Former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson went from having a fight with Paul Buentello in Affliction, to having that fight cancelled, to signing a deal to face Andrei Arlovski on CBS, all in a matter of weeks. Now “Big Country” talks about the unpredictable nature of the fight game, who’s signing his paychecks, and more in this exclusive CagePotato interview.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me, Roy. I imagine it’s been an exciting week for you. When did you first hear about this offer?

Wednesday morning.

Really? That late?

Yeah. I got the news about three hours before Sherdog did. Talk about the last minute.

So what was going through your mind when they offered it to you?

You know, to fight Andrei is a big step in my career, so of course I was game. And what better stage than CBS, where you’ll get maybe 8 million viewers watching. Of course that’s something that I wanted to do.

(‘Look at that, same size I was in high school.’)

Fedor Emelianenko loves three things: competing in Sambo tournaments, eating two ice cream cones at once, and fighting in New Year’s Eve freak show matches in Japan. We know this about Fedor. We accept this about him. So that’s why when he appeared at Dream.6 and made comments about a potential NYE fight in Japan, we naturally wondered what that meant for his participation in Affliction’s second event in California. You know, the one that was “rescheduled” for January after a Fedor-less card failed to sell tickets in Las Vegas.

But Affliction VP Tom Atencio says not to worry. Fedor won’t be fighting in Japan on New Year’s Eve because Affliction has “extended his contract.” When asked if that meant Fedor was a lock for January 19, Atencio dropped this minor shocker:

“The date and location are not official,” Atencio said. “Everyone is tripping. Our next show will definitely be the 1st quarter of 2009 in January, possibly February. Nothing is confirmed though.”

Wait a minute, we’re tripping? Us, the people who think that maybe you should consider nailing down a venue, a date, and — dare I say it — even a fight card for the event you hope to sell tickets to? That’s “tripping”? Since when did Tom Atencio become a college sophomore at a Dave Matthews concert? We don’t mean to be a buzzkill or anything, but these are the kinds of details that could end up being pretty important down the road.

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.

(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?

(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?

(Guess who’s coming to UFC 91.)

Captain America is back in the UFC, and he and Dana White are best buds once again. At least, that was the story from White’s end on today’s UFC conference call. You could practically hear the smile on his face as the UFC president announced that his heavyweight champ was back and would face Brock Lesnar in a five-round title fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on November 15. While White said the organization still plans to go to Portland, Oregon eventually — the rumored site of UFC 91 — he played down any notion that the event was ever really headed there. As for the intense legal battle with Couture, that’s all water under the bridge now, as far as White’s concerned, and there is no bad blood between them.

“Through this whole thing I never said anything really bad about Randy,” White said. “I think the worst thing I said about him was that he was confused. I like Randy. I always have.”

While both White and Couture repeatedly said they were thankful to have the legal dispute over, Couture sounded a slightly different note, suggesting at times that he’d simply been worn down by the lengthy process.

He described himself as “frustrated by our legal system” and said he was “tired of throwing money around with no end in sight.” He also seemed to have been persuaded by the fact of his own age and the prospect that he might not get to fight any time in the near future if not in the UFC.

“I’m forty-five, and I can’t sit around in courtrooms much longer,” said Couture.

(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.

(Fedor Emelianenko vs. Bobby Hoffman, from RINGS: 10th Anniversary, 8/11/01. Props to MMA Scraps.)

(Royce Gracie vs. Harold Howard, from UFC 3, 9/9/94. Props to Druskee27.)

(Nobuhiko Takada vs. Mike Bernardo, from Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001, 12/31/01. Props to the late Irish Whip.)

(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.’

(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.

From Yahoo! Sports via Bloody Elbow:

“[Fedor Emelianenko is] not the best pound-for-pound fighter, not even close, but he’s one of the four or five best heavyweights…But we all have to thank him for getting rid of Tim Sylvia. He’d been stinking out the joint the last couple of years and Fedor did everyone a favor by beating him so easily and getting rid of him.”

Daaaaaaamn! You may remember that Dana had previously called Fedor a farce who wasn’t a top five heavyweight, but admitted that his opinion was changed after Affliction: Banned because “Tim Sylvia was a real opponent.” Despite Sylvia’s stinkiness, beating him made Fedor a top-fiver in Dana’s eyes. The optimist in me wonders if Dana is making this mild public praise because hosting a Randy vs. Fedor fight in the UFC is still a possibility, and he doesn’t want the last thing fans hear him say about Emelianenko to be “this dude’s a joke.” If the fight did come together, I wonder what White would say about him then?

