Recently in Affliction News Category

Rashad Evans breaks down the collapse of Affliction and the impact on their fighters. Will Tito Ortiz return to the UFC? The crew discusses that idea, as well as a preview of Sengoku 9 and an interview with Miguel Torres.

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with our
correspondent Bob Carson. Bob is also the host of the Carson's Corner
podcast (http://carsonscorner.podomatic.com).

In a lengthy discussion, we focus on the cancellation of the August 1
Affliction mixed martial arts pay-per-view, the subsequent collapse of
the Affliction mixed martial arts promotion, the renewal of an
Affliction Clothing-UFC deal, and the implications of these
developments. As usual, we stand up for the rights of the fighters,
and take a highly critical view of the machinations of these
promotions and the direction they have taken mixed martial arts in
America.

You can play or download No Holds Barred at
http://nhbnews.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-07-25T05_56_38-07_00.

You can also download No Holds Barred at http://www.mediafire.com/?tohw2gjznjn.

from Kevin Iole:
After promoting two critically acclaimed but financially disastrous mixed martial arts cards, Affliction on Friday first canceled its pay-per-view card scheduled for Aug. 1 and then opted to get out of the promotional business, Yahoo! Sports has learned.

The company and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are expected to release a statement sometime on Friday in which it is announced that Affliction will cease operations as a promoter and that its clothing division will become a UFC sponsor.

Affliction had a card slated for Aug. 1 with a main event of Fedor Emelianenko, the No. 2 fighter in the Yahoo! Sports mixed martial arts rankings, against former UFC champion Josh Barnett at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

from sherdog.com:
A week of misfortune turned to disaster for Affliction Entertainment on Friday, as the promotion canceled Affliction "Trilogy," which had been scheduled for Aug. 1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

"Finding an opponent for the number one-ranked MMA heavyweight champion in such a short period of time was a huge endeavor, and I'm thrilled at the amount of fighters willing to take on this challenge," Affliction Entertainment Vice President Tom Atencio said in a news release. "But in the end, we just didn't have enough time to promote a new fight to our standards."

SI.com reported the news first Friday morning, and Sherdog.com confirmed shortly after. The cancellation -- which could spell the end of Affliction's year-long run as a mixed martial arts promotion -- comes on the heels of heavyweight Josh Barnett's failed drug test, which forced him out of the "Trilogy" main event against Fedor Emelianenko on Wednesday. Barnett, 32, tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid and was denied licensure by the California State Athletic Commission.

Promoters scrambled to find a replacement opponent for Emelianenko and reportedly considered middleweight Vitor Belfort, light heavyweight prospect Muhammed Lawal and heavyweights Brett Rogers, Paul Buentello, Jeff Monson and Bobby Lashley.

Atencio declined to comment further when reached by Sherdog.com.

Ted's Take: So, if this is Affliction's death knell as an MMA promotion, what does it mean for Fedor? Will he finally jump to the UFC? I say no. With Dana White and the Fertitta brothers on one side, and as White has called them, "Those crazy Russians" on the other side, I don't think they'll ever be able to compromise enough to ink a deal. Fedor could fight for Strikeforce, or other M-1 events in Russia, and definitely in Japan, but we'll most likely never see him inside the Octagon.

man, I'm getting' psyched for this one. Here's some ticket info.

And Kimber too, modeling some of Affliction's new threads. Don't forget Affliction Trilogy on Aug. 1.

Japanese combat fighting superstar Takanori "The Fireball Kid" Gomi has been added to the Affliction M-1 Global's locked-and-loaded "Trilogy" card against upset-minded Rafaello "Tractor" Oliveira, completing the five-fight Pay-Per-View event, live August 1 from Honda Center in Anaheim.

The premier heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter in the universe, Russian icon Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko (30-1-0), defends his WAMMA heavyweight title against No. 1 contender, Josh "The Babyfaced Assassin" Barnett (24-5-0), in the special main event.

Gilbert Yvel, who was tooled on by Josh Barnett at Affliction: Day of Reckoning, gets the KO on Pedro Rizzo and the right to fight Paul Buentello at Affliction: Trilogy on Aug. 1.

from m-1 global:
With former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort refusing to agree to former DREAM middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi's challenge to meet at a catchweight, a new opponent for Mousasi has been secured for his first-ever fight on U.S. soil to take place on at Affliction: Trilogy.

Sources close to Mousasi have informed www,M-1Global.com that current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion and former UFC competitor Renato "Babalu" Sobral is expected to finalized as his opponent.

from mmajunkie.com
Top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko (30-1) has confirmed what most of already knew: He's agreed to fight former UFC champion Josh Barnett (24-5) at Affliction's upcoming third show.

Affliction hasn't officially announced the fight, though Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio and representatives for Barnett have said agreements are in place.

Affliction III takes place Aug. 1. As Atencio recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio), it's expected to be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

The night's main card airs on pay-per-view, and the preliminary card is expected to air on HDNet.

Emelianenko today told M-1Global.com about the fight with Barnett.

"I am always 100 percent involved in the negotiations especially with regards to the Barnett fight," Emelianenko stated. "We discussed this fight with the whole team (trainers, coaches, management), so as a team we agreed to a fight with Barnett."

Gegard Mousasi with his DREAM belts.

By Dann Stupp, mmajunkie.com:
Soon after his dominant victory over Mark Hunt in the open-weight "Super Hulk" tournament at Tuesday's DREAM.8 event, Gegard Mousasi said he was scheduled to fight former UFC champ Vitor Belfort at Affliction III.

Mousasi, who recently vacated his DREAM middleweight title to move up a weight class, assumed the fight would take place at light heavyweight.

However, after Belfort told Tatame.com that he would only fight at middleweight and questioned the starpower of his potential opponent, Mousasi has now issued a challenge: fight at a catch-weight.

Gegard Mousasi is one of - if not the - most talented fighters in the world not signed by the UFC. He's had great success as a middleweight, winning the DREAM tournament, and just recently, he beat Mark Hunt in the heavyweight Super Hulk tournament. His next fight is against Vitor Belfort at the upcoming Affliction event. Take a look at this highlight.

Ever wonder what Andrei Arlovski's been up to since his knock-out loss to Fedor at Affliction: Day of Reckoning? Well, looks like he's been workin' on his sweet dance moves on the Jerry Springer show.

from M-1 Global:
Rumors have been rampant on the Internet the past 24 hours regarding a potential bout between former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett having been signed to take place during Affliction and M-1's yet-to-be announced third event.

While the bout has not been finalized, M-1 Global President Vadim Finkelchtein confirmed to M-1Global.com that formal talks are indeed taking place regarding a Fedor vs. Barnett matchup and that bout agreements could be signed within the next ten days, barring any setbacks.

Thanks to Robert K from www.betwwx.com for the translation:
"Cro Cop: I'll revenge Overeem in July"

Despite being out of the action for all of 2009, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic is getting more offers than ever before in his career.

A total of five MMA organizations (Two Japanese and three American) would like to see Cro Cop fight for them. Cro Cop, for now, is leaning towards Dream. He wants to return to the ring as soon as possible but all options remain on the table.

From a Carmichael Dave Show's post on sherdog.com comes the latest information on the upcoming Affliction event:
I will be reporting on my nightly show tonight and the national show tomorrow evening on CBS that I have spoken with a highly placed source with Affliction who has confirmed the following:

- Affliction is going ahead with plans to have their next show go against UFC 100 in July

- Fedor and Barnett WILL both be on the card, but WILL NOT be fighting each other

- The card will be shown for free in its entirety, network TBA

- No confirmation on whether or not this is the final show for Affliction, but the quote given to me was:

"We arent stupid. We arent bringing a knife to a gun fight. This card will be STACKED from top to bottom."

When I countered that with that statement made, a ton of pressure will be put on Affliction to find a favorable opponent for Fedor (since it will be a natural letdown that it isnt Barnett), the quote was:

"The fans will have ZERO problem with Fedor's opponent."

In other words, the old "one door closes, another opens" philosophy.

Stay tuned, and you can always listen to my show from 9-midnight PST weekdays, and the MMA only program this Saturday from 8-9pm PST at Northern California's Sports Station KHTK - Homepage

Stay tuned...

from FiveOuncesofPain.com:
After counter-programming events promoted by Affliction and EliteXC over the course of the past year, the Ultimate Fighting Championship could be in store for a taste of its own medicine.

Sources have informed FiveOuncesOfPain.com that Affliction Entertainment is currently engaged in preliminary discussions regarding the possibility of promoting its third-ever event on Saturday, July 11. Such a booking would put the promotion in direct competition with the UFC's historic UFC 100 pay-per-view event.

Several fighters and managers have contacted FiveOuncesOfPain.com in recent days informing the site that they have been approached by Affliction officials about the possibility of accepting restructured contracts in order to compete on the show.

Orlando, Florida -- Following Andrei Arlovski's first round knockout loss against WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko during last month's Affliction and M-1 "Day of Reckoning" event, the pollsters for the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA) have voted on a new number one heavyweight contender in its latest rankings release for the month of February.

The rankings, now available at GoWAMMA.com, feature Affliction-contracted heavyweight Josh Barnett (24-5) as the new top contender to the WAMMA heavyweight crown.

Published reports began to circulate soon after DOR that Affliction promoters were looking to sign a match this summer between Emelianenko and Barnett. A fight between the two has yet to be finalized but Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio stated in a video interview with the web site FiveOuncesOfPain.com that he was "hoping" to be able to make the match happen. If signed, it would go down as the first-ever head-to-head match between the two former PRIDE heavyweight stars.

from mmaweekly.com:

Fedor Emelianenko confirmed that he will indeed fight on the next Affliction show, although he couldn't name his opponent yet, according to a recent interview on DreamFighters.com. Affliction VP Tom Atencio has long stated that the plan is to pit Fedor against Josh Barnett, but Vitor Belfort is another name that has been tossed around recently.

