(Golden Boy. Yippee.)

Seems like some of our half-baked speculatin’ was right for a change. MMA Weekly is reporting that Affliction’s partnership with Golden Boy is all but official and this is the huge announcement that we were promised would change the world forever.

Maybe it’s just the way I’m feeling on this sleepy Saturday morning, but it seems like maybe someone exaggerated a little in order to draw attention away from the “Day of Reckoning” cancellation, er, rescheduling.

Affliction VP Tom Atencio and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer are expected to announce the deal at the Ricky Hatton-Pauly Malignaggi press conference in Vegas, which, if true, completely contradicts what Affliction COO Michael Cohen said about announcing the deal at a big-shot press conference in Trump Towers. This causes me to wonder, do these guys ever talk to each other? Do they even read what the other is telling the press, or are they like independently operating terrorist cells at this point?

If you’re wondering what exactly Affliction and Golden Boy will be doing once they become partners, it’s sounding more and more like the big plan is to put on events that feature both boxing matches and MMA bouts. This, apparently, is expected to rock our world. Maybe if they also added guys on motorcycles jumping through flaming hoops, maybe someone fighting a bear, then, perhaps then, all this hype about the spectacular announcement would seem justified. As of right now, it seems interesting, though hardly earth-shattering.

(Is Golden Boy ready to get in the game?)

The trouble with announcing that you’re about to make a big announcement is that people start chipping away at it, trying to spoil your surprise. It’s been less than twenty-four hours since Affliction “rescheduled” its October 11 event, and the rumors are flying. COO Michael Cohen told NBC Sports that he expected Fedor Emelianenko to be added to the event, now back at the Honda Center in January, but who would he face?

Reached for comment earlier today, Cohen told me he wasn’t sure yet whether Fedor would face “Andrei Arlovski or someone else.” When asked where that left Josh Barnett, he replied, “or Josh Barnett.”

In other words, Fedor will fight the always-formidable ‘TBA’ for Affliction in January, but that’s obviously not the big announcement. Rumor has it that it more likely involves a partnership of some sort with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. You may recall that Golden Boy was said to be on board back in the beginning, but supposedly dropped out after the announcement was made prematurely before issues of control were completely ironed out.

Affliction isn’t making that mistake again. When asked about a potential Golden Boy partnership or co-promotion, Cohen said he could not “confirm or deny” those rumors. He offered the same response when asked whether this might open the door for them to land a deal with HBO, although HBO seems to be rejecting that notion outright, according to Director of Media Relations, Kevin Flaherty:

“HBO is not in discussions with any MMA organization presently. Our sports programming plate is full.”

For now Golden Boy seems like the frontrunner for this big announcement, but what will that mean for Affliction? A possible MMA/boxing venture, or just some promotional and financial aid? Affliction is tight-lipped for the moment, not wanting to ruin the surprise, but Cohen assured us, ““When we make the announcement the reasons for this will all be self-evident.”

MMA fans have heard that one before, as Cohen acknowledged.

“The difference is,” he said, “we’re not just announcing a toy line.”

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

In an attempt to make Affliction’s decision to, let’s just say not go through with their planned October 11 event in Las Vegas, company VP Tom Atencio is getting specific about the semantics involved. You see, they aren’t canceling their event. Everyone knows that’s a bad sign for an MMA company. And they aren’t postponing it, either. Again, another bad sign. No, it’s nothing like that.

Atencio explains it all to MMA Weekly:

“We’re not canceling it, we’re not postponing it, we’re rescheduling it completely,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to do it where we wanted to do it, it’s a positive.”

[...]

“It was a business decision. We came out strong, and we want to continue with that momentum and continue strong. We don’t want to come out and be weak and have to give tickets away. We want to continue to be a force in this industry.”

[...]

“From a business standpoint, we don’t want to lose money,” he said. “We want to be here long term. It’s a wise choice. This is definitely a positive.”

So they scheduled an event, paid for a Nascar sponsorship and a Times Square billboard touting the date, then couldn’t sell any tickets. So what did they do? They scheduled it again, for a different time and place. They re-scheduled it. Completely different than postponing or canceling.

Atencio also said there would be an announcement about the company’s future during the Marquez-Casamayor boxing match this Saturday, while Affliction COO Michael Cohen has been more vague, promising an announcement “within two weeks” and saying a press conference would take place at Trump Towers in New York City.

Could this big announcement have something to do with a boxing co-promotion? Or absolutely nothing to do with boxing? Will we continue to play this guessing game until someone comes up with some answers? Where’s Waldo!? Who’s on first?!? Gaaah!

(“I just saved a bunch of money on my hepatitis test.”)

In a new interview with MMA Weekly, Tito Ortiz reveals that he’s just about done negotiating his next fight contract:

“Most likely I’m not going with the UFC, that’s about 99% sure that that’s not happening. I’ve got to be thankful for Lorenzo (Fertitta), what he gave me to this point, but it’s too bad that they have a president the way he is, just hot headed the way he is, takes everything personal and I wash my hands clean…

I’m going to move on and I’m going to try another company out, I’m going to see how it goes. By the end of this month there will be a big news break, where Tito Ortiz is going and what I did for a contract.”

If it’s not the UFC, it has to be EliteXC or Affliction, right? Well, another report on MMA Rated has us thinking that Ortiz could be leaning towards the t-shirt company. As Affliction COO Michael D. Cohen told Ariel Helwani:

At this present moment, I can not give the reason [for the event cancelation] but what I can tell you is that there is going to be a public announcement made and this announcement is truly going to change the world of mixed martial arts. Unlike other similar statements made, the press conference that will be had in the near future will have the affect as I described it. [Ed. note: LOL!]

And when can we expect this earth-shattering announcement?

Within two weeks. We are truly hoping that it will be within one week, but the reality is two weeks. MMA fans all around the world will understand the reason for the postponement of the event. And something I want to make clear…The event has not been cancelled, it’s postponed, and the reasons will become very apparent to all.

Call me a cynic, but I’m going to start preparing my FAIL photos. Cohen also discusses “Day of Reckoning”‘s slow ticket sales and the UFC’s Las Vegas meddling, and while he can try to re-direct our attention all he wants with this talk of a game-changing announcement, a postponed show isn’t good news, no matter how he spins it. Although Fedor vs. Tito is certainly a freak show worth waiting for…

Update: Fowlkes just spoke with Cohen and asked him if Affliction’s announcement had anything to do with Tito’s announcement. His response: “Absolutely not.”

Aw hell naw. The Nevada State Athletic Commission has confirmed to Sherdog that Affliction’s second MMA event — which was scheduled to go down October 11th at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas — has been postponed to 2009:

Affliction contacted Kizer on Wednesday morning to inform him that the event would be moved to a January date at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

We already knew that the UFC was (allegedly) making things very unpleasant for Affliction in Las Vegas, and it looks like the pressure might have been too much. Unfortunately, they now take a bath on the money they shelled out on advertising for the event — which didn’t appear to be much, granted, although billboards in Times Square aren’t cheap. More importantly, their momentum is totally dead at this point. Six months between events is an eternity if you’re trying to build an MMA organization. I’d say the silver lining to this poop-cloud is that at least Fedor Emelianenko will be healthy enough to compete by January — unless of course he breaks his hand again during his annual New Year’s Eve freak show fight in Japan. More details to come…

Update: MMA Rated is floating the rumor that as few as 700 tickets had been sold for “Day of Affliction.” For ring events, the Thomas & Mack Center can hold 19,522 spectators.

(Times Square, meet “The Pitbull” and “The Baby-Faced Assassin.”)

The dispute between the UFC and Randy Couture may be over, but the one between the UFC and Affliction still rages on. After telling reporters that he would be “fucking horrified” to see Affliction still in business in 2009, Dana White may be trying to speed their demise as Affliction heads to Las Vegas for its October 11 event. According to VP Tom Atencio, Affliction is being hindered by the UFC in their Sin City efforts:

“They’ve been messing with me every step of the way,” Atencio said. “There have been issues that I’ve been dealing with. So I can’t say it’s them, but there’s been things we’ve been dealing with that have never happened before, so I guess that’s why.”

Atencio didn’t specifically list how the UFC was messing with him, but when the IFL attempted to break into the Vegas market, they faced radio stations that wouldn’t air their ads and marketing groups who refused to work with them. The rumor was that the UFC had threatened any ad networks or radio stations who cooperated with their competition, suggesting that they’d lose out on much greater business in the future from the UFC.

Affliction could be facing some of those same problems, or worse, as they try to drum up interest in their live event. Ticket sales were a major boon for their first show, but if they can’t get that same level of fan support for this effort they’ll be forced to rely on pay-per-view revenue, which could very well be weaker than their first show due to the lack of Fedor Emelianenko‘s star power. That may be why they’re shelling out the dough for a Times Square billboard, hoping that PPV buys will save them even if no one shows up to the live event.

(Props: Steve Cofield)

(With the right contract, maybe Fedor can even afford to finally quit his part-time construction gig.)

Dana White has managed to shoot down most of the ‘what if’ questions in regards to Randy Couture facing Fedor Emelianenko in the UFC by repeating over and over again that Fedor is under contract with “another organization” and thus they can’t even talk about making that deal yet. But in an interview with USA Today’s Sergio Non, M-1′s Director of Operations Joost Raimond says that’s not really the issue:

The contracts that Fedor has at this point in time would allow for such a fight to take place, and specifically the Randy fight, so we’re free to make that happen if the opportunity presents itself.

…[A]nd the UFC knows that. That’s not a secret and we’ve always been very open that the Randy-Fedor fight is something special. It’s not your ordinary contract fight, as far as any fight can be ordinary.

But we’ve made provisions in any and all contracts that refer to Fedor to allow that fight to take place, with any organization in conjunction or in coooperation with whoever. Contractually there’s not an issue. … so I don’t know Dana would be calling that out, because the UFC is well aware that we have that contractual possibility.

So if it’s not his Affliction contract that’s holding things up, what’s the problem? From the sound of things, M-1 and Fedor’s “crazy Russian” management team are getting in the way. When asked if Fedor would be willing to sign an exclusive contract with the UFC — and as we all know, that’s the only way they do business — Raimond said it wasn’t a “feasible option.” And why not?

(Unfortunately, you’ll still have to pay to see these guys.)

Maybe you don’t remember this, but directly before Affliction: Banned’s pay-per-view broadcast in July, three undercard fights were supposed to be shown on Fox Sports Net, to lead viewers into the main card. So, there I was with my laptop out, ready to start liveblogging, when I learned that FSN wasn’t going to be showing the fights in my market (little ‘ol New York City) and I would instead be treated to a tape-delayed broadcast of a women’s power-napping tournament, or the Roshambo Pro Tour — I forget what it was exactly, but it was thoroughly retarded. And I heard that the same situation was playing out in a lot of places all over the country.

The good news is, we’ll no longer have to rely on the broke-asses at FSN for Affliction undercard matches. HDNet sent out a press release today announcing a “long-term partnership” with Affliction to televise the lead-off fights from their events, starting with Day of Reckoning on October 10th. HDNet’s 90-minute broadcast will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET, and will feature the heavyweight bout between Roy Nelson and Paul Buentello, a welterweight contest between Mike Pyle and Jason High, and one more matchup to be announced later.

Pretty cool stuff. Though instead of booking a third undercard fight that most people won’t care about, why not shore up the HDNet broadcast with a second rock artist who could act as a quasi-opener for Ozzy? I’m just saying, they could probably get Ronnie James Dio without breaking the bank…

(One is the loneliest number. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

With Randy Couture going back to his ex to try and work things out, this has to be a tough time for Affliction. They thought there was a real connection there, maybe a future between them. They even carved ‘Affliction + Randy Couture’ in the big tree out back. You have any idea how long it takes to carve all that with a pocket knife?

Then, out of the blue, Couture is back in the UFC’s arms and they’re as happy as ever. But Affliction VP Tom Atencio isn’t upset that the biggest fight they could possibly make is now impossible any time in the near future:

“Randy needs to do what he needs to do to handle his problems,” Atencio said. “I’m happy for him.”

“I think the biggest problem is people assume everything,” Atencio said. “The bottom line is Randy is our partner with Xtreme Couture. Randy is sponsored by Affliction. He’s been with us and we work with him. Randy needs to handle his legal problems with the UFC and he did so I am happy for him.”

That’s the spirit, stiff upper lip. You’ve still got Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski to put against Fedor. All is not lost. But what about Dana White’s assertion that he would be “fucking horrified” if Affliction is still in the MMA biz in 2009? Them’s fightin’ words!

Or not:

“Dana has his right to his opinion and he is very open about it and that is completely fine,” Atencio said calmly. “Since day one, I have always handled things this way. I don’t need to bite my tongue because I don’t need to talk shit about people.”

Man, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I almost miss Gary Shaw. At the very least, can’t Atencio have a son who will go flying off the handle from time to time? Is that too much to ask?

Tito Ortiz went on HDNet’s Inside MMA on Friday night to make vague statements in the hope that MMA fans will start caring about him again. Speaking about his current negotiations to find a home, Ortiz said:

“EliteXC — possibility. Affliction — possibility. UFC — a small chance of that happening…The things between me and Dana White, I’m shoving it off and moving on with my life.”

Wow…he’s come a long way since that “ground-breaking record contract” with Affliction. But that’s what happens when you ask for the moon and stars from a company that doesn’t have a pot to piss in, if you’ll forgive the metaphor mixing. And the UFC — where a small cut of the PPV take can mean big money — is still the only organization that can offer Ortiz even close to what he thinks he’s worth.

It seems hard to believe that Dana White, who considers Ortiz to be an intolerable scumbag, would even consider dealing with him again, but perhaps cooler heads are prevailing. With Couture vs. Emelianenko a possibility in the Octagon and Tito considering a return, the UFC is poised to deliver a sharp, painful kick directly to Affliction’s balls. Honestly, the UFC’s only apparent motivation for re-signing Ortiz would be to screw over their latest rival. It’s not like he’ll have much impact in the light-heavyweight division at this point, and his rivalries with Chuck Liddell and Ken Shamrock have long since been consummated. So maybe they’ll keep him around as a celebrity gate-keeper, as long as it’ll prevent Affliction from having a credible pay-per-view draw. As Alonzo Harris put it, the shit’s chess, it ain’t checkers.

(Randy attends a costume party dressed as Samuel L. Jackson.)

As exciting as the prospect of Randy Couture returning to the UFC might be, we were a little skeptical when rumors started flying earlier this week. But now it sounds like talks between the UFC and “The Natural” are for real, and it’s looking more and more possible that Couture might return to action in front of his former-hometown crowd in Portland to face Brock Lesnar on November 15.

And if that’s not completely crazy enough for you, the UFC is said to be seriously considering an offer from M-1 to co-promote a Randy Couture-Fedor Emelianenko bout down the road. Suddenly we go from a tangled court battle to a couple of blockbuster fights that also have the added advantage of helping the UFC screw Affliction. All just like that. Is your mind blown yet?

If all goes smoothly (and what are the chances of that?) the “Couture Compromise” — as we’re going to go ahead and call it — could be announced as early as Tuesday. As with any story this huge, we’ll believe it when we hear it out of Dana White’s mouth, which will no doubt be formed into an I-told-you-so smirk for the next three months.

Couture is said to be training full-time right now, getting ready to get his glorious return on, so it seems like all systems could genuinely be go for this. What a crazy, wonderful world.

(Rashad Evans looks very happy about clocking Steve Cofield one.)

- Rashad Evans can’t even escape Chuck Liddell at the movies. (Yahoo! Sports)

- Talking Shamrock, Kimbo, Noons and more on the radio. (MMA Rated)

- “The Secret” explained, in a manner of speaking. (Fightlinker)

- Ryan Schultz to get another shot at Sengoku 5. (MMA Mania)

- Thiago Alves has a lesson he wants to teach Diego Sanchez. (Tatame)

- Dana White promises UFC will be bigger than NFL and World Cup, then discusses a near-death experience. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

- “Day of Reckoning” official website. (Affliction)

- UFC in talks with CBS to supplant Elite XC? (Fightline)

- Sammy Hagar rocks great moments in history. (Holy Taco)

- Tough beer choices this Labor Day weekend. (Wall Street Fighter)

- Eight awesome movie prisoners. (Screen Junkies)

(Jerome would like to know if you’re going to finish that baguette.)

MMA Weekly is reporting that Affliction is in negotiations with French kickboxer Jerome Le Banner, with the intention of setting up a fight between the former K-1 star and Tim Sylvia for Affliction’s third MMA show (early ’09, location TBA). According to Le Banner’s agent Alan Kermorvan, “We have been talking with Tom Atencio for about two weeks about this possibility…I’m pretty sure we can work out something pretty quickly, it’s just not signed yet.”

Though he never held a title in K-1, Le Banner holds notable kickboxing wins over Peter Aerts, Ernesto Hoost, Gary Goodridge, Don Frye, Mark Hunt, and Hong Man Choi. He is 3-1-1 as a mixed martial artist, with his last MMA fight resulting in a first-round knockout victory over Jimmy Ambriz at K-1 Hero’s 4 in March 2006.

A matchup between Sylvia and JLB would represent the culmination of a rather-entertaining war of words that’s gone on for the last couple years, which began with Le Banner publicly dissing the Maine-iac for being a boring fighter with overrated striking. Sylvia responded by challenging Le Banner to a fight on his home turf, but the match didn’t come together due to Le Banner’s refusal to sign an exclusive, multi-fight deal with the UFC. In an interview with Fighthype last December, Le Banner referred to Sylvia as “big sausage,” and called him “so ugly and annoying.”

In addition to Affliction’s pursuit of Le Banner, Tom Atencio told MMANews.com that he’s interested in signing Sergei Kharitonov, the heavyweight PRIDE standout who was briefly rumored to be fighting Antonio Silva for EliteXC’s heavyweight title.

(‘Oh, hello there. Didn’t see you come in. Just rolling up my sleeves and inspecting this cage here. No big deal. It’s part of what I do.’)

Dana White is a man of simple tastes. He loves fighters who are neither pussies nor posers. He loves dropping F-bombs. He loves making life hell on all those who would oppose or seek to compete with him. The last one explains what he’s doing with the Tito Ortiz contract situation, and why he doesn’t mind being so open about it. Because what’s the fun of screwing with someone if they don’t know that you’re doing it? From Sergio Non’s USA Today blog:

I read recently that Tito supposedly is negotiating with UFC again. If that’s the case, how did that come about?

As part of his contract, he goes out and … I don’t know, something to do with his contract, but he’s still got his foot in the door with his contract. As part of our business practice in this crazy world these days, we — let me think how I can word this to you.

Take your time.

Yeah, probably going to have to.

I always say, we make this thing look a lot easier than it really is, and we’re definitely not going to make it easy for anybody else. We’re going to make things tough for other people.

It sounds like you’re saying basically you have certain negotiation rights with Tito.

Yup, and I’m going take them.

Given what you guys said about each in the months leading up to his last fight, how realistic is to expect Tito to ever fight in UFC again?

Listen, me and Tito didn’t say anything worse than what we said before he came back and became a coach on The Ultimate Fighter. Tito and I do not like each other. We do not. It’s 100% real, we don’t like each other at all, but it doesn’t mean we haven’t done business together before.

So basically, White is driving up the price on people like Affliction and Elite XC, most likely because Ortiz’s contract has a clause that allows him to match competitors’ offers within a certain window. Whether he’s really open to resigning Tito or whether that’s just something you say to make your intentions seem more genuine, that’s a different question. In the meantime, he can really make life hard for other promotions, and man, does he ever enjoy that.

(Something’s wrong here. I only count three skulls.)

In an attempt to broaden their fanbase, Affliction is shelling out the dough to appeal to a normally untapped potential audience: Nascar-lovers. Mike Skinner’s car is turning into a moving billboard for the clothier-turned-promoter at the Pepsi 500 this weekend in San Bernardino, Ca.

Looking at the artist’s rendition of the car above (courtesy of Yahoo’s Steve Cofield), I’m totally pumped to see some skulls go screaming down the track. So pumped, in fact, that I may even watch Nascar (no I won’t).

What’s interesting here is that this whole stock car ad campaign makes a few assumptions that may or may not be valid. One is that there are enough Nascar fans who know enough about MMA already to even recognize what this is an ad for. You have to either know what Affliction is, or know who Arlovski and/or Barnett are for this to even make sense. The “vs.” gives it away that there’s probably a fight going on, but aside from that all you’ve got is a date and some skulls. Maybe the thinking is that if a date and skulls aren’t enough for you, then Affliction doesn’t want your money anyway (yes they do).

Just out of curiosity, any Nascar fans out there? As in, for real? I gotta be honest, this is as close as I ever came. And, to a lesser extent, this.

(Photo courtesy of StrikeforceUSA.net.)

One of the most unfortunate aspects of Tito Ortiz’s bizarre negotiation cock-up with Affliction is that it’s jeopardizing his grudge match with Renato “Babalu” Sobral, the Brazilian UFC vet who would love, love, love to kick the crap out of him. After Sobral’s impressive unanimous decision over Mike Whitehead last month at “Affliction: Banned,” a meeting between Babalu and the Huntington Beach Bad Boy seemed inevitable. Right now, the only thing that’s certain is that Sobral will be fighting Bobby Southworth on September 20th for Strikeforce’s light-heavyweight championship, and he’s currently training hard to be worthy of the belt. Our own Luiz De Souza chatted with Sobral recently about Ortiz, Strikeforce, and the real story behind his unique nickname.

***

CAGEPOTATO.COM: First of all, how likely is it that we’ll see you face Tito Ortiz in Affliction?
RENATO SOBRAL: I don’t know when that fight will happen. It’s not up to me — if it was, I would have beaten his ass yesterday.

You’ve said that facing Tito would be your “dream fight.” Why is that, exactly?
First of all because he said that I am a “C-class fighter,” then he went on to say that I am a third-world country fighter. It would be a pleasure for me to kick his ass.

What do you think of him as a person?
Well…he is a good fighter. But it would be my pleasure to send him to hell.

If you two fought, how do you think the fight would end?
Whatever way in which the ending is me sending him to hell.

The salaries for some of the fighters at the first Afflicton show were incredibly high — do you feel like you were underpaid compared to guys like Ben Rothwell, Matt Lindland, or some of the other headliners?
I don’t really comment on money. Some make more money; others who are just starting make less. I have nothing to complain about.

How has Affliction treated you, compared to some of the other promotions you’ve worked for?
I’ve been treated very well by everyone, and I have nothing to complain about. I am a professional. Fighting is a business — the show doesn’t have to be the fighter’s father and mother.

(Murilo Rua and a devoted fan. Picture courtesy of Sherdog.)

— Murilo “Ninja” Rua, brother of UFC light-heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and the former EliteXC middleweight champion, will face IFL standout Benji Radach at EliteXC’s October 4th card on CBS. Radach hasn’t fought since his loss to Matt Horwich at the IFL World Grand Prix Finals last December, while Rua is coming off a first-round TKO victory over Tony Bonello at EliteXC: The Return of the King in June. It will be the first in a three-fight EliteXC contract for the American Top Team trained Radach.

— Speaking of Shogun, the older Rua brother’s rumored match with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is looking more likely.

— And speaking of the EliteXC middleweight title, a rematch between belt-holder Robbie Lawler and Joey Villasenor is nearly a done deal for EliteXC’s November 8th card on Showtime. Lawler and Villasenor previously met at PRIDE 32 in October ’06, where Lawler won via flying knee KO in just 22 seconds.

— Matt Lindland’s next Affliction fight will be against UFC/BodogFight/Strikeforce vet Trevor Prangley, at “Day of Reckoning” on October 11th in Las Vegas. It’s been a long layoff for Prangley, who hasn’t competed since Strikeforce’s “Four Men Enter, One Man Survives” middleweight tournament last November, where he defeated Falaniko Vitale then lost to Jorge Santiago.

— Former IFL middleweight champ Dan Miller will make his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 15 (September 17th, Omaha) against Rob Kimmons, who most recently choked out Rob Yundt at the TUF 7 finale in June.

Former IFL welterweight champ Jay Hieron has reportedly verbally agreed to face Drew Fickett at the next Affliction event in Las Vegas on October 11. The real question is, will Fickett find some clever new way to screw it up? Fickett’s manager, Alexander Oxendine, seems open to that possibility:

“We’re in discussion with a few organizations and Affliction is one of them,” said Oxendine. “They are at the top of our list. As far as Drew is concerned, he’s made a great turnaround with his life and training. He is ready to move forward.”

If you don’t know, Fickett is the same guy who managed to get himself fired from MFC and booted off a Strikeforce card in one glorious weekend when he tried to breach his contract in the apparent hopes that no one would figure it out. They did, chaos ensued, and Fickett went on to lose via questionable stoppage in a Rage in the Cage event.

So now one of MMA’s favorite troublemakers is being offered a spot in Affliction against one of the tougher welterweights outside of the UFC, and he’s not sure if he wants to take it? Affliction should not only be at the top of his list, it should be the entire list. He should run down there and sign the contract in his own blood before they have a chance to change their minds. Let’s hope this is just a negotiating ploy by his agent. If Fickett ends up turning this down to fight in some small show at a fairground somewhere, we’ll know it’s time for new management. No, not Mark Dion, either.

(Just one girl? Must have been a slow week for Chuck.)

- Chuck Liddell makes his case for a title shot after UFC 88. (MMA Weekly)

- Trying to make sense out of Elite XC’s crazy week. (MMA Rated Radio)

- Chris Horodecki-Dan Lauzon officially on for Affliction: Day of Reckoning (Sherdog)

- Evan Tanner is not a big fan of MMA, as this half-assed UFC 87 breakdown reveals. (Spike.com)

- Dana White and Anderson Silva nominated for “Top 49 Men of 2008″ (AskMen.com)

- How MMA saved JoJo Thompson’s life. (AZCentral.com)

- False blood work prompts fighter and trainer suspensions. (MMA Opinion)

- The most marketable names in sports. (Wall Street Fighter)

- Frat boy movie review of “Death Race.” (Screen Junkies)

- A harrowing tale of the days before internet porn, and how Kate Moss almost ruined everything. (Holy Taco)

Matt Hamill will be welcoming Rich Franklin back to the light heavyweight division at UFC 88 on September 6th, and he expects some fearsome striking from the former middleweight champ. But he trusts in his always-improving game, and knows he needs to face the best opponents available to earn his respect. Props to ESPN via FiveOuncesofPain.

Joe Rogan gives us a glimpse of the average UFC fight weekend for him, which generally includes a standup comedy performance on Friday night. A clip from his gig at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis starts at the 2:23 mark of this video, in which Joe does a solid Jim Brown impression and discusses his infamous “rape choke” commentary blunder at UFC Fight Night 13. Props to MMA Mania.

(Trump Jr.: Voted most likely to buy and sell jerks like you.)

In an interview with MMA Rated Radio today Donald Trump Jr. discusses the Trump involvement in Affliction, along with related topics. The interview as a whole is definitely worth listening to, if for no other reason than to hear the occasional Thurston Howell III-type inflection come into Trump Jr’s voice, but things really get interesting when they start talking Tito Ortiz.

As we’ve all heard by now, the talks aren’t going well, which is par for the Tito course. But to hear Trump Jr. tell it, Ortiz’s sense of his own worth is even more out of control than we thought:

“It was a bit of a shock to us…I can’t make it a one man show or the Tito Ortiz show giving him more than a guy like Fedor who is coming in here with a winning record…I was (disappointed). I was shocked. It was almost like don’t even bother calling back because there is no point in making a deal here…it was aggressive.”

“There’s nothing concrete as of yet. If we can come to something, great. If not, so be it.”

“I think Tito’s obviously a good draw and he’d be good to have for a show. To say anything else would be stupid. However, that draw comes with an expense. In the cost-benefit analysis the question is, is it worth it? The answer is, at those numbers, definitely not.”

Trump Jr. also said that he was not surprised to hear the reports that Ortiz was once more negotiating with Zuffa, saying he expected him to “try and play both sides,” but given the acrimonious relationship with Dana White he thinks Ortiz will eventually end up signing with Affliction.

If it doesn’t go down that way, I doubt the Trump’s will be crying into their martinis. At Ariel Helwani’s prodding, Trump Jr. seemed to admit that the early negotiations with Ortiz have made him wonder if the guy isn’t more trouble than he’s worth, regardless of the price. Like the magic eight ball says, ‘All signs point to yes.’

(Honestly, how did we not see this coming?)

After all the speculation as to the identities of the last two fighters to test positive from last month’s Affliction and Elite XC cards in California, we have our answer. MMA Weekly reports that Affliction’s Edwin Dewees and newly-minted Elite XC heavyweight champ Antonio Silva are the guilty parties.

Dewees tested positive for Nandrolone, that old familiar friend, only unlike Sean Sherk his levels didn’t fall in the debatable range. While Sherk got nailed with 12 ng/mL, Dewees tested at 499ng/mL. The California State Athletic Commission’s Bill Douglas remarked that the level of Nandrolone in Dewees’ system was “hard to explain.” Unless, of course, you consider the explanation that he was rightfully worried about getting pounded on by Rogerio Nogueira.

Antonio Silva, on the other hand, tested positive for Boldenone, a veterinary steroid commonly used on horses. Oh, the lengths a man will go to just to claim that Elite XC heavyweight title. A false positive in Silva’s case also seems unlikely, since, according to Douglas, the drug has a long half-life in the body.

Both fighters have been suspended for a year and fined $2,500. As the MMA world shakes its collective head at them and simultaneously breathes a sigh of relief that it wasn’t Fedor, we await the totally lame excuses/explanations that are sure to follow. Injured in training, perhaps? Maybe a contact high from too much time spent at the racetrack? We can’t wait to hear it.

(“The Wizard” @ Ozzfest 2005)

TheMMANews and MMAJunkie are reporting that the music for Affliction’s second MMA event (October 11th, Las Vegas) will be provided by 59-year-old rock legend Ozzy Osbourne. Osbourne, who is sponsored by Affliction clothing, had been rumored to be the live performer at “Banned” in May, but Megadeth got the gig instead.