Luckily, we already know that Dana’s words mean little to Fedor — particularly because he doesn’t consider himself to be the best pound-for-pound fighter either:

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.

In this video from RawVegas.tv, Russian stoic philosopher Fedor Emelianenko drops some knowledge regarding the issues of the day, including his thoughts on Randy Couture and his somewhat surprising admission that he is impressed by Brock Lesnar. My personal favorite is when he responds to Dana White’s earlier criticism of him by remarking that the UFC president’s comments are on his own conscience and he’s the one who will have to live with them. These are the moments that make me wonder if Fedor isn’t some being sent from another world in order to teach us all to be kinder to one another. Then I rewatch his bout with Tim Sylvia and I am forced to abandon that theory.

(Photo taken last night, courtesy of MMA Rated.)

From MMA Payout:

MMAPayout.com has learned that Couture and Emelianenko, along with their respective management teams, have spent a great deal of time together in Los Angeles this week. The purpose of the informal summit is not entirely clear, but one logical goal of the meetings could be the development of a collective strategy moving forward in order to insure that [their] fight takes place, sooner rather than later.

Adding intrigue to the meetings are recent statements from both parties, as well as the UFC, publicly indicating a willingness to discuss resolving their respective differences in order to have the fight take place in the Octagon, perhaps by the end of the year [Ed. note: Well, no]. Speculation within the industry pegs the pay-per-view expectations for the fight around one million buys if promoted by the UFC, which combined with what has become an expensive and protracted legal battle, give both sides ample motivation to come to an agreement.

MMA Rated got visual confirmation of last night’s Randy/Fedor bro-hang, while Sherdog added the following:

Couture, Emelianenko, and their representatives spent “significant” time together, as they met for breakfast and dinner, [a] source said. They were also involved in a photo shoot together, reports the source. While speculation around a future fight promoted by Affliction seems certain to swirl, the source indicated the upstart promotion was not behind the aforementioned shoot.

I wouldn’t read too much into this. Couture and Emelianenko have been extremely friendly in the past, and this could just be a case of two buddies sharing a few meals, hitting the clubs, stocking up on Ed Hardy tees, and laughing about what a fairy Tim Sylvia is.

(Emelianenko vs. Zuluzinho: Are you not entertained?)

For the last five years, Fedor Emelianenko has traditionally booked a fight on New Year’s Eve — always in Japan, usually against someone that has no business being in the ring with him. And despite a hand injury sustained in his Affliction: Banned bout against Tim Sylvia, the WAMMA heavyweight champ plans on keeping the streak alive. “I think definitely by New Year’s Eve I’ll be ready to go,” he recently told SI.com. And could he switch things up by fighting in the U.S. against someone competitive? Like, for example, the winner of “Day of Reckoning”‘s Arlovski/Barnett scrap? Not a chance, bro:

Early speculation centered on a rematch of Emelianenko’s tremendous points win in 2005 over Mirko Filipovic. However, a representative for the No. 1-ranked heavyweight said it’s doubtful the fight would take place at this time. In a bout intended for Japanese fight fans, Emelianenko will likely meet a “judo legend or sumo wrestler.”

My first thought is: Wow, does this suck for Affliction. They’re staking their fortune to their heavyweight division, but if Fedor and his championship belt won’t be available again until Spring ’09, all they can offer is a few interesting (though ultimately meaningless) exhibitions. And with Emelianenko’s right hand as dodgy as it is, “Spring ’09″ is only a rough estimate; an injury sustained on New Year’s Eve could delay his return to Affliction even further. (Regarding the hand, Emelianenko said: “It just seems the hand doesn’t really sustain the strength of the strike. So from time to time I’m going to have certain injuries as a result of that.”)

Of course my second thought is: Still with the goddamned freaks? Beating up a 90-year-old judoka or Emmanuel Yarborough interests you more than fighting another top ten heavyweight?

And speaking of Fedor destroying cans in totally meaningless fights, Fighting Fedor — the reality show in which MMA hopefuls compete for the chance to get armbarred in less than a minute by The Last Emperor — is in production and will purportedly launch later this year. Look, I’m not calling Fedor a farce, I’m just saying that occasionally he acts in a way that could be described as farce-like.

(They grow ‘em sturdy in Minnesota.)

