Thank You, Josh Barnett!!!!

06_SMOKE_SE_CC · 07-26-2009, 05:13 AM

Funny and sad at the same time.....I liked what Affliction had to offer, potentially, it's too bad Josh Barnett ruined it for them....

Affliction Going Back to Just Selling Those Shirts with the Skulls on Them
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Posted By Adam Jacobi 5:37 PM

Tragic, simply tragic news from the world of MMA today, as the Affliction MMA/clothing operation is, ahem, "simplifying":

After promoting two critically acclaimed but financially disastrous mixed martial arts cards, Affliction on Friday first canceled its pay-per-view card scheduled for Aug. 1 and then opted to get out of the promotional business.
Affliction released a statement Friday evening in which it announced “a collaboration with the UFC.” It confirmed that it will cease operations as a fight promoter and that its clothing division will become a UFC sponsor.

In retrospect, it's awfully hard to justify putting any confidence into a company called "Affliction," right? I mean, how could a company that's actually named after a synonym for "suffering" possibly go belly-up? What are the odds on that one?

The news that most people will get from this announcement, which was completely inevitable in the wake of Josh Barnett's positive steroid test and the subsequent collapse of Affliction's PPV deal, is that beastman Fedor Emelianeko is now unshackled from his deal with the Canadian franchise. Oh, and just in time to challenge Brock Lesnar! How about that!

Dana White, he of the healthy ego, will likely react to all of this news with a puffed chest and a charitable press release. Deep down, though, he must be relieved that Emelianeko, the only plausible opponent left for Lesnar, is probably free to deal with now.

Sure, Emelianeko isn't yet committed to UFC--there's been no announcement about whether the Affliction-affiliated fighters have been completely released or if UFC is acquiring their contracts--but come on, there's no serious reason why Lesnar-Emelianeko can't eventually happen soon anymore.

**MikeSublime** · 07-26-2009, 09:00 AM

Crazy stuff

*Mychael101* · 07-26-2009, 10:52 PM

It was just a way for the UFC to get Fedor in the octagon. He's got Affliction out of the way, now he has to get past Fedor's management company.

**Overide** · 07-27-2009, 02:29 PM

Fedor:
Height 6 ft 0 in
Weight 231 lb
Reach 74 in

Lesner:
Height 6 ft 3 in
Weight 265 lb
Reach 81 in

Lesner has 7" of reach on him and 34 pounds. I have never seen Fedor fight, so idk how good he is but looking at those numbers he has a significant disadvantage to make up.

06_SMOKE_SE_CC · 07-27-2009, 02:45 PM

fedor has no disadvantage as far as i can see.....

Fedor:
6 ft.
230 lb.
reach 74"

Hong Man Choi:
7 ft. 2 in.
360 lb.

YouTube - Fedor Emelianenko vs Hong Man Choi

Tim Sylvia
6 ft. 8 in.
260 lb.

YouTube - Affliction Banned- Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia

Andrei Arlovski:
6 ft. 4 in.
240 lb.

YouTube - Fedor vs Arlovski Full Fight

d0va · 07-27-2009, 03:26 PM

cant wait to see him in the uhc, but I think Fedor should fight against Randy first... Randy been wanting this fight for a long time, and he still has some fights under the UFC contract if im not mistaken... also i dont think it would be fair to the other ufc fighters for him to fight for a championship on his 1st fight....IMO

Dirtytitan · 07-27-2009, 03:55 PM

I heard that Fedors team of people want dana white to hand over a portion of ufc stock in order for fedor to fight in the octogon. Could be just a rumor.

06_SMOKE_SE_CC · 07-27-2009, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d0va

cant wait to see him in the uhc, but I think Fedor should fight against Randy first... Randy been wanting this fight for a long time, and he still has some fights under the UFC contract if im not mistaken... also i dont think it would be fair to the other ufc fighters for him to fight for a championship on his 1st fight....IMO

shlt.....lesnar got his title shot in his 4th EVER mma fight.....fedor is much more credible than lesnar....i don't see why ufc WOULDN'T give him a title shot in his first fight....he's the #1 heavyweight in the world, lesnar is a publicity stunt.....much like kimbo was for elitexc until they went under....

Rhino404 · 07-27-2009, 06:52 PM

Fedor's promoters have no where else to go...they have to make a deal or he's stuck with local (to him) Sambo fights (no money in that). And I agree that he's done enough to warrant entering the UFC as the number one contender...because he is. Fedor wont bytch out like Mir did either...

Dirtytitan · 07-27-2009, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhino404

Fedor's promoters have no where else to go...they have to make a deal or he's stuck with local (to him) Sambo fights (no money in that). And I agree that he's done enough to warrant entering the UFC as the number one contender...because he is. Fedor wont bytch out like Mir did either...

Ya i think you guys are right. Without affliction he really has no where else to go. Dana is going to all that bhe can to make this happen cuz he knows that the people will want to see this.

Rhino404 · 07-27-2009, 08:44 PM

Affliction had no business promoting fights...it was a pipe dream from the start...like EliteXE or whatever it was called. The Fertitta's and the UFC have been holding all the cards from the begining...Fedor was the one that got away...until now.

