In what has to be viewed as a major victory for UFC President Dana White, one of the biggest feuds in mixed martial arts has come to an end, as Affliction and the UFC have buried the hatchet, with Affliction getting out of the MMA promotion business and getting back into the business of putting its T-shirts on the backs of UFC fighters.
Hours after Affliction announced that it had canceled its scheduled card for August 1, Kevin Iole reported that Affliction was dumping MMA promotions completely and would return as a UFC sponsor -- good news for the UFC, and for UFC fighters who wanted to make some extra money with Affliction sponsorships.
Interestingly, Affliction's decision to call off the card was apparently done without the knowledge of co-promoter M-1 Global, whose star, Fedor Emelianenko, was scheduled to fight in the main event. That leaves M-1 in the awkward position of having brought the best fighter in the world to the United States, and not having a fight for him lined up.
Fedor is expected to issue a statement late Friday, but for now, the big news is that "T-shirt guys" who were so often derided by White have now crawled back to him, and there's one fewer promoter in MMA. All because Josh Barnett failed a drug test.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-24-2009 @ 7:00PM
johnnynumber5 said...
Say what you will about Afflictions short lived success as MMA fight promoters but they put on better cards than the UFC from top to bottom. The UFC needs to start taking the approach of quality over quantity. They put on a handful of great cards every year and usually it's one and if you are lucky two compelling fights per PPV event.
Hopefully Dana meets Fedor at the airport and strikes a deal right away ... while he's at it he should also bring Aoki, Belfort & Mousasi over to the Octagon. I would like to see Buentello & Sobral make a return to the octagon as well.
I'm kind of hoping Coker pulls a coup and gets these guys into Strikeforce and gives the UFC a run for it's money.
I like the UFC and all but their shenanigans and arrogance turn me off to the brand sometimes. But, the sport is about the fighters not the promoters and thats who I support.
This is a perfect chance for Dana to swoop down and snatch Fedor up for that long rumored fight with Couture and when Brock is ready a fight with Lesnar.
For all I care Josh Barnett can go ahead and fall into obscurity. So much talent (2nd best HW behind Fedor in the world) wasted because he wanted to gain an edge. He completely ruined my plans for next weekend and single handedly killed a promotion.
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7-24-2009 @ 7:23PM
Michael Dailey said...
Awesome! As a UFC homer, this is great news. I really hope Dana can work out a deal with Fedor, Belfort, etc.
Any chance that Big Nog gets bumped so that Couture can face Fedor?? That would be HUGE!!!
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7-24-2009 @ 8:21PM
keithstbird said...
you have obiously not read any posts that said if fedor signs with the ufc he would get a title shot as his first fight and as I have been saying and will continue saying he will get killed in the ufc there isnt the level of competition anywhere close to the ufc peroid and I personally think fedor is over rated he has faught dying fighters like tim sylvia and arlovski the people that could no longer make it in the ufc
7-24-2009 @ 8:43PM
BrendanEff said...
Barnett didn't kill Affliction, he merely sped up the process.
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7-24-2009 @ 9:38PM
ihateemo said...
Couldn't agree more. They were losing money hand over fist and trying way to hard to be a direct UFC competitor than building their brand the way Strikeforce has.
Basing your entire promotion around one fighter has already been proven to be a terrible business model. And we can also add to the list that paying exorbitant amounts of money to fighters who would be lucky to make a tenth of that in the UFC for their "to show" money is equally dumb.
7-24-2009 @ 11:42PM
chilly16 said...
It may be unintentional but Dana White is quickly becoming the Don King of MMA.
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7-27-2009 @ 5:02PM
Mike Marshall said...
The MMA is a Joke!! Yes there are guys with talent, and yes there are guys that can fight, but the "tough guy" image is going overboard. Dana White is so scared of letting a professional boxer in the the octagon its starting to get ridiculous. Take any decent pro. boxer against an MMA star, and the MMA figher will be sitting on his ass by the second round. Boxers have more talent in one finger than almost all of the MMA. Boxers have more discipline, cardio, and work ethic. All that "take down" crap wouldnt stand a chance against a boxer. All that stuff is is a reason to rest, lay down, defend yourself without defending yourself. ITS A JOKE!!! Boxing has more class, skill, and heart than MMA. The MMA might as well be on with the WWF, because half of it is just "show" anyway. Even the fans arent anything but a bunch of drunk young people wanting to watch a fist fight. "No talent required". So until it happens, the MMA can just keep living on this fake image. Because you might fool all the other "sheep in line", but you dont fool me Dana!!
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