On this week’s edition of MMA Rated Radio Ariel Helwani and I talk with female MMA fighter Kelly Kobold, who confirmed that she will be facing Gina Carano in Elite XC on CBS in October. This, despite the fact that Kobold is coming off two straight losses and “Cyborg” Santos waits in the wings after her downright frightening performance at “Unfinished Business”. Perhaps it helps that Kobold has been openly critical of Carano’s inability to make weight. She even refers to interviews where Gina has been asked about it and instead of answering, “evaded the question and went on to spout some patriotic crap.” We also discuss UFC 87, Affliction’s newest signings, and other stuff. Check it out here.

In other news, WAMMA sent out a press release today announcing the Josh Barnett-Andrei Arlovski match as an “elimination fight” with the winner taking on Fedor Emelianenko for the WAMMA heavyweight title. I guess they’re assuming that Fedor won’t defect to the UFC with their title in order to face Randy Couture.

In case you’re wondering, Barnett is ranked third by WAMMA and Arlovski moved up to fourth with his win over Ben Rothwell. You can probably guess who number two is (hint: he’s in the Rob Schneider clip below, and it isn’t Bob Sapp or Don Frye).

(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?

Fedor Emelianenko shrugged off his injured thumb following his thirty-six second demolition of Tim Sylvia at Affliction: Banned, but now a hand injury has his next Affliction bout against Andrei Arlovski in doubt. Five Ounces of Pain is reporting that Fedor is off the October 11 card and that instead we’ll see Josh Barnett step in to take his place.

Barnett made a ripple in the MMA news pond earlier this week when he said he would not take a pay cut for his next Affliction bout, as VP Tom Atencio hinted that he may ask the fighters to do. If Barnett is going to be the main event savior for Affliction, you can bet he’s going to insist on being paid like one, especially now that he knows Tim Sylvia is walking around with $800,000 in his pocket.

Losing Fedor for their second show could turn out to be an interesting test for Affliction. If they can still draw without their main attraction, the organization might have some legs. If they can’t, the outlook becomes grim. Very grim.

(The Maine-iac may go from being grossly, grossly overpaid, to just grossly overpaid. Photo courtesy of Tim-Sylvia.com.)

Dave Meltzer is reporting that Affliction VP Tom Atencio will be asking certain Affliction fighters to take a pay cut to fight in their next event (October 11th, Las Vegas):

The promotion has talked with some fighters about doing the 10/11 show for 50% of what they made on the first show but in return they would give those fighters easy opponents.

Overpaid fighters who could use an easier opponent the next time out? They might as well have called Tim Sylvia out by name — though Ben Rothwell and Matt Lindland could fit that description as well. For the record, Josh Barnett has stated that he would not accept a pay cut to fight again for Affliction; he previously made $300,000 with no win bonus for his knockout of Pedro Rizzo.

BloodyElbow also points out that the Thomas & Mack Center’s Affliction page lists Affliction II’s main event as “Arlovski vs. TBD!” — suggesting that the return of Fedor Emelianenko might not be a done deal after all. Well sure, I mean he just went 36 seconds with one of the top ten heavyweights in the world; the man could use another three-year break…

Related: The weirdest thing I came across while doing a Google Image Search for “Tim Sylvia.”

(Props: “Kakkarotto_san” on the UG)

Check out this clip of Fedor and Aleksander Emelianenko (along with their coach, Vladimir Voronov) putting on a Sambo demonstration in Korea — and pay attention, because this might be the only time you’ll see Fedor tap in your lifetime. There’s a lot of super-slick throws from both brothers during the demo, though we don’t understand why Aleks didn’t haul off and start whaling on Fedor’s face when he had the chance.

Speaking of Aleks, the younger Emelianenko brother claims that those Hepetitis reports were false, and he was blocked from competing at Affliction only because he was late in getting his medical tests done. Well, who are you gonna believe, us or some mulleted ex-con? (It’s times like these that I truly appreciate the fact that I can hide behind a computer.)

Somewhat related: The upcoming Street Fighter IV video game will contain a new character named Abel, an MMA fighter whose outfit looks to be Sambo-influenced. Dude kind of looks like Jake O’Brien on massive amounts of steroids. According to DasGamer.com, Abel was a huge hit among nerds gamers? nerds at Comic-Con, who overwhelmingly chose to play as him rather than new female character Crimson Viper.

From the Houston Chronicle, Jared Barnes talks with Tim Sylvia about the state of his career and the potential for WAMMA’s legitimacy. Sylvia is under the impression that he’ll be fighting on the second Affliction show in October, but won’t say who he might face. He also says that he’d eventually like a rematch with Fedor, presumably because it’s a great way to get paid without having to be in the ring very long. He also manages to talk a little smack about Ricco Rodriguez. Just proves that no matter how low you’re feeling, there’s always someone down there for you to kick.