Perhaps the bigger news though is that Fedor is hopeful to meet face to face with UFC president Dana White this summer with hopes of a bout against Brock Lesnar becoming the fruit of their talks.

"Yes, I will fight again on the next affliction card. Besides this me and my management hope to get a chance to talk to Dana White in person in June to discuss a possible fight between me and Brock," said Fedor in the DreamFighters interview.

Such an outcome has many hurdles before it. Firstly, Lesnar and Frank Mir are expected to meet before June to unify the UFC heavyweight championship. The outcome of that bout could have a big influence on any possible match-ups.

Aside from that, there is the matter that Fedor is under an exclusive contract to Affliction and M-1 Global. The folks that head M-1 Global also handle management duties for the Russian fighter.

A one-off deal or co-promotion is not something that the UFC has even remotely considered to this point, which is a major hurdle for both sides.

"The fact of the matter is that a loan-out is something that the UFC would not desire, they would never go for such a deal," M-1 Global Chief Operating Officer Joost Raimond told MMAWeekly.com last October. "And secondly, the way we have our program set up for the next years, and our event schedules set up, it's just not feasible to have a Fedor fight within the UFC."

The UFC-Fedor soap opera has been a long and winding road, but it looks like there are still a few twists and turns left before we find out what the destination is.

Ted's Take: For those of you who saw Affliction's Day of Reckoning event, you saw Josh Barnett's utter dominance of Gilbert Yvel. Barnett didn't get a submission on the severely ground-handicapped Yvel, but he pounded the crap out fo him, making Yvel tap out to strikes, which you don't see too often. In MMA, a win is a win.

The thing you have to keep in mind about Josh Barnett is not only is he an MMA fighter, he is a student and fan of professional wrestling, which means he knows how to talk a good game and hype things up. Just by looking at this war of words, I can't tell if he' serious or if he's just taking advantage of a situation to generate heat for himself:

Josh's comments on Tapout radio after Florian's criticism on MMA Live 38:Kenny Florian is a punk-ass bitch. He thinks he can put on a suit, shave his stubble off, and get in front of a camera, and it makes him some sort of expert on MMA. I think it just makes him an expert on taking it up the ass, as far as I can tell...if he thinks his ability on the mat can match his mouth, and if he'd like to show me how to throw an armbar, then be my guest....I can fly out to "sit on a dong," grab him, and see what he's got to say now.

Florian's reponse on the Underground:
Anyone who watches MMA Live on ESPN.com knows that I am fair when talking about UFC, Strikeforce, Affliction etc . . . or any of the fighters. In the most recent episode, I spoke about Joe Lauzon's dominant win over Stephens. Joe has spoken negatively about me in several interviews lately but I call it like I see it. He did well against Stephens and dominated the ground action. I also spoke about Strikeforce being a great thing for mma fighters and fans. Criticizing fighters or even picking winners and losers is always tough but it is my job and what ESPN pays me to do. Most here understand that and many here supporting Barnett most likely never saw the episode.

I expected a dominant finish from Barnett because HE IS a top heavyweight going against a man in Yvel who doesn't have his ground skills. Barnett certainly dominated but for whatever the reason, he struggled to put him away. It was my job to tell people watching the show what I thought about the fight.

I have always had a lot of respect for Josh Barnett as a fighter and he has always came across well in the past. Hearing his comments about me shows that while he is a good fighter, he is like school on Sunday, he has no class. I am not sure if Barnett is overly sensitive, sexually frustrated or believes he had a perfect performance, whatever the case, I think the comments he made shows what kind of a background he comes from. He has made some unusual comments about the UFC and other fighters so I find it odd that he is so sensitive.
As a professional mma fighter myself, I have been subjected to a lot of criticism. I think all of my performances are terrible after a few weeks after my fights. I know I need improvement which is why I train so hard. To resort to insults and name calling because someone thought I should have fought better is immature and pointless. We can always do better. We fight on TV and people will criticize. No mysteries here.

It is fighters like Josh Barnett who help support the perception that MMA fighters are ignorant and low class individuals. This is unfortunate since the MMA world needs guys who act like professional athletes if we want people to take this sport seriously. Barnett isn't a kid anymore and has been around the sport for a long time now, he should act like a pro. If we show a lack of respect, how can we want people to respect us?

Either way, thanks for watching MMA Live on ESPN.com. All of our past episodes are available on the MMA page at ESPN.com.

KF

Josh responds to Kenny's post:

Now that I have your attention Kenny, and the rest of the internet it seems, I'll lay it out for you without the attention grabbing obnoxiousness. I have done media work in MMA for years and know the difference between acting as a professional on camera and taking shots at someone. You obviously do not and did not have respect for me as a fighter when you decided to not simply be critical of my performance but talk of it with derision and disdain. Your clearly condescending attitude is where I took offense and when I have fellow fighters sending me messages saying, "Hey, did you see Kenny Florian talking down about you on ESPN?" it's clear to me you're being disrespectful.

Yeah I know all the crass comments were a bit much and "Sit-on-a-dong" in retrospect was in very poor taste. I regret that one. But for grabbing attention and putting more listeners in front of the PC for Shoman and Co. it did the trick. The offer still stands however if you, K-Flo, think you can teach me a two about throwing an armlock or two. Your attitude suggested you sat on a pretty high perch for someone so much my junior in this sport and you must think yourself a better fighter. I'd simply like to see you stand up for that attitude. I have been submitted plenty of times by Matt Hume who is around your weight and you're a professional athlete so no need for anyone to whine about me picking on you Kenny.

Who are you to speak of class or more importantly my background? The only thing you need to know about my background is that no one ever let me act like an arrogant prick without smacking me one. My teachers are men who put up or shut up and take no shit from anybody. See when I started fighting I didn't have the luxury of gyms everywhere, promotions all over the US, sponsors, or even MMA gear. We fought whoever, whenever pretty much regardless of weights, time limits or rules. What you see on Sherdog isn't the extent of my fighting history. Ever fight bare knuckle, with headbutts or no time limit? No cutting and running in those matches buddy boy. No, I bet you didn't. You got all the benefits of a modern MMA created by people like myself and I can tell you what it really means to suffer for a sport when we didn't make dick. But we fought however we could and for free if we had to, just to fight.

You're a kid in this game. A mewling babe sucking from a teet. You haven't done the things I have or even have as many fights as I have wins. You need to realize that just because you fight in the UFC and are on an ESPN internet show, we are not peers. Not even close. Not as fighters, not in MMA knowledge, not in the business aspects, not in anything.

I must say that as a fighter your improvement has been impressive and I think you have come far from the finals of the first TUF. This however is not just about professionalism but about being a man. If you want to speak with contempt and flout be prepared to have own up to it -even if it means having to get physical. That's the way it is.

Don't talk shit if you don't want shit.
Josh

Here's an email I just received from Affliction:
This Friday Affliction AV will be streaming live from the Down for Life - Fight for a Cause event. We think this is a worthy cause and we will donating our efforts to promote this
event. Click here to see the event.

FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHT NIGHT
FEBRUARY 6TH, 2009, 7:00PM PST
THE GROVE AT ANAHEIM

Hosted by Ryan Sheckler and the Sheckler Foundation. This will be an event
featuring a multi disciplined fight night. Proceeds from this event will
benefit Road 2 Recovery and TACA; Talk about Curing Autism.

SCHEDULED TO FIGHT:
Kit Cope (4 time Muay Thai Champion)
Danny Abbadi (The Ultimate Fighter)
Andy Wang (The Ultimate Fighter)
Craig Wilkerson (The OC submission expert)
&
Jason Ellis
(Professional skateboarder and Sirius radio host
will be making this professional MMA debut)

More to be announced...
*fight card subject to change

Plus Special Musical Guest Performance You Don¹t Want To Miss!
- LIL' JON -

:

from tatame.com
What do you expect for you in Affliction?

I was thinking yesterday... I want to make a fight against Fedor (Emelianenko), because my category doesn't have anyone in Affliction yet. I think it'd be quite interesting, as well as Matt (Lindland) fought him. I never thought he was unbeatable, but he's very strategic and the way to beat him is striking up and then go to the ground. (Andrei) Arlovski lost that fight for puerility. A man with a good catch and good hands can win Fedor. He doesn't like to take a punch and showed that against Mark Hunt, and now he won luckily. Arlovski lost to himself.

Did you talk with Tom Atencio (vice-president of Affliction) about this fight against Fedor?

No, I didn't. I thought about this yesterday. It doesn't need to be for the belt, it can be a normal fight, simply for the challenge, I like that... Although I have to lose 20 pounds to the category (middleweight), I see that I'm very strong and technical, I think it'd be a challenge to fight Fedor, an opportunity, as we are in the same event. I'm a fast guy. Although he has a strong hand, I train with hard guys and it wouldn't be a surprise. He's a great fighter, but there are ways to beat him and I believe that.

I've been meaning to do a post-mortem on Affliction - Day of Reckoning for some time now, and it's just getting more and more stale, and with St-Pierre and Penn 2 right around the corner who really cares, right? Well, I do, and I'm sure somebody else out there does too, right?

Well, anyway, I thought it was a great card and that Affliction did an excellent job improving from the mistakes made in their first show, Banned.

To start off, they did away with the musical interludes. I like Megadeth, but their songs between the fights at Banned just seemed to slow things down, although I didn't mind them playing at the show's beginning where all the fighters were introduced to the fans. Ozzy Osbourne was scheduled to play at Day of Reckoning, and no offense to Ozzy, but I'm glad he didn't perform there. Music is fine for fighter entrances, but that's about it.

Although I'm sure they didn't mean for it to be funny, Tito's foray into broadcast journalism was one for the record books, people. I can't tell you how many times the guy flubbed his lines. I'd have more sympathy for him, but I remember him being quoted somewhere before the event saying he thought it was going to be easy, so there you go. I vote Affliction keeps him right where he is for comic relief.

The fighters Afflcition had on this card were pretty much a who's who of dudes who are kick-ass fighters not employed by the UFC. Affliction should keep it that way - strive to get the best competitors out there, then match them up against each other.

