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DRESSED FOR SUCCESS IN EXTRA LARGEClothing Giant Affliction makes old Pride vs UFC heavyweight fantasy fights a reality
“Bring on Fedor!”, exclaimed UFC commentator Joe Rogan at UFC 44 after then heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia knocked out Gan McGee in the first round of their battle in September 2003. It was a common fantasy in the collective consciousness of MMA fans—the champ of the UFC should take on the champ of Pride.
Fedor Emelianenko was the champion of Pride Fighting Championships at the time, Sylvia champ of the UFC, but two organizations weren’t able to make the fight come to fruition. Although Pride was taken over and dissolved by the UFC last year, Emelianenko was unable to come to terms with the UFC contract-wise. Affliction came to terms with the Russian and was able to put together this matchup between Emelianenko and Sylvia. While Emelianenko versus Sylvia didn’t have the same cache as when they were both champs of their respective leagues, the battle still was an intriguing one for MMA fans thirsting to see the top ranked Russian heavyweight duke it out with another highly rated fighter in his division.
Affliction has stepped out of their garb of simply being a clothing company and dived into putting on MMA events. Already having a strong foothold in the MMA community with their highly popular t-shirts of Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson and GSP, the brand had a smoother transition to the live show business. The large amount of talent has helped too—Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Matt Lindland, Vitor Belfort, Renato Sobral, Ben Rothwell. But the major signing which has been the cornerstone of their appeal was securing Emelianenko to fight in their inaugural event in July.
Emelianenko’s mythic status in Pride with his undefeated record in the league had him number one pound for pound fighter on many people’s rankings. MMA faithful yearned for years to witness him to take on the UFC heavyweight champs to unify the number one ranking at heavyweight. When the UFC bought out Pride in 2007 there was elation at the chance to finally do so, but it was quickly deflated when Emelianenko and the UFC could not come to terms for the Russian to fight in the organization.
Affliction was able to grab the Russian, who has now become their cash cow. Emelianenko was once again going to allow Affliction to put together a classic bout from the old Pride vs UFC days—Emelianenko versus Arlovski. This fight was one mans were salivating for in 2005 when Emelianenko was king of Pride and Arlovski was tearing apart the UFC heavyweight division. Afflction announced the two former champs were going to battle it out in October at their second event, but a hand injury forced Emelianenko out of competition. Yet again another intriguing matchup from the Pride/UFC rivalry was set up—Josh Barnett, a former Pride star, versus Arlovski. Two top 10 contenders and former UFC champs duking it out.
Affliction is manifesting some of dream heavyweight matchups MMA fans anticipated would play out when Pride was taken over by the UFC in 2007. While the UFC did do a great job in securing Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and having him take on Tim Sylvia, the ball didn’t really keep rolling in terms of stellar heavyweight battles–there has been a mass exodus at heavyweight from their league. Randy Couture, Mirko Filipovic, Arlovski, Sylvia have left; and with UFC president Dana White not being able to come to terms with Emelianenko and past problems with Josh Barnett preventing him from getting back into the mix, the division has once again become thin with top flight contenders. Frank Mir is up for a title shot at year’s end with only a two fight win streak—one over Antoni Hardonk and the other over Brock Lesnar, who was only competing in his second MMA bout when he tangled with Mir.
The UFC brass surely knows their heavyweight division once again needs to be injected by a healthy dose of top talent. They are the number one organization in MMA but they don’t currently have the number one heavyweight and lack many of the top 10. They know this fact and it’s why they scheduled their impromptu UFC Fight Night card not coincidentally on the same night Affliction scheduled their inaugural show in July. Affliction’s signing of Emelianenko is a threat to the UFC no matter how many times UFC head honcho Dana White publicly denounces the Russian’s status in many eyes as the top heavyweight in the world. But that’s just business. No CEO in the business world is going to pump up their competitor’s product, no matter what industry you’re in. While coming off as disingenuous and lacking respect to Emelianenko’s achievements, from a business perspective it’s understandable that White would try and bury Emelianenko’s reputation. That’s just business. While being real and having tremendous respect for your opponent is a part of many champions’ character in the rings and cages they compete in, when the top dogs of the business world duke it out, those qualities can often be heavyily lacking. But fighters fight in cages that are within that same world. And when it comes to the fight outside the cage for business, the fight between organizations for supremacy in the MMA world, the UFC is the undisputed champ.
The only chink in the UFC’s armor right now would be heavyweights. Affliction is looking to capitalize on that. Their competitive advantage is they have the better big boys right now. The company knows they have no edge over the UFC when it comes to lightweights, welterweights, middleweights and light heavyweights–the UFC has a lock on the top talent in those categories. But at heavyweight Affliction has a chance to secure an edge. But for them to solidify their status as the top heavyweight organization in the world they’d have to put together the fight fans have been thirsting most—Fedor Emelianenko versus Randy Couture. If they can put that together it’d be a colossal achievement. Although Affliction still wouldn’t be the top organization in the world, they would hold the title as undisputed king of heavyweight MMA.
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Canadian lightweight Chris Horodecki has signed a three-fight deal Affliction. He could be in action as early as Oct. 11 at Affliction: Day of Reckoning in Las Vegas.
Source: Fox Sports
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Tito Ortiz takes on Renato “Babalu” Sobral at Affliction’s second show, which takes place on Octotber 11th.
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Fedor Emelianenko out of a title bout with Andrei Arlovski at the Affliction show in October due to a hand injury. Josh Barnett face Arlovski at the show in Vegas.
Source: MVN
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Tito Ortiz takes on Renato “Babalu” Sobral in the co-main event at Affliction’s next fight in October. The main event will feature a heavyweight fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski.
Source: Yahoo
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