The heavy metal interludes from Dave Mustaine & Co. at Affliction’s debut card were criticized by many MMA fans, but I dig Megadeth, so their presence was fine with me, especially because they stuck to old classics and didn’t play any new material. As long as Ozzy stays away from “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and digs into the Black Sabbath songbook (i.e., “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” maybe some “Sweet Leaf” or “The Wizard”), he should be good. Also, Andrei Arlovski is going to beat Josh Barnett via decision; you heard it here first.

(BG)

Despite announcing that he had signed a “ground-breaking record” deal with Affliction, Tito Ortiz is now said to be negotiating with other organizations, including Elite XC and the crazy Kentuckians of the AFL. It seems only fair. Why should Affliction get to hog all the Tito crazy? Their contract negotiations with him are said to be troubled, so that could be the impetus for him looking elsewhere. He’s even said to be in talks with the UFC, which might be the source of this anonymous quote:

“I don’t know if we’re really negotiating, or simply helping Tito stroke his giant ego,” one frustrated company representative said Sunday, Aug. 17.

Why does it have to be an either/or situation? Why can’t it be both? This is Tito Ortiz we’re talking about. Most of his actions are designed to boost his ego.

The idea that Tito could end up back in the UFC is, in a word, insane. Not only is he not enough of a draw at this point to justify the price tag or the headache, but Dana White seems to genuinely hate him too much to give him any more money or TV time. It would seem more likely that the UFC is trying to drive the price up on Affliction, but that’s just one man talking sense.

If Ortiz does sign with the AFL — the organization known for giving huge contracts to lesser-known female fighters and putting many of their economic eggs into the AFL-brand dress pants basket — I think it’s safe to say that they will officially be the zaniest and least viable MMA organization in existence. Now that I think about it, that does seem like the appropriate home for Tito.

(If you won’t pay to watch Fedor beat up this man, what will you pay for?)

The quest to figure out how much money Affliction made off their first event continues, and in the latest installment Dave Meltzer revises some of his earlier figures. You may recall that Meltzer first reported that “independent estimates” had pegged the number at 50,000-85,000 pay-per-view buys — far from the “well over 100,000″ that VP Tom Atencio was claiming. In a recent issue of his Wrestling Observer newsletter (via MMA Payout) he says the organization may have done six figures after all:

It’s been hard to narrow down a buy rate for the Affliction show. Promoter Tom Atencio has claimed the figure was more than 100,000. Updated cable sources we’ve checked with have estimated from a low of 65,000 to a high of 100,000. Either way, the number is both excellent by the standards of a promotion with no television (it beats anything TNA has done with 2 million weekly TV viewers), but as noted over and over, it’s a substantial money loser.

A high of 100,000 isn’t so bad for a first pay-per-view event, really. If the reports keep changing at this rate maybe they’ll crack 200,000 some time around Christmas. Though by then we’ll all be speculating about the success of their second show, and Tom Atencio will be claiming they did well over 500,000 buys. Thus the circle of life goes on.

Slightly related: There’s some speculation that recently-signed Affliction fighter Chris Horodecki may face Dan Lauzon (Joe Lauzon’s brother) at “Day of Reckoning” in October. Like Horodecki, Lauzon is also just twenty years old and yet looks like he’s fourteen. Maybe after they fight they can both go hang around out in front of a liquor store together and try to convince someone to buy them beer.

If there’s a worse sign for an MMA company than canceling a scheduled event just over a month out, we don’t want to know about it. Neither does Elite XC. The Fight Network is reporting that the organization has canceled their planned September 20 event in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Not postponed. Not rescheduled. Straight-up canceled. They still have plans for an October 4 show on CBS, so this is far from a death knell for Elite XC, but it’s not something to celebrate, either.

There’s no official word just yet on exactly why the event is being canceled, but it would seem to be at least partially related to their troubles putting together the somewhat baffling Jake Shields-John Alessio bout. After all the hype around Shields on the last CBS show, it didn’t seem to make much sense to give John Alessio a crack at his title. Add to that the fact that Alessio said the fight was too soon for him to reasonably take, and what you have is a non-bout and a non-event.

Poor Elite XC. Maybe this is the best thing for them at the moment. Their fighter stable is already a little thin, and when you try to stage a show every month you only make things more difficult. Focusing all their efforts on the October 4 CBS show is probably the best idea.

Who knows, maybe this will even improve the chances of Elite XC allowing Shields to take on Matt Lindland in Affliction. Don’t hold your breath, though. We worry about you when you do that.

It’s official: Vitor Belfort will not face Matt Lindland at Affliction: Day of Reckoning on October 11. The hand he broke on Terry Martin’s face won’t be healed in time, though Affliction VP Tom Atencio sounds just a little suspicious of the whole thing in his remarks to MMA Weekly:

“Vitor is out, I spoke with him I think yesterday and he told me,” said Atencio. “Actually, it was on Tuesday we had a conversation for about an hour or so, and yeah, I guess he broke his hand in two places is what he told me and he had been having 2, 3 and 4 opinions on it. He finally got the opinion that he wanted I guess and they told him to step out for a while.”

