Affliction Folds...Will Return as UFC Sponsor

[LEONARD]

Can, doesn't mean they will... (I don't think they were held to exclusive contracts with Affliction though)

I expect Vitor and Santiago will. Who knows about the 2 Russians. Mousasi is a guy to watch...and he plans to move up to HW eventually.

[LEONARD]

Dana on Fedor...

“My job is to put on the best fighters and to give you, the fans, the fights you want to see. I’ve been trying to get Fedor in the UFC. I want it because you want it. Believe me, I’m trying to make it happen. He’ll fight for the le first. What does he need, a tune-up fight or something? … To argue where this guy sits in the heavyweight division, we can argue that all day. Fedor has a ton of experience. The guy’s been around forever. But you can’t take anything away from Brock Lesnar … It’s an interesting fight. It’s a very good fight. Fedor’s got to come to a deal first. If Randy can go out there and cut that deal with Fedor, then Randy, get to work, buddy.”

------------

My preference would be Randy, then le fight. Randy to introduce him to the fans mainly...and Randy still wants that fight and he's not gonna be at this much longer. Also get used to the cage...

[desflood]

Fedor and the UFC will never come to any kind of agreement. The UFC wants to lock him up and his management will not allow it (rightly so). At the same time, it would probably be in his best interest as a fighter, and they're obviously not looking out for his best interests. It's not the kind of situation in which I can take a stand on either side.

[desflood]

“It’s like a funeral.”

That’s how Xtreme Couture head jiu-jitsu coach Neil Melanson summarized the gym’s feeling after Friday morning’s announcement of the cancellation of the Aug. 1 Affliction “Trilogy” show, and later, the shuttering of the promotional arm of the company.

“Everybody’s shown up to the gym, not all of them are training, but they’re there and they’re just… they’re all speechless.”

News of the cancellation traveled quickly Friday morning that the promotion was closing down the event due to its inability to find a suitable replacement for main event fighter Josh Barnett, who allegedly tested positive for an anabolic steroid earlier in the week.

Without Barnett, Showtime, who was carrying the pay-per-view, put pressure on to pull the plug, citing an inability to inform viewers of the change and market a new opponent for Fedor Emelianenko.

Melanson felt especially bad for the Canadian contingent of Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick, both missed the last Affliction event due to injury and illness.

“You know, (Shawn) Tompkins’ guys, they’re all really nice guys and they worked really hard and were in the gym all the time (and) they were ready to win,” he said. “They wanted these fights to help them get to the next level.

“To have the card pulled from them like this, on this short notice… it’s tough.”

For Vitor Belfort, the eventual cancellation of the event capped off a rollercoaster ride of a week that saw him go from the undercard to a possible replacement for Barnett in the evening’s main event.

“I trained him closely, had lunch with him and would be with him every day; he would look at pictures of his kids at lunch and would say, ‘It’s so hard to be away from my kids and my wife right now,’ and was just really upset,” related Melanson.

Joining Horodecki, Hominick and Belfort is longtime Xtreme Couture welterweight Jay Hieron, who also now sits on the outside looking in.

“I don’t want to judge (Affliction), because I’m not them, they might have a damn good reason (for cancelling the show), but they definitely hurt and affected a lot of people,” stated Melanson.

“I feel bad for all these (fighters). They did nothing wrong – they trained their asses off and trusted their company, and their company took a dump on them.”

While the sting of losing money is one that is surely being felt by the fighters left without a match, the general consensus is that what is truly frustrating is simply not being able to do what they’ve worked so hard to do, fight.

“I sure hope they pay these guys,” said Melanson. “They’ve got to have some kind of contract agreement to pay these guys, but it’s still not the same.”

[djohn14]

Fedor and the UFC will never come to any kind of agreement. The UFC wants to lock him up and his management will not allow it (rightly so). At the same time, it would probably be in his best interest as a fighter, and they're obviously not looking out for his best interests. It's not the kind of situation in which I can take a stand on either side.

Way to be open minded!

[desflood]

Way to be open minded!

I think a more appropriate word would be "realistic".

[Evan]

everyone take 5 minutes and read this

"The True Story Behind Affliction's First Attempt to Exit the Fight Game"

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/7/25...gin=1248552538

[Evan]

I think a more appropriate word would be "realistic".

but you also have to be realistic that every org Fedor joins dies in a pool of fire. Obviously he is not by any means worth his contract or strict stipulations.

[desflood]

Forgive my ignorance, but: Who exactly is Todd Beard? What does he do? I've heard his name so many times but never in direct relation to any particular org.

