(Mmmm, apocalyptic…)
After a Long Beach Press-Telegram article confirmed that Affliction’s next event would be headlined by a heavyweight bout between Josh Barnett (23-5) and Andrei Arlovski (13-5), the t-shirt company put up a home page for the October 11th card — named “Day of Reckoning” — which will be held at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. An exclusive ticket presale for “Affliction customers” begins Wednesday; tickets can be bought here.
Besides that reported bout between Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort, the only thing we know about the lineup at this point is that Fedor won’t be on it. Though the absence of Affliction’s best fighter is unfortunate, Emelianenko still isn’t a proven pay-per-view draw in the U.S., and if Affliction can quickly get their hands on someone who is — Tito Ortiz, in a best-case scenario — then “Reckoning” should be able to out-perform “Banned.” We’ll keep you updated as the card comes together.
But speaking of Fedor, you wanna hear something totally freakin’ wild?
Here’s the most outlandish rumor of the day, courtesy of Rear Naked News:
Rear Naked News has learned that Randy Couture and his legal representatives are planning to meet with top officials from the UFC early next week. The meetings hope to work out an amicable split, which will end the months of legal action by both sides. Although Dana White has been against working out a deal, it appears he has been overruled by top officials within Zuffa, UFC’s parent company. White has a tendency to make business personal and it seems Zuffa has finally stepped in to work the matter out.
This is great news for MMA fans who hope to see a potential match-up between Fedor Emelianenko and Couture. Adding even more intrigue to the closed door meetings is the rumor Fedor’s bout with Andrei Arlovski has been scrapped due to a hand injury suffered by Emelianenko. Instead it seems likely Affliction decided it was not worth it to put Fedor into the ring with Arlovski because they believe Couture will become a free agent soon. This would allow them to set up a proposed December bout to go head to head with UFC’s traditional end of the year event.
I want to believe this, because Randy deserves to have his dream fight before he retires, and his mounting legal headaches might have him willing to negotiate, finally. But then again, Rear Naked News? Hmm. Anyway, stay tuned…
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the only KO to barnett was from rizzo. but i doubt andrei will be able to finish barnett even if he is fortunate enough to rock him once or twice, whereas even though arlovskis edge (perhaps only edge) is boxing, even there barnett has the KO finishing potential not AA.