(The Last Emperor knows how to rock a Canadian Tuxedo.)

Yahoo! Sports passes along the big news: Affliction will be having its second event on October 11th at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, featuring a main event heavyweight brawl between Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski. No other matches are announced at this time.

Emelianenko has fought at the Thomas & Mack before, submitting Mark Coleman at PRIDE 32, which was held at the arena in October 2006. Without a doubt it will chap the ass of Dana White for Affliction to be holding an event in his backyard, and a counter-programming show would seem to be out of the question as well, as the UFC already has events planned on October 18th (UFC 89) and October 25th (UFC 90).

As suggested before, Affliction following up its debut event in less than three months is crucial to its momentum, and the timing in relation to the UFC’s events is perfect. You couldn’t ask for a better main event, though I’m a little surprised that Josh Barnett isn’t being thrown at Fedor first; from a marketing standpoint, American vs. Russian beats Russian vs. Belarusian, and MMA fans have been begging for a Barnett/Emelianenko showdown since their tenures in PRIDE.

More details to come…

(Props to reader “KellenAvalanche”)

(Fighter salaries for Affliction: Banned, from SI.com via MMA Mania. Click for larger image.)

One major caveat before we get started — there’s no way that Fedor Emelianenko made a half-million less than Tim Sylvia to be on this card. Either he was given a large signing bonus, or he’s getting a cut of the PPV, or both. No, I don’t have a source on that; you’ll just have to trust me.

Now that that’s out of the way, HOLY CRAP. There’s a difference between paying well and guaranteeing that your promotion will be a money-loser. When they left the UFC, Andrei Arlovski was making $105,000 to show with a $65,000 win bonus, and Tim Sylvia was making $100,000/$100,000. Atencio & Co. could have very generously offered these guys double what they were making, with the promise that contracts could be renegotiated when Affliction’s MMA promotion gets on its feet, financially speaking. In its infinite wisdom, Affliction quintupled and octupled Arlovski and Sylvia’s previous base salaries right off the freakin’ bat. Dana White is seeing these numbers and laughing his pale ass off.

Randy Couture told Fox Sports that he’s expecting a ruling to be handed down this week in the Texas court where his UFC contract is being examined. Will he be free and clear in October, when the no-compete clause ends? Or will the two fights left on his contract and the “champions clause” hold up? We just don’t know, and even if we did know, there’s still the business of appeals to wade through after the ruling. But there is some indication that Couture’s attitude towards his former employers may have softened:

Couture said his status probably won’t be finalized even after the ruling because appeals are expected from the losing party. But Couture said he ultimately expects to face Emelianenko, the renowned Russian fighter who scored a 36-second submission victory over Tim Sylvia in the main event of Saturday night’s Affliction pay-per-view show in Anaheim.

“When, where and with what promotion — we don’t know,” said Couture, who exchanged challenges with Emelianenko after the Affliction show. “It could happen in UFC. We just don’t know. I want it to happen. Fedor wants it to happen. In some way, shape or form, we’re going to make it happen.”

Is this a subtle olive branch from “The Natural”? Could he be trying to tell the UFC that if they can still give him the Fedor fight, all is forgiven?

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Something strange happened at the Affliction post-fight press conference last night. Co-promoter Roy Englebrecht got up in front of the microphone and thanked the media for their support. Then VP Tom Atencio did the same thing.

‘They must be talking about the L.A. Times,’ I thought to myself. But then they specifically mentioned all the blogs and the websites. As in, the MMA blogs. On the internet. Where the pussies live. Was I dreaming? An MMA organization that puts on a blockbuster card and yet still sees the MMA media as something other than an inevitable aggravation? Was that even possible?

Affliction thinks so. Their first event was not without a few snags — like trouble with the in-arena audio and long, unexplained delays that even forced the cancellation of the Justin Levens-Ray Lizama bout due to time constraints — but they still delivered something unforgettable. In front of almost 14,000 fans in Anaheim, they proved that there really is such thing as an MMA fan base, rather than simply a UFC one.

Of course, that’s a little easier when you’ve got Fedor on your team.

After destroying Tim Sylvia in thirty-six seconds, the number one heavyweight on the planet showed up at the press conference looking in all ways like an unremarkable man. He smiled shyly, as if embarrassed by all the attention, and played down his own accomplishments while saying that his celebration would include a trip to “the big rollercoasters” at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

(“What’s up, Anaheim! I just gotta know one thing…HOW’S! TASTE! MY PEE-PEE-PEEEEEEEEEE!!!”)

