before the minute-long incident ended.

Kitty say meow!

What? Danica Patrick said some naughty words? Shizzam! And Duno threw a towel? Wow!

Welcome to the live blog for tonight's UFC event, where we'll chat and provide commentary and round-by-round updates of all the UFC fights, including the main event of Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin. The show and our live blog will start at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Recall, if you will, that the University of Iowa's latest football-related legal scandal (aside from last night's public intox arrest of incoming freshman Riley Reiff, anyway) came about six weeks ago when freshman defensive backs Cedric Everson and Abe Satterfield were arrested in connection with an alleged sexual assault. What made the assault case peculiar is that it allegedly happened in late October, and investigations by public safety didn't even take place until about a month later. Everson and Satterfield transferred after the fall semester.

Why the long delay, you may be asking? The victim's mother wondered the same thing.

In a letter to the University dated November 19, 2007 and released today by the Iowa City Press-Citizen, the mother detailed a long list of frustrations in relation to the school's handling of the case. The concerns ranged from the university's preference to keep punishment for the alleged sexual assault "in house" to the general welfare and safety of the alleged victim.

The University offered a response that included the following passage:

The safety and well-being of the student has always been at the forefront of our concern. Each step of the way everyone involved with the University worked in accordance with University policy and procedures and attempted to convey those policies and procedures to the student and her family.

The mother's letter, however, paints a starkly different picture.

Notes from a trip to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Robert "Tractor" Traylor hasn't appeared in the NBA since 2005, but after several stops in Spain, Puerto Rico, and, well, the courthouse, he's hoping to return to the Big Show by earning a roster spot in Summer League. I caught up with Tractor after the Cavs' game yesterday and talked about where he's been and what his future might hold.

Matt Watson: Your career has taken a little bit of a detour. Do you feel like you're on the right path again?

Robert Traylor: Yeah, I think so. I think with this point in time, this opportunity to come out and play in the summer league has given me a great opportunity to get myself back to where I want to be and hopefully be in the NBA when the season starts.

MW: Playing in Spain and Puerto Rico, how does that compare to the competition you face out here?

RT: It's a lot different, but I think in Puerto Rico the competition is actually great. You've got a lot of great players over there. We played a lot of games, like 32 games in 61 days.