Recently in Day of Reckoning Category

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.

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.

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

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:

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.