» Posts Tagged ‘Affliction’

After the collapse of Affliction Entertainment in August 2009 ended the co-promotion between Affliction and M-1 Global, Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (31-1) and his M-1 Global management team never approached UFC President Dana White about Emelianenko joining the UFC, M-1 Global President Vadim Finkelchtein recently told Fighters.com through a translator.

Read More About The Russian Perspective: Fedor Emelianenko Never Approached the UFC, Says Vadim Finkelchtein…

M-1 Global play-by-play broadcaster Sean Wheelock will join Reverend Turk, Gary, and Drew on MMMA Gospel Saturday at 5:15 PM ET.

Read More About M-1 Global Broadcaster Sean Wheelock on Saturday’s MMA Gospel Radio Show…

Fighters.com and MMA Gospel Radio are proud to announce a partnership that’ll bring you more of the best mixed martial arts content.

Read More About MMA Gospel – Bringing Soul To Fighters.com…

On the walls of MMA fandom there are two contrasting posters of Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (30-1).

If you’re not North American or you’re one of the 50,000 or so North Americans who plunked down $34.95 for PRIDE 32, your poster depicts Emelianenko within a golden aureole striding a mound of pummeled flesh bags that includes fourth-ranked “Minotauro” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1), tenth-ranked “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (14-7), and former UFC heavyweight champion “Maine-iac” Tim Sylvia (24-6).

If you’re North American and cut your MMA teeth on The Ultimate Fighter circa 2007 or anxiously anticipating the first F5 stoppage in MMA history, your poster depicts Emelianenko cowering within the block-headed shadow of the man-mountain that is second-ranked UFC champ Brock Lesnar (4-1).

Read More About MMA Is Strictly Business for Fedor Emelianenko – Fighters.com’s September Heavyweight Rankings…

Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (20-5) returned to the open, enabling arms of his adoring Japanese fans Saturday, making an appearance at Pancrase’s Changing Tour 4 in Tokyo.

He stepped inside the ring during an intermission and addressed the crowd: “I’d like to fight next time I enter the Pancrase ring.”

Barnett is the reigning Openweight King of Pancrase, but hasn’t fought for the promotion since tapping Yuki Kondo (49-23-6) in a rear naked choke at the 10th Anniversary Show in 2003.

Read More About Josh Barnett Wants To Return to Pancrase, UFC’s Dana White Doubts He’ll Return to The Octagon…

Fighters.com’s tenth-ranked heavyweight “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (14-7) confessed Wednesday night to playing Russian roulette, a gamble during which a revolver is loaded with a single round, the cylinder spun, and then placed against the temple. The player pulls the trigger, chancing the bullet could end their life.

“First time I was 16, second time I was 30,” said the thirty-year old former UFC heavyweight champion. “It’s when you don’t care about anything.”

Keith Gelman, spokesman for Arlovski, contacted Fighters.com to emphasize Arlovski has never contemplated taking his own life.

Arlovski was knocked out in 22 seconds by fourth-ranked “Grim” Brett Rogers (8-0) at Strikeforce in St. Louis 6 June after meeting the same end in the first round by Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (29-1) at Affliction M-1 Global in Anaheim 24 January.

Read More About Andrei Arlovski Confesses Playing Russian Roulette After Losses to Fedor Emelianenko, Brett Rogers…

In an analysis posted Friday, Yahoo!Sports MMA and boxing writer Kevin Iole spouted the UFC line, “If the UFC was in the business of giving 50 percent of its company away every time it tried to sign an elite fighter, it would have been in worse shape a lot sooner than Chrysler.” The article should’ve ended with a full disclusore that Yahoo!Sports and the UFC have a business partnership because Iole’s cozy nest in the UFC tree has affected his usually uncomprimised reporting.

M-1 Global isn’t asking for 50 percent of the UFC in exchange for Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko’s (29-1) viscerally craved debut inside the Octagon.

Fighters.com isn’t sure whether that’s UFC spin strategized to pressure Emelianenko to surrender his co-promotion demand by persuading fans he’s unreasonable or a genuine misunderstanding by White about what Emelianenko is demanding.

Read More About Fighters.com’s August Heavyweight Rankings: UFC Dishonest About Fedor Emelianenko’s Demands…

Ninth-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (20-5) will soldier on after testing positive for 2a-methyl-5a-androstan-3a-ol-17-one, an anabolic steroid, causing the cancellation of Affliction M-1 Global’s Trilogy, possibly returning to his home in The Land of the Rising Sun at Sengoku, Sengoku Director Takahiro Kokuho told Sherdog.

Barnett denies using steroids. The California State Athletic Commission claims two separate samples tested positive.

Kokuho said, “As for Josh Barnett, we still have to continue negotiations with him, but we are planning to have him on our November 7 card. We didn’t have [Barnett] in contract, but we had a conversation with him about his return in November. He will be in Japan next week, so we’ll be speaking with him just before his Inoki Genome Federation appearance.”

Read More About Josh Barnett Return to Sengoku Possible…

Affliction refugees who’ve found sanctuary in the UFC now include former EliteXC welterweight title challenger “Semtex” Paul Daley (18-9-2), lightweight “The Upgrade” Dan Lauzon (12-2), lightweight “Tractor” Rafaello Oliveira (8-1), and “Machine” Mark Hominick (14-7), announced UFC President Dana White Friday afternoon.

Englishman Daley lost a UD to “Goat” Nick Thompson (38-11-1) at MFC 20 in Edmonton last February and was scheduled to fight “Thoroughbred” Jay Hieron (14-4) at Affliction in Anaheim Saturday before the event’s cancellation.

Lauzon tapped Bobby Green (5-2) in a rear naked choke at Affliction in Anaheim last January and would’ve tangled with “Polish Hammer” Chris Horodecki (13-1) at Affliction Saturday. He begins a second stint in the Octagon after getting TKO’d by “King” Spencer Fisher (23-4) at UFC 64 in Las Vegas in 2006.

Read More About UFC Converts Include Paul Daley, Dan Lauzon, Mark Hominick, and Rafaello Oliveira…

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed Fighters.com’s hypothesis that Affliction M-1 Global’s Trilogy was Affliction’s final event regardless of ninth-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett’s (20-5) positive test for 2a-methyl-5a-androstan-3a-ol-17-one, an anabolic steroid, causing the cancellation of Trilogy.

Barnett denies using steroids.

In an interview published at MMA Weekly, Coker said, “That was already in the works. How they got out…[if] they became a sponsor for Strikeforce, [were] the conversations we were having. This was their last fight, so there would be no more fighters. The dialogue was that they were getting out of the business a month ago.”

Read More About Strikeforce’s Coker: “Affliction Was Getting Out of the Business a Month Ago.”…