As far as Lesnar is concerned, he was an accomplished greco-roman style wrestler prior to all of this and happens to be a physical specimen...a joke he is not...he has no business sense and comes off like a huge @sshole, but whatever. Two things are for certain...Lesnar will not walk through Fedor...and win, lose, or draw, Lesnar will have something ridiculous to say after the fight.

06_SMOKE_SE_CC · 07-28-2009, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A.I.I.Raciing

1st off, your a phucing idiot.......How in the hell is Brock a publicity stunt you retard, he beat 2 HW CHAMPIONS that were currently holding a belt. One of them is a Hall of Famer and Mir just may possibly be a HOF'er one day also.

2nd, Josh did NOT ruin it for Affliction, Affliciton ruined it for themselves and anyone blaming Josh needs some common sense. From the start I said that they would not make it past the 3rd fight with what they were paying, I just happened to be off by 1 fight.

Josh Barnett – “I’m getting punished for something I didn’t do” MMAXclusive

hmmm. well first off....i'll ignore your personal attack....not quite sure where that came from or why you feel the need to throw it out there, but whatever...

2nd.....lesnar was a publicity stunt, his fight with couture was just that....why should he get the shot after 3 fights in his career, and with a 2-1 record?? he fought randy after randy had been out of the game for how long....a year+??? dana knew this fight would get huge PPV numbers, so he set it up....we all knew randy wasn't going to beat lesnar, so i stand by my opinion and call him a publicity stunt....

3rd....i agree with you, it wasn't solely barnett that ruined it, but it was him that pushed it over the edge....i think they would have went under after the third fight as well, but when he failed the test and they didn't have a third fight, they had no fall back plan.....so i place part of the blame on him....

HawaiiTitan · 07-28-2009, 02:52 AM

I think he will most likely end up going to Dream.

I find it hilarious how someone can say Fedor has a signifigant disadvantage after looking at his height, weight , and reach. Go watch some of his fights, check out his Pride fights. He is a freak of nature in MMA, undoubtedly the #1 heavyweight in the world.

06_SMOKE_SE_CC · 07-28-2009, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawaiiTitan

I think he will most likely end up going to Dream.

I find it hilarious how someone can say Fedor has a signifigant disadvantage after looking at his height, weight , and reach. Go watch some of his fights, check out his Pride fights. He is a freak of nature in MMA, undoubtedly the #1 heavyweight in the world.

agreed....that's why i posted those videos...a quick youtube search will give you countless fights of his to watch....

one of his closest was against crocop...that was a great fight....

but to say he has a disadvantage just based on height/weight alone doesn't hold water.....if that were true, he wouldn't have beaten choi, sylvia, or arlovski.....

NBhunter80 · 07-28-2009, 04:37 AM

Fedor is not at a disadvantage to anyone. He is a freak for sure. It will be interesting to see what happens if he and Lesnar ever fight. My prediction would be that Lesnar would make a mistake and Fedor would capitalize on it, much like Mir did in Lesnar vs Mir 1, except that Fedor IMO is a more accomplished MMA submission fighter than Mir so it should be over quicker. Fedor is also alot tougher than Mir, and anyone who has watched Pride knows that Fedor can take a punch. Mir even said himself that he doesn't like getting hit. But I don't think Lesnar is a joke at all. Bringing him in may have been a publicity stunt, but he has proved that he has the tools to compete in MMA. With a bit more training and some help keeping his WWE personality out of the ring he will be a real contender in the UFC heavyweight. He did beat Mir and Randy...what more credentials could you ask for? It's not like he has faught a bunch of losers in his 4 fights. I just don't know if he could handle a guy like Fedor. I don't want to take anything away from Randy, but Randy had a history of losing to bigger men (with the exception of Sylvia). Randy lost to Rizzo and Barnett, and now Lesnar. Randy is a true master and pioneer of wrestiling style in MMA, but you can't put a middle aged man against a young beast like Lesnar and expect him to out wrestle a younger stronger wrestler. It just wont, and didnt happen. Fedor is a whole different animal then Randy or Mir. Both Randy and Mir are relatively one-sided. Fedor is dangerous everywhere. He has KO power, great standup, great grappling, and is a submission master. The only chance Brock would have would be to wrestle him and hope that he can ground and pound without leaving an arm in, or a leg exposed (well, I guess that's probably Lesnar's plan against anybody lol). But I see Lesnar as also being one-sided, and IMO Fedor is a much more well-rounded fighter. I'm sure that Lesnar is stronger, but history has shown that technique usually beats brute force. Anyway, I'm not convinced that Fedor will ever fight in the UFC. The UFC is a greedy organization and they want Fedor to stop competing in his Sambo tournaments etc. I don't think that Fedor is totally in it for the money, and he has already said that he won't fight in the UFC unless they also let him compete in other tournaments. Fedor is a real fighter, not an actor or a sellout...he fights for the enjoyment of the sport. I don't think he cares if Dana White pounds his chest about how the UFC is the only real MMA organization and all that. Fedor is above that, and if White wants him in the UFC, I think he might have to make a few comprimizes. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens!