MMA Affliction

I was just thinking that CBS and Strikeforce haven't done enough to promote Saturday night's Fabricio Werdum-Antonio Silva fight, so I searched YouTube to see if there was a promotional video I hadn't seen. Well, it turns out that there is -- but it was produced not by Strikeforce or CBS, but by Affliction, which is no longer promoting MMA but still sponsors Werdum and other fighters.

Matt Lindland was last seen losing to Vitor Belfort via knockout in just 37 seconds at "Affliction: Day of Reckoning" in January. Since then, his name has come up as a potential opponent for several young middleweights, but nothing every materialized.

When FanHouse learned that Lindland was involved in serious negotiations with Strikeforce, we contacted him to find out when he will be fighting and against who. The full interview is below.

Josh Barnett was supposed to have the biggest fight of his mixed martial arts career this weekend, a bout with Fedor Emelianenko that, had he won, would have made him the heavyweight champion of MMA. But Barnett isn't fighting this weekend, and in a brief phone interview with FanHouse Friday night, Barnett sounded upset and dejected while vowing to keep fighting the failed steroid test that led to his fight being called off.

On this week's edition of The MMA Hour, MDS, Mike Chiappetta and I discuss the aftermath of Affliction canceling "Trilogy" and joining forces with the UFC. Where does Fedor Emelianenko go from here? How does this affect Strikeforce? What will be Afflction Entertainment's legacy? Those questions and more were answered.

Plus, we were joined by WEC bantamweight contender, Joseph Benavidez, to talk about his upcoming fight against Dominick Cruz on August 9. The winner of that bout looks to be the No.1 contender in the WEC's 135-pound division. Check out the show below.

Fedor Emelianenko said on Wednesday that he does not intend to sign a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship unless the UFC agrees to promote fights jointly with Emelianenko's promoter, M-1 Global. Since then, several Web sites have reported that Emelianenko had turned down a six-fight contract with the UFC worth $30 million.

FanHouse has learned from a source close to the negotiations, who wished to remain anonymous, that the UFC offered Emelianenko a three-fight contract with a guarantee of less than $2 million per fight.

Through his manager, Shannon Hooper, Josh Barnett released a statement late Wednesday night about his recent failed drug test, which led to the California State Athletic Commission denying him a license to fight Fedor Emelianenko at the now-canceled "Affliction: Trilogy" event. Barnett was never directly quoted in the release.

On behalf of Josh Barnett and in conjunction with all of his representatives, the following is an official statement regarding the allegations made by the CSAC:

The media has reported that Mixed Martial Arts Heavyweight fighter Josh Barnett would not be eligible to fight Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction Trilogy as he was denied his California license due to an alleged positive test for 2α-methyl-5α-androstan-3α-ol-17-one, which is purportedly a metabolite of a banned substance. Mr. Barnett was shocked at these allegations and was extremely disappointed to learn that Affliction had made the hasty decision to cancel the August 1st event in its entirety. Mr. Barnett vehemently denies intentionally ingesting any banned substances in preparation for the August 1st fight and he is looking forward to presenting his case to the California State Athletic Commission.

In the meantime, Mr. Barnett has yet to learn of the results of the B sample testing and he has not received any of the documentation that provides further details of the alleged positive sample despite numerous requests. In fact, the documentation that Mr. Barnett has received raises serious questions about the integrity of the sample and the validity of the results themselves.

At this time Mr. Barnett would like to thank his fans and colleagues for their ongoing support and faith in him. He intends to vigorously defend himself against these allegations and hopes for a swift resolution to this matter so he can get back to what he does best -- fighting!

I would like to further add that Josh is as disappointed as all of his fans and supporters that he will not be fighting on August 1st. He also empathizes with all of the other fighters that were scheduled to appear on the card and shares their frustration and shock at the cancellation of the entire event.

Today's MMA Twitter mailbag features a whole lot of questions about Fedor Emelianenko, what's next for him now that his fight at Affliction Trilogy is kaput, and whether we'll ever see him fight in the UFC.

Your questions and my answers for our MMA mailbag are below.

Fedor Emelianenko is set to make his first public comments since his fight with Josh Barnett at Affliction Trilogy was canceled, and when he does, we'll have live coverage here at FanHouse.

Fedor will hold a press conference at 4 PM ET, and he'll be joined by M-1 Global Co-Owner and President Vadim Finkelchtein, M-1 USA VP Jerry Millen and M-1 USA VP of Legal Affairs Steve Bash. Don't expect Fedor to announce that he's signed with the UFC, but do expect to learn directly from the world's best MMA fighter what he thinks of the events of the past week. Follow along by following my MMA Twitter page or regularly refreshing the updates below.

There are still plenty of questions surrounding the demise of Affliction Entertainment and their sudden reconciliation with the UFC. One man who can answer most of them is Tom Atencio. The vice president of Affliction Entertainment was the face of the organization during its short existence.

FanHouse spoke to Atencio via e-mail Tuesday evening and asked as much as we could given the constraints of interviewing someone over the Internet. Atencio requested the interview be conducted in this fashion. This is the first time he has publicly discussed the events that transpired last Friday. The full interview is below.