This might be just an accident of poor phrasing, but Atencio seems to be suggesting that Belfort went looking for a doctor who would tell him not to fight. That hardly sounds like “The Phenom,” who told a slightly different tale to Tatame:

“Man, I’m doing physiotherapy now and won’t be able to fight at October 11th, I wanna fight with 100%, so I’ll be at the next show to fight for the title”

Belfort also said that he expects to face the winner of Matt Lindland vs. TBA for the currently non-existent middleweight title in Affliction’s third event. Naturally, Atencio cast doubt on that too, saying that the proposed Belfort-Lindland bout would not have been for a title because “it didn’t make too much sense.” He said they may eventually decide to make it a title bout, but for now the task at hand is finding an opponent for Lindland, and guess whose name keeps coming up? Jake freakin’ Shields.

From The Adam Carolla Show via MMA Mania:

I’d love for the UFC to step up and make the fight [with Fedor Emelianenko] happen. It has the potential to be the biggest mixed martial arts fight to date…It has the potential to do 700,000+ pay-per-view buys which is a helluva lotta money. I think 6-10 [million should be the salary] for each of us and they’re still gonna make a boatload of money on top of that.

Generally speaking, cable operators take half of the revenue for PPV events, which would mean that the UFC gets $22.495 per buyer these days. Though it’s been suggested that the UFC has been able to work out a slightly better deal with its distributors, multiplying that figure by Randy’s estimate of 700,000 buys would mean that the UFC would take in about $15,746,500 from a PPV card headlined by Couture vs. Emelianenko. “Boatload” may not be the right word if you’re taking at least $12,000,000 off the top to pay the headliners. Pay Randy and Fedor $8 million apiece or more, and the UFC’s profit from the broadcast is eliminated altogether. Of course, the equation changes completely if the fight does Liddell/Ortiz-caliber numbers, but its hard to predict if Couture vs. Emelianenko will mobilize the casual UFC fan like UFC 66‘s grudge match did.

In other words, there’s no way the UFC is going to cave to Couture’s asking price. I’d imagine they’re still interested in negotiating — if for no other reason than to take Affliction’s hope of a big-drawing superfight away from them — but they won’t agree to a situation where they’re only breaking even financially. Just as importantly, paying headliners that much money for a single fight sets a precedent that could have even more of their contracted fighters giving them grief about “respect.” We just hope the two sides can eventually come to terms, because if the UFC can’t afford to put this fight on, it’s doubtful that anybody else can.

(Tito and Jenna, still trying to solve that age-old argument about which is the more lucrative industry: fighting or screwing?)

Here’s what you know going into contract negotiations with Tito Ortiz: he is going to insist that you pay him waaaay more than he’s actually worth, and he will genuinely believe that it’s justified. That’s what Affliction is finding out. After claiming he had a “ground-breaking record” contract in the works only to have his statement directly contradicted by Affliction COO Michael Cohen, Ortiz is now actually said to be in negotiations with Affliction, though it isn’t going well.

Affliction VP Tom Atencio told MMA Weekly, “We’ve got a contract, and it’s just not feasible.”

I think we can untangle that odd syntax enough to infer that what he means is Ortiz has told them how much money he wants and it’s absolutely ridiculous. Color me surprised. The problem is that Ortiz has an inflated sense of what he can bring to an MMA organization at this point. For example, he claims that he’ll do a guaranteed 500,000 pay-per-view buys for Affliction. This is what’s known as “crazy talk.”

Ortiz isn’t that big a star anymore. He only thinks he is. MMA fans have seen him limp along the last few years with victories over an over-the-hill Ken Shamrock and his more recent loss to Lyoto Machida, so it isn’t likely that too many of the hardcore faithful are dying to see “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” back in action.

If his reasoning is that fans of “The Apprentice” are going to plop down forty bucks to see him fight “Babalu” Sobral (who most of them have probably never heard of) in Affliction (an organization they may or may not be aware of), then he’s overestimating the reality TV crowd’s attention span. They’ve forgotten him in favor of Brooke Hogan and Mr. Boston by now.

When the people who paid Matt Lindland $300,000 and Tim Sylvia $800,000 think your expectations are “not feasible,” you must really be off the mark.

Ben Rothwell confirmed today that he will face Pedro Rizzo on the next Affliction show in Las Vegas on October 11. The bout has been officially signed, Rothwell told CagePotato.com, though it was agreed to on separate terms from his original contract, which means he will be taking a pay cut for this fight but still has two more fights at the previous rate on his existing contract with Affliction.

“[Agent] Monte [Cox] turned down their original offer for this fight, so that’s why he said none of his guys would be fighting on the show. Then they came back with another offer that was better, so we agreed to it,” Rothwell said.

Fighting a legend of the sport like Rizzo is something Rothwell says he’s ambivalent about, however.

“With Pedro, I not only respect his abilities, I watched him as a kid just getting into this sport. He’s one of the most down-to-earth, nicest guys in this sport, so on that level I don’t really want to fight him. But the fighter in me is amped for this. I’m going to go out there and do what I didn’t do against Andrei Arlovski.”

Rothwell said that he spoke with Rizzo at their first Affliction show and they both sensed that they may face each other next.

“I said I was going to ask for Buentello,” said Rothwell. “Then he said he was going to ask for Buentello. And Tim [Sylvia] also asked for Buentello.”

Rothwell criticized a report to the effect that he might face K-1 kickboxer “Mighty Mo” Siliga as completely false, adding that Siliga hadn’t ever been mentioned as a potential opponent.