The fights themselves were fan-frickin'-tastic: In the first one on the main card, Bobby Green, who listed his style as "hood," kicked Dan Lauzon in the stones three times. Lauzon finally had enough of it, took it to the ground and forced a tap-out by RNC. See, that's one reason why I love MMA - sometimes, justice is swift.

The stunning events continued, with Matt Lindland getting knocked out by Vitor Belfort in seconds - so do we have the "old" Vitor back? Renato "Babalu" Sobral worked his anaconda or was it a d'Arce choke to perfection, sending Sokoudjou packing. Paul Buentello scored a 3rd round TKO against Fedor Emelianenko's protege, Kiril Sidelnikov. Maybe we should see Fedor avenge the loss - it would probably take about 20 seconds. Josh Barnett unleashed an awesome groun-n-pound attack on Gilbert Yvel, setting up a fight between him and WAMMA heavyweight champ Emelianenko.

And finally, the Fedor-Andrei Arlovski fight. It seemed that Arlovski was getting the better of Fedor in the punching exchanges, until he left his feet for a flying knee. Fedor hit him in the jaw, and down Arlovski went, out cold. I had a group of guys over at the house to watch the PPV, and we were all like, what the hell just happened? The punch was so fast, so sudden, all you could see was Arlovski going up, then down. That's one of the most amazing things about Fedor - one little mistake is all it takes, and he capitalizes on it, and the fight's over.

My only regret about the event is that Affliction didn't show more of the undercard fights. I think with Banned, they showed every fight. I would have liked to have caught the Matyushenko-Nogueira fight, and still can't believe it didn't make the main card. I can understand Affliction having a deal with HDNet to show the undercard live, but maybe after the Fedor fight they could've shown them again for the PPV audience.

I really hope this isn't the end for Affliction. A lot of people on the Internet are saying there's no way they can continue, they're spending too much money, blah, blah, blah. We all know it takes money to make money. With partners like WAMMA, Trump, M-1, and Golden Boy, Affliction's got a good shot at survival. The keys to me, is building the brand, i.e., getting coverage by mainstream press like ESPN, and building personalities, like Fedor, Barnett, Arlovski, etc. One more thing - they should consider doing more co-promoting, with other organziations, like Strikeforce or maybe DREAM or Sengoku, to pull in more fans.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -
Fedor Emelianenko Successful During First-Ever Defense of the WAMMA Heavyweight Title

Defending the World Alliance Mixed Martial Arts' Undisputed World Heavyweight Title for the first-time ever, Fedor Emelianenko was successful in retaining his belt after knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski at 3:14 of round 1.

WAMMA would like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate Fedor on his stunning victory, which took place in front of a packed house at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

"In what has grown to become tradition for Fedor fights, he maintained his composure throughout the bout and when he saw an opening to finish the fight, he capitalized," said WAMMA Chief Operating Officer Mike Lynch. "WAMMA could not ask for a more humble and gracious athlete to represent our association as a heavyweight champion."

Fedor vs. Arlovski was just one of 11 total bouts presented by Affliction and M-1 Global during their second-ever pay-per-view event. The crowd that was in attendance was treated to a night of great action and stunning finishes.

"As far as events go, I don't think 'Day of Reckoning' could have gone smoother," said Lynch. "Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio, M-1 owners Sergey Matvienko and Vadim Finkelchtein, Trump Organization COO Michael Cohen, and Golden Boy and their respective staffs were tremendous and we couldn't be more proud of how our partners performed tonight."

In addition to Fedor's victory, Josh Barnett, the number three ranked WAMMA heavyweight in the world, was victorious following a third round submission over former PRIDE star Gilbert Yvel. In the weeks leading up to the bout, Affliction officials had stated that the Barnett vs. Yvel winner would be matched up with the Fedor vs. Arlovski winner.
Barnett's victory sets the stage for a potential showdown against his friend and according to Lynch, it's a fight that WAMMA would have no reservation about sanctioning as a heavyweight title fight.

"As the promoters, Affliction and M-1 are in charge of deciding who will fight Fedor next," Lynch began. "However, if Fedor vs. Barnett is the matchup that ends up being made, I can say with all certainty that as the third ranked heavyweight in our rankings poll, WAMMA will have no reservations about sanctioning Barnett against Fedor as a five-round WAMMA heavyweight title fight."

Man, you can really see the height difference here. 'Course this photo appears to have been taken from the pit at the front of the stage where the media was being kept. Still, I bet Arlovski has at least 5 or 6 inches on Fedor. Doesn't matter - Fedor's fought taller guys before.

Anyway, I watched the last three match-ups as I joined the weigh-ins in progress. Gotta say, Affliction has a long way to go until they reach the level the UFC at as far as production. There was a lot, I mean a lot, of dead air, and blank screen time. But, I was pretty much able to look past that and concentrate on the fighters. Here's who I saw:

Matt Lindland (186) vs. Vitor Belfort (184)
Vitor looked absolutely ripped, Lindland looked pretty much the same as he always does. We'll see if Vitor can get re-hydrated by fight time.

Gilbert Yvel (240) vs. Josh Barnett (248).
Yvel looked to be in good shape, but this was the heaviest I've ever heard of him weighing. I wonder what effect it'll have on his fight game, as he's not used to being that big. Barnett was the same as always, maybe a little smaller, I think he usually weighs in around 250-255. Maybe the lost weight will help him move quicker.

Andrei Arlovski (237) vs. Fedor Emelianenko (230)
Arlovski was ripped, while Fedor was his usual doughy self. That's the big mystery with Fedor - how someone who looks like the plumber can be the number-one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. Just goes to show being cut isn't the be-all-and-end-all of being a good athlete.

Here are the rest of the weigh-ins, courtesy of mmaweekly.com:

-Renato "Babalu" Sobral (204) vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (205.25)
-Paul Buentello (244) vs. Kiril "Baby Fedor" Sidelnikov (229.5)
-Dan Lauzon (155.5) vs. Bobby Green (155.5)

HDNet Bouts:
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (204.75) vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (204.5)
-Jay Hieron (169.25) vs. Jason High (170)
-L.C. Davis (143.75) vs. Bao Quach (145.5)
-Antonio Duarte (145) vs. Albert Rios (145)
-Brett Cooper (169) vs. Patrick Speight (169)

Here's an email I received today:
"AV LIVE with be broadcasting from the hotel lobby
starting at 10am PST. We will have guests that will include fighters,
trainers, and celebs. We will be giving away some merchandise and tickets.
We will be streaming till some time in the evening. Hdnet will air the
weight-ins live and ESPN will be streaming live. Then we will post an edited
version of the weight-ins."

This is Affliction's AV Live portal. All day today, they're streaming from the Affliction Day of Reckoning Fighter Center in Anaheim CA, capturing pre-fight interviews and playing clips in dead time.

Josh Barnett, Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski and Gilbert Yvel at Wednesday's Affliction - Day of Reckoning press conference. For the full fight card for Saturday's event, click here.

Can you imagine being in the same room with The Baddest Man on the Planet?

from sherdog.com
NEW YORK -- Up front sat Oscar De La Hoya, Tito Ortiz, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Vadim Finkelstein and Fedor Emelianenko, all of them, to varying degrees, collaborating with Affliction to make a run in the UFC-dominated world of MMA.

"A little competition really doesn't hurt," said De La Hoya at the Tuesday afternoon news conference, which promoted Affliction's "Day of Reckoning" event headlined by Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski.

De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions announced a partnership with Affliction in September, but the strength of the relationship has been questioned. While Emelianenko and Arlovski meet Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., Golden Boy will also be promoting a boxing bout between Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley about 30 miles away at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Here's two promos for this one-hour special on Fox Sports Net, to be shown at 9 p.m. tonight:

Affliction held its first pay-per-view, Banned, last year, featuring some of the top fighters in the world, including Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett, Pedro Rizzo, Andrei Arlovski and Renato "Babalu" Sobral. Today at 6 p.m., Affliction will replay the event in its entirety. Just CLICK HERE to go to the site. Enjoy, dammit!

Bouncing back from his UFC release, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou takes on the always-game - and current Strikeforce LHW champ - Renato "Babalu" Sobral.

Fedor Emelianenko gets this jewel-encrusted bad boy just prior to his WAMMA heavyweight title bout at Affliction's Day of Reckoning Jan. 24.

The card boasts such MMA greats as as Fedor, Andrei Arlovski, Babalu Sobral, Josh Barnett and Matt LIndland. Affliction recently fired back at critics who said sales were slumping, countering that sales are going just fine, thank you very much.

from mmanews.com: Despite reports that ticket sales have been dismal for their second offering, Affliction has released the following press release stating that they actually have had to open up more seats due to demand:

Pamela Rogers sent along the following:

Seal Beach, CA (January 13, 2009)•Ticket sales for the much-anticipated Affliction M-1 "Day of Reckoning" are going well, Honda Center has had to reconfigure its theater to accommodate more seats. Despite the tight economy, fight fans are choosing "Day of Reckoning" as the must-see event of the year, with its stacked to bursting line-up of stellar matches from top to bottom.

The event is headlined by a dream match-up between World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts Heavyweight Champion, Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko and top-ranked heavyweight contender Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski. The two adversaries will be battling it out in hand-to-hand combat for the WAMMA championship belt and to prove who will be recognized as the most dominant heavyweight mixed martial artist of the world.

Here's some excerpts from a story on fightline.com. Looks like Andrei Arlovski's trainer, Freddie Roach, who usually trains boxers, is trying to goad the current World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts heavyweight champion into a stand-up war when they headline Affliction: Day of Reckoning Jan. 24.

"As far as his stand up game, we'll kill him," said Roach. "If we can keep the fight standing up, if he chooses to fight us like a man, we'll dominate him...He throws one punch after the other. He's very predictable. He makes the same moves every time. He's very common. His boxing game is weak. From what I can see, I think Andre's going to be sharper. I think we're going to knock him out."