Can a t-shirt company put together an MMA card that outclasses the UFC? Will Fedor Emelianenko prove he’s still the #1 heavyweight in the world? Will Megadeth play “Symphony of Destruction”? So many questions, and they’ll all be answered tonight, folks. After the jump you’ll find results for Affliction: Banned’s undercard (spoiler alert, obvi), and a full-on play-by-play of the pay-per-view broadcast beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Refresh your browser every few minutes for all the latest, and give us your own thoughts in the comments section. Skulls and wings, baby; skulls and wings…

At the “Affliction: Banned” weigh-ins, MMA Rated‘s Ariel Helwani caught up with our own Ben Fowlkes to discuss the fights, Tim Sylvia’s chronic unpopularity, and BF’s strong personal connection with Ben Rothwell. Props to Fowlkes for resisting the urge to grab the mic from Helwani and shout out his long list of sponsors.

On a sadder note, it’s looking like my home base of Brooklyn, NY, is one of the many (or so I’m hearing) markets that’s not carrying the Affliction undercard live on Fox Sports Net. Total freakin’ bummer; holler if that’s happening to you too. In any event, I’ll still be posting live results for those first three fights, starting at 8 p.m. ET — I just won’t be able to do a play-by-play. But hey, Aleks isn’t fighting now, so who cares anyway?

(Ladies go crazy for a sharp-dressed man, courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

One thing I’m going to miss with Gary Shaw backing into the shadows at Pro Elite is the name-calling and childish back-and-forth between he and Dana White. It was just so entertaining, what a shame to see it go. But the Dana White-Tom Atencio rivalry could be the next best thing. Sure, Atencio doesn’t wear a track suit, but he does have a wardrobe that appears to consist entirely of Affliction t-shirts, which is almost as good. Plus now he’s taking pages out of the Dana White playbook:

For the money-conscious cable-ready consumer, the difference between watching a free UFC show and paying $39.95 to watch Affliction might be a no-contest.

Affliction appeared to land one last counterpunch, however, making a deal to broadcast its card on closed-circuit television at Gold Coast casino, which is directly across from the Palms on Flamingo Road.

“It’s just another opportunity to watch our fight,” Atencio said.

Granted, it’s more of a symbolic gesture and not quite on par with scheduling an event on the same night as your competitor, but you have to love how Atencio — like White — plays dumb about it. The L.A. Times article actually has quite a few fun nuggets, most notably quotes from White where he plays the role of grizzled veteran MMA promoter:

(One more Ben never hurt anything.)

At Wednesday’s press conference in Los Angeles every single Affliction employee made sure to refer to their event as “the biggest event in MMA history.” That may be a blatant exaggeration, but this coming weekend is still a monumental one for our sport, not to mention a great one for those of us who love it. With that in mind, we bring you another edition of Ben vs. Ben, where Cage Potato’s similarly named editors battle it out. This time it’s personal.

Which underdog has the best chance of scoring an upset this weekend?

Fowlkes: There are underdogs and then there are underdogs. By that I mean there are the guys who are betting underdogs and the guys who are mostly just perceived to be underdogs, even if the line on them doesn’t really reflect it.

For the latter I like Ben Rothwell. It might only be a mild upset for him to beat Andrei Arlovski, but it would go a long way toward silencing the Rothwell haters who still think his thirteen-fight win streak was all IFL hype. Some of it was, sure, but Rothwell is a monster. He can do everything Arlovski does, only better. He’s also matured and become a real workhorse in the gym since leaving the IFL, whereas a lot of guys might have slacked off with no fights on the horizon.

As for real betting underdogs, at +400 Reese Andy’s my man (okay, so the old IFL loyalties are starting to show, I admit it). It’s not that he’s so much better than Brandon Vera, but I just don’t believe Vera’s head is really in this fight. He’s still dwelling on the Werdum fight, still feeling like he ought to be a heavyweight, and now Andy’s going to come in, take him down, and grind away at his face for a decision victory. It’s definitely not out of the question.

Goldstein: Wow. You should have prefaced that response with “Caution: Extreme Nuthugging Ahead.” I like Rothwell too, but to say that he does everything Arlovski does, only better — well, it’s a statement that can only be proved by the fight itself. Still, I have to agree that Rothwell has a good shot at surprising a lot of people. Arlovski vs. Rothwell is the only fight on the Affliction main card that isn’t completely lopsided, and Big Ben has the tools to win.