Affliction officials confirm, “He tested positive for a banned substance (2a-methyl-5a-androstan-3a-ol-17-one). The athletic commission will not reinstate his license.”

With a “no comment” when asked about a Sherdog report that Vitor Belfort and Bobby Lashley were the two potential opponents for Fedor on August 1. Also, no one would speculate on whether a deal could be worked out to have Fabricio Werdum, whose August 15 fight with Alistair Overeem was canceled yesterday, might be Fedor’s opponent.

When asked what he’d like to say to MMA fans, Tom Atencio answered, “Just look for updates… I’m working on getting the best replacement possible.”

This could be a BIG blow for Affliction, who was looking for the Fedor/Barnett fight to match the buzz of the now infamous Mir/Lesnar fight. We know that everyone wants Bobby Lashley to be fed the title like Lesnar was, but to throw him to Fedor too soon could be killing the potential cash cow.

Speechless.

Arlovski had 4 inches in height, 10 lbs in weight, and a 3 inch reach advantage. Arlovski had speed and did a solid job, that helped him dominated the first minute and a half of the first round.

Within those first 90 seconds, Andre Arlovski got stoned. Soon after, he decided to try a flying knee (with his hands down) while Fedor was coming off the rope. The moment I saw the knee coming, the world stopped. Even Tito Ortiz, who could go down as the WORST ring announcer in the world, said, “Don’t do it!” Ironically, the next on the list for Fedor is Josh Barnett. If you don’t know who he is, he was a former UFC champion, and the next dude to get sodomized by Fedor Emelianenko in about 6 months.

Overall, these M1/Affliction events have the production value of a high school A/V club video. They have the wierdest F*$CKING annoucers in the world. Some dude from OZ, who couldn’t get a job in the Sopranos, and some other dude who sounds like Harvey Firestein – walking around the arena interviewing fans, is not my idea of informational reporting. I will take Joe Rogan over Tito Ortiz as an announcer, any day of the week.

Craziness! It seems that the lawyer’s from the UFC finally submitted Randy Couture and Mark Cuban in the battle to decide where the now-45-year-old cage veteran will be allowed to fight. People in Las Vegas have been whispering for some time that UFC President Dana White and Randy had begun to renegotiate on more personal (read: no lawyers) terms–and it turns out the rumors are true! (more…)

Fedor Emelianenko lives up to the hype, again. After a relatively standard night of fights (with the exception of the Andre Arlovski Fight, more on that later), Fedor ‘The Last Emperor’ Emelianenko decided he was sick of people suggesting he wasn’t, in fact, the baddest MMA fighter on the planet, and crushed Tim Sylvia, an extremely game opponent, in 36 seconds. The fight started out looking a lot like Sylvia v. Couture. Both men approached the center of the ring, Sylvia looking to keep the distance and jab, using footwork to stay out of the Russian’s deadly grip. Fedor had none of it, and threw a left hook that landed flush on Tim Sylvia’s ridiculously groomed face. Tim panicked and made probably the worst decision he’s ever made in a fight by clinching with Fedor. This is Emelianenko’s bread and butter zone, he landed several more punches, left, rights and uppercuts, wobbling the giant and sending him to the canvas. Fedor, a combat Sambo national champion (Sambo is a Russian grappling art, similar to Judo or Brazilian JJ) quickly sunk in the hooks from back mount and finished with a brutally old school forearm choke.

Randy Couture then hopped in the ring for some fight buildup. Here’s to hoping Randy cleans up his legal issues with the UFC. (more…)

I blew $50 on the Affliction fight.

I thought for sure it was going to be amazing, with a fight card like what they had – how could it not be? Within the first minute, I was amazed that they had Michael Buffer as the announcer. I thought, WHOAH! Hardcore!

No…not quite. The fighter segments, audio and almost every shot, was being produced by film students. The audio BLEW and every time anyone spoke into the microphone is was easy muffled or crackling. What was a real clue was that all of the graphics were low-res. If you are going to offer a show in HD, at least make an attempt to do the small stuff.

(more…)

Perhaps you’ve heard of Affliction clothing? Even if you haven’t, you’ve seen it. It’s everywhere on television. The shirts with all the flaming skulls and crazy designs on them with the word ‘affliction,’ somewhere. These shirts first started popping up on MMA fighters at UFC events, but have suddenly disappeared from the cage. This is because they were banned by UFC President Dana White and company as soon as Affliction announced they would be hosting their own MMA fight card, which is scheduled for July 19^th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

This wouldn’t be that big of a deal, typically. As MMA has grown in the U.S., we’ve seen plenty of MMA organizations pop up; the IFL, Adrenaline, EliteXC. But Affliction is different in that for their first event, they have assembled what is probably the most ridiculous fight card of 2008. If you don’t recognize these names, its because the UFC doesn’t talk about them (they couldn’t manage to sign them), but the card boasts several UFC veterans as well.

Here’s our breakdown and predictions for some of the more important fights on the card. (more…)