Here's Fedor's response:

"The beauty about MMA is that every fighter has his own unique style and preferences. But it's not a beauty contest. We fight to see which fighter's approach prevails. But again, we are not boxing and we are not fighting Sambo. We fight MMA. Sometimes it is a trainer's job to point out weaknesses in his fighter's opponents. And sometimes it is a trainer's job to convince his fighter that his opponent has weaknesses. We will see."

Also, today it was announced that Fedor would be receiving a heavyweight championship ring from WAMMA.

DreamFighters.com staff spoke with Alistair Overeem's management today to try and get a statement on the progress of talks with the UFC, as Mr. Overeem stated in a previous interview with DreamFighters.com.

DreamFighters.com asked management today of Alistair Overeem how talks were going with the UFC. Here is what he had to say.

"We are in contact with UFC, Dream, Affliction among others, more I can not say!"

So, Alistair could be going to the UFC (Lesnar, Mir) or possibly head over to Affliction MMA (Barnett, AA, Fedor). Either way he goes, it should be very exciting to watch him try and climb to the top, as it appears he is very close to the top of his game, and is shocking everyone with his sudden rise in fight quality.

Josh Barnett

Former UFC heavyweight champion (and still current Pancrase champ, I think) Josh "The Baby-Faced Assassin" takes on Dutch fighter Gilbert Yvel at Affliction's Day of Reckoning on Jan. 24. Here's what Josh had to say about Yvel's reputation as a dirty fighter, especially the time when Yvel knocked out a referee:

"I'd like to hear his side of the story on that one," Barnett said on M-1 Global's Web site. "Because sometimes, there have been a few referees I could have knocked out, although it's not anything I'm ever going to do. We're human beings."

But when it comes to fighting dirty, if Yvel tries anything, Barnett won't tolerate it.

"When it comes to going crazy, like fouls or infractions or anything like that, I don't worry about that, because nobody will take it as far as I will...that much I know," he said. "If somebody wants to poke my eyes or bite me, that's my career, and if it's not an eye for an eye, it will be an eye for both your eyes, some of your teeth, your limbs, whatever I can get before somebody pulls me off of you."

source: mmaweekly.com

Yvel training and talking about his upcoming bout with Barnett.

thanks to sherdog.com
With little more than a month to go before Affliction's second event, "Day of Reckoning" scheduled for Jan. 24 in Anaheim, Calif., Sherdog.com's Tim Leidecker breaks down the main event for the WAMMA heavyweight championship: No. 1-ranked Fedor Emelianenko vs. No. 3-ranked Andrei Arlovski.

Striking

Arlovski comes from a kickboxing background and always makes an effort to move well technically in his fights. However, with the exception of the overhand right he used to knock out Paul Buentello and Ben Rothwell, the Belarusian does not possess any true "winner" punches.

In addition, he has shown a tendency to lose much of his technique as fights progress into the later rounds (see the third bout in his trilogy with Tim Sylvia, as well as the Pedro Rizzo and Fabricio Werdum fights), as he adopts more of a brawling style. This has cost him on a number of occasions, including his knockout losses to Rizzo, Sylvia and obscure journeyman Viacheslav Datsik. The loss to Datsik in his professional debut earned Arlovski a reputation for having a glass jaw.

Emelianenko, meanwhile, has never been known as a world-class striker but has become feared for his ferocious ground-and-pound. Still, the stocky sambo stylist can more than hold his own against the best strikers in the game. He has outboxed K-1 veterans Gary Goodridge and Mirko Filipovic in the past and has used knockdowns to set up his submissions, most recently against the 6-foot-8 Sylvia at Affliction on July 19.

Though he may lack Arlovski's technical skills, Emelianenko's hand speed and power, especially from short distances and even inside the clinch, should not be underestimated.

Arlovski: 3.5 / 5
Emelianenko: 3 / 5

Featuring Tito Ortiz - who has been hired as a color commentator - with Sisqo-like hair and a lavender suit.

Here's the line-up and photos, thanks to sherdog.com:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski
Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel
Vitor Belfort vs. Matt Lindland
Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon
Paul Buentello vs. Kirill Sidelnikov

HDNet Fights lineup:

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Jay Hieron vs. Jason High
Mark Hominick vs. L.C. Davis
Albert Rios vs. Antonio Duarte
Brett Cooper vs. Patrick Speight

Andrei Arlovski

I knew Chris Horodecki looked young, but man, he's the real baby-faced assassin.

Josh-u Barnett-o (that's how they say it over in Japan).

Vitor Belfort and Matt Lindland square off.

Skoudjou vs. Babalu

Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko

Looks like the contest is just about over, and I'm way behind in the voting, so instead of putting the link up, I'll just let you see what Tom and I came up with.

Here we have a video of Andrei doing some boxing rounds, some muay Thai and then a punch-out at the end.

I know the general election is long gone, but I'm talking about a different kind of voting. Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski, who is fighting Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction's Day of Reckoning event in January, is holding a contest on his Web site. What do you have to do? Tape your favorite workout routine, upload it on his site, and get the most votes.

So, Tom Joyce and I went to my gym, Hard-Kohr Health and Fitness (formerly Yorktowne Health and Raquet) and filmed this video. All you have to do is click on the link, watch the video and rate it - five stars, please.

Go back and view it as many times as you like. Thanks. Oh, and the winner gets a trip to Chicago to meet Andrei and his trainer and go though a workout. Now that's awesome. So, you know if I win, I'm dragging Tom to the Windy City and we'll film mad videos to upload here for all you guys.

If for any reason, you can't get through on the highlighted link above, here's the actual Web site address for the video:

http://www.arlovski.com/video/video/show?id=2076198:Video:66782

from M-1 Global's Web site:
This week a crew headed by M-1 Global's Jerry Millen will fly to Stary Oskol, home town of WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. His training and preparation will be taped.

During the whole course of official preparation his actions will be taped by three cameramen. At the end an 'All Access'-style program will be delivered and probably even broadcast on TV. Moreover several champion's open training sessions will be taped as well.

The Russian's training camp is ongoing for two weeks already.

Small videoclips, leading to January,24-th, will be put on Internet.

Sokoudjou

Babalu

Affliction Entertainment's second card, "Day of Reckoning," is nearly complete with the likely addition of a familiar face.

UFC and PRIDE veteran light-heavyweight Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (5-3) is currently in negotiations to face previously announced participant Renato "Babalu" Sobral (31-7) at the Jan. 24 event in Anaheim, Calif.

Afflicition announced the matchup very inconspicuously with an updated fight card on the official website for the event, but Affliction vice president Tom Atencio told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the deal is not yet finalized.

"We're working on it right now," Atencio said. It hasn't been finalized, but we're definitely working on it."

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Tom and I talk UFC Fight for the Troops, Afflcition's Day of Reckoning and the latest Tap or Sleep news.

Irma Verhoeff, the 6'8", 220-pound, Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve, and coach "Dirty" Bob Schrijber.

by John Joe O'Regan of fightersonly magazine:

Young Dutch heavyweight Stefan Struve is being courted by the UFC and a number of other large MMA promotions.

Struve (22-2) told Fighters Only today that he and his coach Bob Schreiber have been discussing a deal with UFC executives.

"We're in talks but we didn't sign anything yet. We've got a couple of options so we are looking at the best one now," he said.

"We have also talked with both Dream and Affliction, so there will be a choice to make!"

On the subject of the UFC's heavyweight division, the tall Dutchman said: "If we go to the UFC, I think I can beat most of the guys there.

"They have five or six really good heavyweights. The other guys... not so good, I think."

Despite being just 20 years of age, Struve has gained plenty of international experience and has fought in Russia, the UK and Korea as well as his native Netherlands.

He is coming off a submission win over Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Mario 'Neto' Sukata, a UFC veteran who serves as BJJ coach to the Wolfslair fight team.

The back-mount arm-triangle win - Struve's second submission win over a BJJ black belt - has made talent scouts take notice, considering it is also the second UFC veteran he has beaten.

Here's the first installment of Arlovski's 360 documentary series as he prepares for his fight in january with WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. According to mmaweekly, "The show debuts Dec. 19 on Arlovski's new website, www.arlovski.com, and runs for seven weeks. New episodes will air every Friday, and will be distributed to video websites like YouTube the following day.

Arlovski is currently in Los Angeles training with famed boxing coach Freddie Roach.

Ever wanted to buy an Affliction shirt, but couldn't afford the hefty price tag? A place called KOFDirect.com sent me an email saying they have Affliction shirts for sale.

Most, if not all of the shirts they have are for sale in the $26-$36 range.

Gilbert "Hurricane" Yvel

Josh "The Baby-Faced Assassin" Barnett

just got this from M-1 Global:
M-1 Global is pleased to announce that Gilbert Yvel, one of its top heavyweight competitors, has agreed to terms on a three-fight contract with Affliction Entertainment.

Yvel will make his Affliction debut against former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett on January 24 in Anaheim, California at the Honda Center during "Day of Reckoning," to be presented by Affliction, M-1 Global, and Golden Boy Promotions.

Despite being veterans of the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan, Yvel and Barnett have never fought before with "Day of Reckoning" serving as the first-ever meeting between the two.

Yvel, 33-12-1, who is known for the strong Muay Thai skills he developed while training in his home country of Holland, has been competing in mixed martial arts since 1997. Over the years, the veteran fighter has recorded notable victories over K-1 standout Semmy Schilt, current UFC heavyweight Cheick Kongo, and former PRIDE and UFC veteran Tsuyoshi Kohsaka.

Yvel's involvement serves to increase M-1's contributions to the event, as M-1 contracted fighters Fedor Emelianenko and Kirill Sidelnikov are already scheduled to compete.

Fedor will be featured during the show's main event when he defends his WAMMA heavyweight title against former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.

Meanwhile, the 19-year old fighting prodigy Sidelnikov, nicknamed "Baby Fedor," will be making his United States debut against former UFC heavyweight title challenger Paul Buentello in an undercard bout to be televised on HDNet.