[desflood]

but you also have to be realistic that every org Fedor joins dies in a pool of fire.

Heh. Fedor "The Org Killer" Emelianenko.

[Evan]

Forgive my ignorance, but: Who exactly is Todd Beard? What does he do? I've heard his name so many times but never in direct relation to any particular org.

He is the co-owner of affliction. He was in the background and suddenly emerged out of nowhere and caused untold damage to the company in a 2 week spree of public chaos.



He is still a part of them but I believe he got kicked out of the fight promotion aide of things and exclusively deals with the clothing.

[Evan]

Heh. Fedor "The Org Killer" Emelianenko.

Rings
PRIDE
Bodog
M-1 Global
Affliction

[desflood]

Ooh - thanks Evan.

[Evan]

Oh yeah...what about WAMMA

lol

[LEONARD]

Sources close to the fighter have informed FiveKnuckles.com that Strikeforce were in talks with Affliction, M-1 Global and Golden Boy promotions on a long term deal with Emelianenko with in the last couple of days. The promotion reportedly offered the former Pride champion between 500,000 and 700,000 per fight, a non-exclusive contract, guaranteed exposure on CBS shows and a cut of any PPV event he was a part of. Emelianenko would certainly be able to get maximum mainstream U.S. exposure via CBS and Showtime which could lead possible big money endorsement deals and he'd also get to enjoy the freedoms associated with Strikeforce's non-exclusive contracts. This scenario is considered a strong possibility if Emelianenko is indeed a free agent according to inside sources.

Rumors are flying right now, so it's difficult to know exactly how all of this will play out. Sources have stated that Emelianenko's management contract allows him to brake his management contract if he's not put into a certain number of fights each year, and that may also be a possibility how unlikely it seems given his strong relationship to Vadim Finklestein and the rest of his management team at M-1.

Emelianenko is currently en route to California, according to M-1 officials, and will be making a statement regarding the situation by soon after his arrival, which should shed more light on the situation.

We'll have that for you as soon as it becomes available.

http://www.fiveknuckles.com/mma-news...pens-next.html

[Evan]

Strikeforce cannot afford him. They will go under if they give him a contract. They are bleeding too much money.

[Evan]

Just stop thinking about Fedor and the UFC....seriously done with it.

************************************************** ****

“This the moment of truth that the UFC has talked about. Fedor and I are here in the States. If they want to come out and fly here, we are ready to conduct negotiations. Of course it still doesn’t imply we are ready to accept any conditions they’ll throw at us. We want to talk to the UFC about having Fedor compete against some of their fighters, but only within the framework of co-promotional efforts with M-1 Global.”

[BlackSwordsMan]

fedor tired of his bull

[Evan]

UFC makes money...fighters get paid and get royalties the rest of their life...shows never get canceled

Everybody else...fighters don't get paid and no royalties....shows get canceled

Simple fact is the UFC does not need Fedor and when you consider how many orgs crumble underneath him its clearly 100% irrelevant if he is on the roster. In fact its safe to say its dangerous to a unstable org to have him on the roster.

[polandprzem]

Yup but this is the last chance for Fedor to fight in the octagon and this oppurtunity can never repeat. Fedor simply yes earns big sums of money and only UFC can guarantee those money not getting into trouble.
I don't know why would they promote M1 Global?
Can't fedor make a logo on his towel of M-1 or make a tatoo on his chest with "M-1"?

This looks bad because Fedor is wasting his prime

[dbreiden83080]

way way way too fast.

As for Fedor...I suspect we have 6 months of insane back & forth rumors ahead of us.

Man i have been out of the looop here..

Well what else can he do? For big paydays and fights for him now,(consistant big ones) it's the UFC or nothing..

[ATRAIN]

Do you guys think Strikeforce will benefit from this? Its funny how Affliction pretty much lost its tshirt wear ability. I saw more tapout clothes now, i wonder if they will rebound?

[Evan]

Do you guys think Strikeforce will benefit from this? Its funny how Affliction pretty much lost its tshirt wear ability. I saw more tapout clothes now, i wonder if they will rebound?

Strikeforce spent all of their money on pro-elite so i dunno

[Evan]

In regards to strict terms of UFC contract, we asked Aleksander Emelianenko to comment:

"You can deal with UFC, I know that they have flexible contract system. All these talks about "strict" contract terms with signing with UFC, come ONLY from Vadim Finkelstein, who wants to push his owns business projects through Fedor's fights"

[polandprzem]

It's quite intresting that Alex says so. Maybe he can persuade Fedor to talk with UFC and take care about his business.