Additionally, the M-1 Challenge broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Sean Wheelock and color commentator Jimmy Smith will be calling the action during Affliction's pay-per-view telecast. Wheelock and Smith can be seen and heard in the U.S. every Friday at 8 p.m. ET during airings of the M-1 Challenge on HDNet.

Ted's Take: Although Barnett has honed his striking skills, with Yvel's kickboxing pedigree, I think this will turn into your classic striker vs. grappler. Yvel is not known for his ground game, but Barnett is a top-notch practitioner of catch wrestling (think freestyle wrestling and add submissions).

Barnett wins by submission, maybe a key lock or heel hook.

thanks for mmaweekly.com:
Renato "Babalu" Sobral defeated Bobby Southworth recently to capture the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship. One unfortunate side effect for the new titleholder, however, is that he has been removed from a fight against No. 3 ranked middleweight Matt Lindland.

Affliction had planned to pair Babalu and Lindland against each other at the promotion's Jan. 24 event at The Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. It now appears that Babalu's recent effort at 205 pounds for Strikeforce may have necessitated the bout with Lindland to be at a catch weight in the 190 to 195-pound range.

Affliction vice president Tom Atencio told MMAWeekly.com on Monday that he made an "executive decision" not to do the catch weight fight. He instead decided to pit Lindland against Vitor Belfort in a true middleweight contest at 185 pounds.

Belfort has been on a three-fight winning streak, his most recent effort being at Affliction's debut outing in July. There he defeated fellow UFC veteran Terry Martin, knocking him out in the second round. It was an impressive debut for the Brazilian at 185 pounds.

His most recent effort also being on Affliction's debut card, Lindland saw his first action in more than a year, defeating Fabio Nascimento in a three-round unanimous decision. He recently made a run at politics in his home state of Oregon, but lost his bid. Lindland has now returned to training for his January fight with a new focus.

Belfort and Lindland were scheduled to fight each other on the "Day of Reckoning" card when it was originally planned for October in Las Vegas. The move to January saw their bout split apart before the recent decision to put it back together.

WAMMA HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION FEDOR EMELIANENKO CANCELS SCHEDULED U.S. MEDIA TOUR IN ORDER TO BEGIN TRAINING CAMP EARLY -

World's Number One Heavyweight Begins to Prepare for Jan. 24 Affliction and M-1 Global Bout vs. Andrei Arlovski Sooner than Anticipated...

WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko announced Friday that he is canceling a planned press tour to the United States that had been scheduled for the start of December with stops set for New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

Emelianenko has made the decision so that he can begin his training camp early in preparation for his much-anticipated title defense against former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski, which is set to take place on Jan. 24 during Affliction and M-1 Global's "Day of Reckoning" pay-per-view event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Emelianenko's decision comes in response to a recent loss at the 2008 World Sambo Championships that were held earlier this month in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Affliction Clothing began a pre-sale today (Monday) on tickets for Affliction customers only for the Day of Reckoning event on Jan. 24. The sale ends Wednesday.

To get tickets, click here.

Here's what the card looks like so far:
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski
Josh Barnett vs. TBA
Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Matt Lindland
Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Jay Hieron vs. Jason High
Mark Hominick vs. L.C. Davis
Albert Rios vs. Antonio Duarte
Brett Cooper vs. TBA
Paul Buentello vs. Kiril Sidelnikov

Not too shabby.

Beard

Kim Couture

After a restraining order forced a a public look at his far-from-spotless background, Todd Beard today resigned from Affliction Inc., whose Affliction Entertainment division began promoting mixed-martial-arts earlier this year.

The board of directors of Affliction announced that it received and accepted the resignation of Beard as an employee of the clothing company.

Kim Couture, the Vice President of Xtreme Couture and wife of UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture, filed a lawsuit and secured a temporary restraining order against Beard, Affliction Inc.'s owner, earlier this week after he allegedly threatened her.

Kiril "Baby Fedor" Sidelnikov

Ko by Kiril

By Sam Caplan of fiveouncesofpain.com
A heavyweight attraction between former UFC title challenger Paul Buentello and Russian prodigy Kiril Sidelnikov is now set for the undercard of Affliction's "Day of Reckoning" event on Jan. 24, according to a report by SI.com's Josh Gross.

The fight will be a part of HDNet's telecast of the event's undercard, which will be anchored by a light heavyweight bout between Vladimir Matyushenko and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

The addition of Sidelnikov is intriguing because he is one of the world's top fighters under the age of 21 and his fight with Buentello will mark the first time the young Russian has competed on U.S. soil.

Nicknamed "Baby Fedor" by his mentors with the Russian Red Devil fight team, Sidelnikov is 4-2 in his young career. The 20-year old is considered a prodigy and a potential successor to Emelianenko as Russia's top heavyweight fighter.

Vadim and Fedor

Vadim Finkelstein, Fedor's manager, on Dana White, and how things have been going in the never-ending saga to get Randy Couture and Fedor to fight:
"I truly believe Dana White did more for MMA than anybody else, but at the moment he is the one who hinders the sport's progress," Finkelstein stated. "He seems like a man with a big tasty pie who's afraid that someone comes and bites a piece of it."
-- from a Boston Herald story.

Well, EliteXC might be dead, but we still have Afflcition - and the number one heavyweight in the world in Fedor. Not to mention Andrei Arlovski, who I say will give Fedor his toughest test in years. Looks like Day of Reckoning wil now be held on Jan. 24 in Anaheim, Calif.

That's how much this one costs at Affliction. I like a lot of their styles, and I've given them a lot of support on this blog, but that's just outrageous. Oh, well, guess you gotta sell a lot of T-shirts to afford Fedor.

from M-1's Web site about a press conference held today:
A long-term cooperation between M-1 Global, Affliction, Golden Boy promotion and Donald Trump was announced earlier today. Also it was revealed that the "Fighting Fedor" reality-show is going to be produced in cooperation with Affliction and Donald Trump.

M-1 Global president Vadim Finkelstein told at the conference that negotiations with different TV-networks about broadcasting the show are ongoing. 16 heavyweights from all over the world will come to St.Petersburg to participate in the project.

During the show they will train and live in the famous Red Devil FT. Once in a while well-known fighters will visit them to share their skills. Eventually only one fighter will survive and win an opportunity of fighting Fedor Emelianenko in the finals.

Affliction has extended the contract with Fedor. Also Donald Trump plans to come to St.Petersburg: ""I really believe, in its own way, this (show) will be a great success."

Arlovski

Fedor

MMARated has learned that WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko will face Andrei Arlovski at the upcoming Affliction show tentatively scheduled for January 24th in Anaheim, Calif.

Affliction Entertainment VP Tom Atencio confirmed the news with us earlier today.

Hosts Tiffany Simons and Mike Chiappetta talk about Kimbo vs. Ken, Andrei Arvolvski, Dana White and Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson.

Gegard Mousasi with his new DREAM gold and silver

by John Joe O'Regan, Fighters Only:
DREAM middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi expects to face Vitor Belfort on Affliction's next MMA show in January.

Speaking to Fighters Only this week, he revealed that the US organisation wants him to fight the Brazilian, while Red Devil team mate Fedor Emelianenko may face Josh Barnett.

"I'm going to train with Fedor in preparation for Affliction in January," he said. "I think it is Fedor against Josh Barnett and they want me to fight Vitor Belfort."

Mousasi is part of the Red Devil International team and he shares a manager with Fedor in the shape of Vadim Finkelstein.

As well as training with Fedor, he will continue to train in his own gym in the Netherlands.

"[I have] some very good friends who each has a specialty - wrestling, judo, jiu jitsu and so on," he explains. "If I need extra training I sometimes to go to other gyms in Holland."

Josh Barnett seems to be a popular name in the Emelianenko household - earlier this week, Aleksander told Fighters Only that he wanted a rematch with the American catch wrestler.

Affliction has yet to reveal a line-up for its January event but Vitor Belfort has told Brazil's Tatame magazine that he has been contacted and offered a fight.

According to Sergio Non from USAToday, here's more on the Affliction-Golden Boy alliance, which now, based on the loaning of Arlovski and Nelson, now includes EliteXC:

Under a deal worked out to co-promote bouts with Affliction Entertainment, Elite XC has added a fight between Affliction fighters Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy Nelson to the Oct. 4 show that will air on CBS. Arlovski-Nelson will is currently slated to be the third of five fights planned for the live broadcast, said Michael Cohen, chief operating officer of Affliction.

Elite XC and Affliction will also co-promote Affliction's next event with Golden Boy Promotions, now scheduled for Jan. 24, Cohen said. That fight will air either on CBS or Showtime, he said.

"We truly believe this co-promote will help the sport to become more mainstream," Cohen told me on Wednesday. "Fans should certainly look forward to seeing more fights on primetime television and Showtime."

Arlovski: the call of the wild

Nelson: rub the Buddha

from sherdog.com's Loretta HUnt:
At least two fighters will not sit on the sidelines following the postponement of Affliction's Oct. 4 "Day of Reckoning" event in Las Vegas.

Former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski (13-5) and IFL kingpin Roy Nelson (13-2) have been offered a heavyweight bout at EliteXC "Heat" Oct. 4 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. The event will be aired live on CBS.

Arlovski's management team would not comment Wednesday on the proposed bout, while Nelson's attorney, Rod Donohoo, also refrained from remarks. However, Sherdog.com has learned from separate sources that both fighters have agreed in principle to the match and that contracts have been issued for review.

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This week, Tom and I talk about Afflcition partnering with Golden Boy, the possible Silva vs. Rampage fight and my recent trip to LionHeart Fighters.

from mmaweekly.com:

The worlds of mixed martial arts and boxing are about to collide.

Affliction Entertainment Vice President Tom Atencio on Saturday confirmed that his company has entered into an agreement with Golden Boy Promotions, the boxing promotion led by Oscar De La Hoya. The two will co-promote a hybrid evening of boxing and mixed martial arts to be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. on Jan. 17.

"It's very good news," Atencio told MMAWeekly.com. "It's good for the company, and it's good for the sport."

Ted's Take: I've got mixed feelings about this one. I can appreciate boxing; I can remember years back ordering the Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis fight. I loved watching Micky Ward vs. Arturo Gatti on HBO. But I prefer MMA. When it comes down to it, I would rather see a card full of MMA fights than half-MMA, half-boxing. I'm not sure I'm going to buy the PPV at this point. Not to sound like a frickin' baby or anything ...

The bigger deal here if is I don't think Afflcition would be doing this if they didn't have to. Boxing's popularity, from all that I've read, is down. Why attach yourself to a sinking ship? But I guess Oscar de la Hoya's company, however, has scratch to spare. So it works out for de la Hoya, because he's attached himself to something on the rise.

Mike Chiapetta from nbcsports.com:
Affliction has postponed their planned Oct. 11 show in Las Vegas.

After a heavily promoted event last July drew almost 15,000 fans, the second promotion from the California-based group was to be held at the Thomas & Mack Arena and highlighted by a heavyweight tilt between Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett.

Last week, reports surfaced that Affliction was debating a postponement after running into many issues with the show, with the company saying that UFC has put roadblocks in its path.

Affliction COO Michael Cohen told NBCSports.com that the company is expecting to run the show in January, and that they would also make a major announcement in the next two weeks that would "change the dynamics of mixed martials arts. Not just nationally, but globally."

The October event was initially expected to feature a main event with current WAMMA champ Fedor Emelianenko against Arlovski, but the former broke his hand in defeating Tim Sylvia and would not have been ready in time for October, necessitating an opponent switch.

Cohen said that Emelianenko will fight on the new January card, but an opponent has not yet been decided.

from Loretta Hunt, sherdog.com:
The Oct. 11 Affliction event scheduled for the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas has been postponed, Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer confirmed Wednesday to Sherdog.com.

Affliction contacted Kizer on Wednesday morning to inform him that the event would be moved to a January date at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Advertising for the Oct. 11 pay-per-view event had already begun, including in New York, where scheduled headliners Andrei Arlovski (Pictures) and Josh Barnett (Pictures) were featured on a billboard in Times Square.

By Chris Howie, mmanews.com

Forced out of a WAMMA Heavyweight title fight with Andrei Arlovski that was set for Affliction: Day Of Reckoning on Octocter 11th due to a hand injury, Champion Fedor Emelianenko has had his sights set on a New Year's Eve fight in Japan against an unnamed opponent followed up by a date with the winner of the WAMMA heavyweight elimination bout on the October 11th card between Arlovski and Josh Barnett.

Tom Atencio, Vice President of Affliction, told MMANews.com this week that the company has just extended their current contract with Fedor and will look to have the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship fight in January or February when they intend on holding their 3rd show.

"We've just extended our deal with Fedor and we are very happy about that. We absolutely want to put that fight on our third show." Atencio stated of the title fight "We are looking at the Arlovski/Barnett elimination fight right now with the winner fighting Fedor for sure in January or February."

Affliction Entertainment and Michael Waltrip Racing on Friday unveiled Affliction Entertainment's "Day of Reckoning" #00 Toyota. The race car will be operated by veteran driver Mike Skinner, as he competes in this year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway.

Affliction Entertainment is the first mixed martial arts organization to sponsor a car in NASCAR. Fully wrapped in Affliction Entertainment's "Day of Reckoning" graphics promoting the upcoming Oct. 11 MMA Pay-Per-View event from Las Vegas, the car driven by Skinner will compete in Sunday's 250-lap event set to start at 5 p.m. Pacific on Sunday, Aug. 31 from Auto Club Speedway in San Bernardino County, Calif. and will be shown on ABC TV via ESPN-ABC Sports.

LeBanner, a world-class, veteran kickboxer in K-1 (6'3", 265) has been talking for a couple years about getting inside the Octagon and beating up Tim Sylvia. Well, he might get one of his wishes, as mmanews.com breaks the story, er, rumor ...
By Chris Howie, mmanews.com:

Although the second Affliction show is still over a month away, future plans include a third show that will most likely take place in January of February 2009. One fight that Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio is looking at is one that some fans have been talking about for quite some time.

"In terms of fighters we are looking at Jerome LeBanner, he is interested in doing MMA and apparently him and Tim Sylvia have some history between them so that is something that we are looking at right now."

LeBanner has been very critical of Sylvia going back a few years now when he stated that he wanted to fight Sylvia and he did not think Sylvia was any good. He has called the former UFC champ out numerous times in interviews.

All right, things are looking great - at least on paper - in the world of MMA for the rest of the year. Here are just some the major match-ups I've heard about, most confirmed, some still just rumor, but probably will happen:

-- Matt Lindland Vs. Trevor Prangley at Affliction 2 - Day of Reckoning.

-- Jay Hieron vs. Drew Fickett, also at Affliction 2.

-- Jake Shields vs. Paul Daley at EliteXC's Oct. 4 show on CBS.

-- Georges St-Pierre vs. BJ Penn on UFC's Jan. 31 show.

-- Also upcoming on a UFC event is Brock Lesnar vs. Cheick Kongo and Joe Steveson vs. Kenny Florian.

-- Also on the CBS show, Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobald and Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson vs. Brett Rogers.

-- And finally, another Affliction match-up, former IFL lightweight champion Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon.

Holy crap! That's a lotta MMA.

He was slated to appear at the first event, Banned, but for some reason couldn't make it, so Affliction got Megadeath. Well, looks like the Prince of Darkness is ready to ride the crazy train for Day of Reckoning.

That is an absolute SICK flying knee Arvolski dealt Rothwell, and then the finishing combo was amazing too. I know I picked Barnett a while back, but now I'm starting to have second thoughts. It could be anyone's game, depending where it ends up: Standing up is Arlovski, the ground is Barnett's territory.

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Tom Joyce and I give our picks for the upcoming UFC 88 - Breakthrough event, discuss the KJ Noons- Nick Diaz-EliteXC feud and break down steroids in MMA.

The California State Athletic Commission has issued Affliction fighter Edwin Dewees a one-year suspension and $2,500 fine for alleged use of Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid.

The CSAC today sent news of the punishment to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) via email.

Dewees failed a drug test administered by the CSAC during Affliction's debut event on July 19. Dewees, a replacement for Vernon White, suffered a first-round TKO to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at the event.

Nandrolone can be found in small quantities in the human body -- usually no more than 0.5 ng/ml. However, Dewees tested positive for 499 ng/mL, according to the CSAC's Bill Douglas.

Independent tests were conducted by Quest Diagnostics for the "A" sample and by Laboratoire De Controle Du Dopage for the "B" sample.

Dewees was a late replacement for Vernon White, who was forced off the Affliction card after the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended him for failing a drug test of his own.

Dewees will have the opportunity to file an appeal with the commission.

The good people at Affliction tell us that Fedor Emelianenko, the reigning WAMMA heavyweight champion, visited Affliction Clothing's new store at 7811 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles on August 12, to meet and great a large crowd of fans and sign autographs.

from Josh Gross, si.com:
Fedor Emelianenko, Mixed Martial Arts' most formidable heavyweight, won't be sidelined long with his hand injury.

"I think definitely by New Year's Eve I'll be ready to go," the 31-year-old Russian told SI.com Sunday.

Emelianenko said the sharp pain and swelling that followed his 36-second destruction of Tim Sylvia on July 19 have begun to subside, but it will be several more weeks before he feels comfortable enough to get back into the gym. In the meantime, Emelianenko (28-1, 1 NC) has returned to Southern California -- the scene of his violent stoppage over two-time UFC heavyweight champion Sylvia.

For a look at who Fedor might be fighting next, click here.

Affliction Veep Tom Atencio talks with MMAnews.com. Here's line-up he gives (so far) for the organization's second show, Day of Rekoning:

Paul Buentello Vs. Roy Nelson
Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett
Antonio Duarte vs. Albert Rios
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Mike Whitehead vs. Jason High (sp?)
Pedro Rizzo vs. Ben Rothwell
Chris Horodecki vs. ???
Renato Sobral vs. ???

Looks like another stacked card. Contrary to earlier reports, Atencio says no one at Affliction had even spoken with Tito Ortiz about a contract, so we'll see if that changes in the near future.

From fiveouncesofpain:

Following up an exclusive story we first reported yesterday, former IFL lightweight wunderkind Chris Horodecki has officially signed a contract with Affliction.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed the news earlier this afternoon with one of his agents, Matt Stansell of North County Fight Club. According to Stansell, Horodecki has inked a three-fight deal.

MMAjunkie.com is also reporting that Horodecki will debut for the promotion during its next card on Oct. 11 in Las Vegas. An opponent has yet to be named.

Just talked with Mike Lynch from WAMMA (World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts), who said Affliction is having a press conference right now in Las Vegas.

Here's some of what he told me: The Andrei Arlovski/Josh Barnett fight in October at Affliction's second event will be for the number-one contender slot to Fedor Emelianenko's WAMMA Undisputed Heavyweight belt:

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Although nothing is solid yet, WAMMA would like to see other WAMMA belts contested soon, for example: Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland for the middleweight belt or Takanori Gomi vs. Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight belt, Lynch said.

Mike "The Rocker" Lynch - any relation to George Lynch from Dokken?

Lynch did dispel rumors - which I contributed to - that the alleged upcoming Matt Linland/Vitor Belfort fight would be for the WAMMA middleweight belt.

"Not to take anything away from Matt or Vitor ... (but) We could never sanction that as a championship fight," he said. "Lindland is ranked seventh and Vitor is unranked."

Lynch added that the fight may be a possibility in the future if both fighters move up in the rankings.

Ortiz with gf Jenna Jameson.

From si.com:
Tito Ortiz is set to become the highest paid MMA fighter in history when a "ground-breaking" deal between the free-agent fighter and Affliction is announced as early as Wednesday during a press conference for Affliction's next card, which will be held Oct. 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

"I guarantee you that my contract will be like no other," said Ortiz, stopping short of giving away the specifics of a deal that could include responsibilities outside of the ring. "It will be a ground-breaking record contract for sure, without a doubt. There's so much money to be made right now in mixed martial arts and it's all about the fighters trying to make that money. It's going to be a long-term deal where I put my heart and soul into the company and help build them. That's something I'm interested in doing. They're going to bring me on, not just as a fighter but also doing some of the back work also."

Ortiz, who became a free agent on Monday after an 11-year career with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, met with Donald Trump on Tuesday to finalize the deal and is expected to be at Wednesday's press conference where his first opponent will be Renato "Babalu" Sobral.

Looks like it's set for Oct. 11 at the Thomas and Mack Center at UNLV.

Here's what's been rumored on the card:
Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski
Jay White vs. Roy Nelson
Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Plus possibly Tim Sylvia, Pedro Rizzo and Renato "Babalu" Sobral

Vitor Belfort knocks Terry Martin through the ropes at Affliction: "Banned."

I'm wondering if they mean the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts' middleweight belt, since, as far as I understand, Affliction doesn't have its own belts, but recognizes - and promotes - WAMMA champions. And pardon the translation - the Web site is Brazilian, so they do the best they can with English.

By Guilherme Cruz, tatame.com

The knockout over Terry Martin at Affliction's first edition didn't only put Vitor Belfort back to victories, but can get him a title fight. Belfort's broken hand might not be a trouble for his next fight. "The doctor will analyze it, but I may stay four weeks out. I'll come back in October 11th to fight Matt Lindland for the belt", told the athlete, that will face the Fábio Negão's opponent on Affliction's first event.

"It'll be a great fight, we'll see who is the best of the world there", said Belfort, that guarantees his style will be a problem for Lindland. "I saw his fight with Negão and he's a warrior... He comes be over you, but I don't think he has the strength to stay over me", analyzes Vitor, that wants another knockout on his career. "I'll go to knock him out... My punches are well-aimed and when it hits he won't stand", guarantees Belfort.

Found this at sherdog.com, just wanted to share. This is that wicked flying knee The Pitbull threw on Ben Rothwell at Afflction.

What does Affliction do for an encore? Just get the guy that drew some of the largest PPV numbers for UFC, Tito Ortiz. No big whoop.

From Yahoo! Sports:

Sources have told Yahoo! Sports that free agent Tito Ortiz will fight Renato "Babalu" Sobral in the co-main event at Affliction's next fight card, on Oct. 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas. The main event will feature a heavyweight bout between WAMMA champion Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski.

Affliction vice president Tom Atencio would not confirm the Ortiz-Babalu fight. He said details for the fight card will be released during an Aug. 6 news conference that most likely will be held in Las Vegas.

Atencio also indicated that he didn't think Affliction could speak with Ortiz until Aug. 4 because of a 60-day non-compete clause in Ortiz's UFC contract. Ortiz's last fight for UFC was on May 24 at UFC 84. If the 60-day clause is accurate, the deal ended last weekend. Atencio said the biggest stumbling block for an Ortiz deal would be the financial terms.

This episode features recaps of the recent Affliction and UFC cards and a preview of Saturday's EliteXC "Unfinished Business" event.

Arlovski

Emelianenko

From Kevin Iole, Yahoo! sports:
LAS VEGAS - Fedor Emelianenko will defend his newly won World Association of Mixed Martial Arts heavyweight championship belt on Oct. 11 against Andrei Arlovski in the UFC's backyard.

Affliction's second MMA promotion will be at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus, in the shadow of the UFC's corporate offices, according to a venue official.

Affliction made its promotional debut last Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., with Emelianenko submitting ex-UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in just 36 seconds.

Affliction vice president Tom Atencio said Wednesday an announcement on its next show would come Tuesday. But arena director Daren Libonati, who is a big MMA supporter, said he was excited to have Emelianenko back in his building.

Libonati was instrumental in bringing the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championship to the U.S. for the first time on Oct. 21, 2006, with a show at Thomas & Mack that featured Emelianenko defending his heavyweight title against Mark Coleman.

"We're really excited to have Affliction in the building and particularly to have Fedor and all those other great names," Libonati said. "I remember working so hard with all those people at PRIDE and the ultimate goal was to put on a show (at Sam Boyd Stadium, UNLV's football stadium) where the PRIDE champions would have defended their titles against the UFC champions.

"That's what we were working toward in those two (PRIDE) shows we did back then, but it never worked out. We always want to bring big events here, and any time you have Fedor in your building you have a big event."

Arlovski is a former UFC heavyweight champion who was impressive on Saturday's Affliction show in stopping Ben Rothwell.

From mmanews.com, by Chris Howie:

This past weekend Aleksander Emelianenko was scheduled to face Paul Buentello in heavyweight action during the FSN portion of Affliction: Banned but due to medical complications the fight was cancelled.

A source close to the situation spoke to MMANews.com's Michael Moody on a condition of anonymity and explained that the blood tests came back right before Aleks and Buentello were scheduled to weigh in and that is why there was so much confusion around the stage and why the fighters did not weigh in. Gary Goodridge ended up stepping up on extremely short notice and filling in for the Russian heavyweight.

The tests were positive for Hepatitis B which resulted in the CSAC cancelling the fight. Hep B is the result of transmission from exposure to infectious blood or body fluids containing blood. Possible forms of transmission include (but are not limited to) unprotected sexual contact, blood transfusions, re-use of contaminated needles & syringes, and vertical transmission from mother to child during childbirth.

A positive Hepatitis B test is no laughing matter and this could spell the end of Aleks' fighting career as many of the people close to the situation pointed out. I can't imagine many fighters willing to step up to fight Aleks with the possibility of catching the disease. He most definitely will not fight in the United States again and it will be interesting to see if this positive test results in organizations from all over the world black listing the brother of heavyweigh king, Fedor Emelianenko.

MMANews.com will have more on this story as it develops as we imagine a second opinion will be taken to make sure the test wasn't flawed.

Seems like every MMA pundit on the Internets has a radio show, so I figured what the heck. Here's the first edition of The MMA Explosion Radio Show. Took me a while to think up that title ... Anyway, I'm joined by Tom Joyce, my co-worker here at The Daily Record and videographer/producer virtuoso. Have a listen.

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Well, it was truly an amazing weekend. Fedor Emelianenko destroyed Tim Sylvia in 36 seconds at Affliction: Banned and Anderson Silva made short work of James Irvin in just more than a minute.

If anything, it proved that MMA fans can't get enough ... MMA. UFC's ratings were high, and Affliction's attendence was somewhere aroudn 14,000 and their gate was over $2 million. Of course, they had to pay their fighters more than $3 million, but so what, right?

Seriously, I think everyone at Afflction, M-1, AdrenalineMMA and WAMMA should be very happy with the way things turned out. There's already talk of the second Afflction show - could we see Fedor vs. randy at that one, or maybe Arlovski or Barnett, fresh off their devastating wins over Rothwell and Rizzo, respectively, might step up to take on The Last Emperor.

WAMMA exec Michael Lynch - he was the guy with the rocker long hair in the ring, handing the belt over to Fedor - told me a few weeks back WAMMA woudl like to offer a lightweight belt, possibly in the fall. Sounds good to me, let's have Takanori Gomi vs. Joachim Hansen II ...

I was going to post photos and videos of the Affliction Banned and UFC weigh-ins, but we're having problems with posting media ...

But, there is some late-breaking news out of Affliction - instead of scrapping the A. Emelianenko-Buentello fight when Emelianenko had paperwork problems, Affliction match-makers picked up the phone and called UFC/PRIDE veteran Gary Goodridge.

I applaud Affliction for this - they could have given viewers one less fight - I mean, fights have been canceled without being replaced. But to get Goodridge at the last minute - fan-freakin'-tastic.

Aleks

Buentello

From sherdog.com:
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The heavyweight bout between Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures) and Paul Buentello (Pictures) scheduled for Saturday's Affliction debut event has been cancelled.

According to Bill Douglas of the California State Athletic Commission, Emelianenko did not meet his licensing requirements.

According to mmajunkie, the latest with Affliction Banned is that the entire card will be televised in one form or another. In other words, teh first three fights will be on Fox Sport Net, starting at 8 p.m., and the rest of the card will be on Pay-Per-View, starting at 9 p.m.

That's great news. This show just keeps getting better and better, the closer it gets to bell-time.

The other thing about the event is that it is nearly sold out. With a couple days left, they've sold more than 10,000 tickets ofor an arena that holds between 12,000 and 13,000.

Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Paul Buentello

Aleks says he will fight to the death, if necessary.

If you're a top heavyweight - or even a LHW or middleweight, and you're not employed by the UFC, chances are you're on this show.

Fedor always seems to nullify any height advantage his opponents may have. I mean, look at him, does he seem worried that Tim Sylvia is 6'8"?

Don't know if I posted this before, but the UFC 87 - Seek and Destroy site can be seen here.

It breaks down the fights, give some clips on each fighter, and all that good stuff.

What I find interesting is that they are billing it as "The Most Explosive Fight Card of the Summer." Hmmm, wonder if they tacked that on there after everyone realized what a great card Affliction Banned is, at least on paper.

One correction, Brock Lesnar was fighting MMA legend Mark Coleman, who is now injured and has been replaced by tough competitor Heath "The Texas Crazy Horse" Herring.

Oh, and the main event is for the welterweight title: Georges St-Pierre vs. Jon Fitch. Well, UFC is right - sure does sound like an explosive card.

Afflction news release:
Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and Josh "The Babyface Assassin" Barnett got together at Eric Paulson's CSW Gym in Fullerton for some time on the mat and to discuss their performances at Affliction Banned, this Saturday at Honda Center.

Featuring the biggest fight card ever, Affliction Banned will feature Fedor Emelianenko vs. tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell, Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo, Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Nascimento, Renato Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead and Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Paul Buentello with a special performance by Megadeth. Tickets for "Affliction Banned" range between $50.00 and $1,000.00, and are on sale at Honda Center's Box Office and also online at Ticketmaster.com.

"Affliction Banned," presented by Affliction Entertainment, became so stacked with talent that it had to be separated into two live shows produced for broadcast. The night's activities will kick off with a one-hour, free live telecast on FSN (Fox Sports Net) in the United States and on The Fight Network in Canada starting at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM/ET), dubbed "Affliction Live." Following that is "Affliction Banned" -- five incredible fights on pay-per-view starting at 6 PM/PT (9 PM/ET) via iN DEMAND, TVN, Shaw Communications, Viewers Choice Canada, DirecTV, DISH Network, Bell ExpressVue and Star Choice in the United States and Canada for a suggested retail price of $39.95.

Josh "The Baby-Faced Assassin" Barnett had a blog exchange on his myspace a while back that I just found. I think it's pretty interesting, so I'll give you the quick an' dirty:

About his upcoming Affliction fight with Pedro Rizzo:
"I know Pedro is no joke. Nothing to it but to hit the gym, crank the metal and prepare for war."

Then about the subject of "biting," where in pro wrestling (of which Josh is a huge fan and competitor):

"It seems after seeing the latest UFC and a few recent fights that since my prescence isn't in the octagon a couple of fighters have decided to showcase my gimmicks. We got BJ Penn licking blood after fights (See me vs. Semmy Schilt UFC 32) and Thiago Silva doing the throat slash post fight celebration (You can see that as far back as me vs. Chris Charnos at AMC). I'd like to hear what these fighter's thoughts are on this as it could just be a form of respect/dedication and not straight out biting. But I hope its the former and not the latter. In Pro Wrestling using another's gimmick to get over is highly frowned upon."

"Joe" then wrote to Josh: "I love your throat slash and the blood licking (you do the slash better then anyone). The thing is this isn't pro wrestling so it doesn't matter who does it, they can rip it off all they want if that is in fact what they are doing. With that said, BJ I know does it because he has always done it, not because of you. But the Silva thing was lame and he is not the showman you are, again who knows if it is because of you. I wouldn't worry though, you are a better showman then both of them."

Josh says in return: "Well I can't I wouldn't stop anyone from doing anything they want and I wouldn't jump the gun either on whether they are straight biting but I dare you to prove BJ did that before I did. I can assure you he didn't In fact when I did 8 years ago at UFC 32 people freaked out about it.

Maybe they think what I did was cool and just want to show love. That's cool by me.

Josh

PS. And this shit IS pro wrestling and all rules apply. Kayfabe, gimmicks, catch phrases, costumes, etc. Gotta have your own stuff."

Katja "The Knockout" Turner weighs in: "Wow Josh, I've always respected you as a fighter, but I think you are a little hasty to say that BJ Penn is biting your moves for licking the blood of Sean Sherk. Yes, true you did it to Sammy Schilt at ufc 32, but you are by far not the first to attempt such a thing. Plus BJ has been saying he was going to do that since the fight was set up. ... And come on, the neck slashing gesture, I've seen that at every fight i've ever been to by many different fighters. Even people in the crowd are making those gestures to the fighters. No offense, but I highly doubt either of these fighters saw you do it and decided that was what they were going to do the next win just because you did it first. They are both pretty common things you see at fights... It's hard not to use someone else's "gimmick" as a fighter because most likely it's already been done before. And if someone did do it to copy you, you are right, generally mimicking someone is a sign of admiration, so maybe, just maybe, you should rethink that one... I will check out your interviews, maybe that will restore my faith in you.

To which Josh says: "I think if anyone is being hasty it would have to be anybody who would say I am talking shit or dissrespecting other fighters here. Re-read what I wrote and don't lock on to the one part about "stealing my gimmick" but notice that I made first mention of it being in homage or respect to me and that I just wanted someone to ask them to here what they said.

No one can claim to be the first to do ANYTHING in this sport but, in terms of modern MMA I have made the throat slash gesture as my calling card. The licking the blood thing? I didn't say I was gonna do it, brag it up, or pre-plan it. It was completely spur of the moment and all from the gut. It wasn't a true "gimmick" but none until BJ have ever done it on the big stage since."

After all that - there were plenty otehr people who posted in his blog that I didn't reprint here - it makes me wonder ... did Barnett have 'em all snowed? He's so big on pro wrestling, was he "in character" or "kayfabe" as they say, the entire time, making people think he really cared that someone else was copying his gestures, just to generate hype???

A news release said fighters will be on the scales by 3 p.m. Pacific Time (it's in Anaheim, Calif.), which means 6 p.m. over here. I'll see how fast I can get pics or maybe even a video.

UFC head honcho Dana White goes off while being interviewed at Y101 in Richmond, Va. Regardless of how you feel about Dana White, he really uncorks some real gems in here. I won't spoil it; take a listen.

Juanito Ibarra talks about his fighter Rampage Jackson's loss to Forrest Griffin and Affliction's Tom Atencio discusses the clothing company's upcoming mega-card "Banned."

News release from Affliction:
SIGNAL HILL, California (July 9, 2008) - It's only appropriate that the greatest show in mixed-martial-arts history, "Affliction Banned," has already set an MMA worldwide media interest record for a single event.

The star studded pay-per-view, featuring the WAMMA heavyweight championship fight between the most dominating, lethal MMA heavyweight of all-time, Russian M1 legend Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko (27-1), and former UFC® heavyweight champion Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia (24-4), will be broadcast live July19th from Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

More than 250 media credential requests were received heading into today's deadline, 10 days prior to the event, from numerous foreign countries including Russia, Japan, Korea, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

BJM and Afflction: lethal combination

From Affliction:
SIGNAL HILL, California (July 3, 2008) - Former MMA referee "Big" John McCarthy may have retired from working in the UFC® Octagon but he will be a color commentator for the July 19th "Affliction Banned" pay-per-view event, featuring the WAMMA heavyweight championship fight between the most lethal MMA heavyweight of all-time, Russian M1 superstar legend Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko (27-1), and former UFC heavyweight champion Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia (24-4), live from Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

A black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, McCarthy refereed 535 fights during his 14 years as an MMA referee, and he operates an MMA school in Valencia, California. He started refereeing in the UFC's second show in 1994 and retired this past December. An MMA ambassador all over the world, "Big" John developed into being as much a part of the UFC as the fighters that entered the Octagon. Now, though, he is a member of Team Affliction.

Here's a look at the belt that Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia will be fighting for on July 19 at Affliction Banned:

From Affliction's Web site:
SIGNAL HILL, California (June 30, 2008) - "Affliction Banned", the greatest MMA event ever staged, hit New York City's Times Square last week, as the faces of ten of the sports biggest stars, including Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko (27-1) and his opponent Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia (24-4), filled a billboard along Broadway. All will appear on the July 19th event at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and distributed live on Pay-Per-View.

"Considering the magnitude of this fight, and the partnership between Affliction and Donald Trump, it seemed only fitting that the huge talent pool on the 'Affliction Banned' show should be seen by millions in New York's Times Square," said Tom Atencio, Vice President, Affliction. "You know it's a big show when you have a billboard on Broadway."

"Affliction Banned," presented by Affliction Entertainment, is so stacked with talent that it had to be separated into two live shows produced for broadcast. The night's activities will kick off with a one-hour, free live telecast on FSN (Fox Sports Net) in the United States and on The Fight Network in Canada starting at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM/ET), dubbed "Affliction Live." Following that is "Affliction Banned" -- five incredible fights on pay-per-view starting at 6 PM/PT (9 PM/ET) via iN DEMAND, TVN, Shaw Communications, Viewers Choice Canada, DirecTV, DISH Network, Bell ExpressVue and Star Choice in the United States and Canada for a suggested retail price of $39.95.

Tickets for "Affliction Banned" range between $50.00 and $1,000.00, and are on sale at the Honda Center Box Office and also online at Ticketmaster.com.

Scorching the earth since the '80s - Megadeth, led by Metallica founding member Dave Mustaine (center, front).

SIGNAL HILL, California (June 19, 2008) - Affliction Entertainment, scheduled to make MMA history on July 19th at Honda Center in Anaheim with the greatest line-up of mixed-martial-arts fights ever presented in one night, keeps building this event with the latest news -- heavy metal band Megadeth, led by frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Dave Mustaine, will be performing live at the event.

A platinum selling band, Megadeth has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide and will electrify the audience with a special highlight performance. Known for their distinctive, in-your-face guitar solos, snarling vocal style and dark lyrical themes, Megadeth is sure to resonate with the "Affliction Banned" fan base and intensify the already action-packed event.

"Affliction Banned", a mixed-martial-arts pay-per-view event in association with Roy Englebrecht Events, features the much-anticipated return of Russian heavyweight superstar Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko, in association with M-1, and supported by an star studded undercard, July 19th at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Line-up for Banned:
Bouts Scheduled to Air on Pay-Per-View:
-Fedor Emelianenko (#1 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Tim Sylvia (#5 Heavyweight in the World)*
-Josh Barnett (#4 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Pedro Rizzo
-Andre Arlovski (#6 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Ben Rothwell
-Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead
-Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao

Bouts Scheduled to Air on Fox Sports Net:
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (#8 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
-Aleksander Emelianenko (#10 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Paul Buentello

Preliminary Bouts:
-Vitor Belfort vs. Terry Martin
-Justin Levens vs. Patrick Speight
-Mike Pyle vs. J.J. Ambrose
-Trenell "Savant" Young vs. Mark Hominick

Michael Cohen

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK (June 10, 2008) – Last week at a press conference in New York City, Affliction, the premier fashion label for men who love hard rock and fast living, announced its partnership with Donald J. Trump. Today, Michael D. Cohen, Executive Vice President & Special Counsel to Mr. Trump, was named Chief Operating Officer for Affliction Entertainment.

Affliction and The Trump Organization, in association with Roy Englebrecht Events, will present their entry into the world of professional mixed-martial-arts (MMA) with its first event, “Affliction Banned,” scheduled for July 19, 2008 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.