Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett, Gegard Mousasi vs. Vitor Belfor Slated For Next Affliction Event
DREAM middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1), who last week claimed the title with an upkick knockout of Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at DREAM 6, has signed with Affliction and will debut at the promotion’s next event, tentatively slated for January 17th in Anaheim, California, against Vitor Belfort (17-8).
Mousasi confirmed the matchup to Fighters Only.
Belfort, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, has won three-straight including a second-round knockout of Terry Martin at Affliction “Banned” on July 19th.
During the interview, Mousasi also revealed that top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko (29-1) will take on Josh Barnett (26-5) at the pay-per-view event.
Emelianenko was not originally set to participate on the “Day of Reckoning” card but was added when the event was postponed from October 11th to early-2009. He defeated former UFC champion Tim Sylvia via first-round submission at Affliction’s first event in July.
Barnett was to square off with Andrei Arlovski in the original “Day of Reckoning” main event but it now appears he’ll meet Emelianenko after Affliction booked Arlovski to take on former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson at EliteXC: Heat on October 4th.
For more on upcoming Affliction events check out the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.
They have to do something now that they are up against one of the UFC’s best cards.
Days of UFC monopoly over MMA are over. Affliction and EliteXC and DREAM coming together is good for the sport.
Personally its a no-brainer for me, I’d pay for Affliction’s Fedor show over UFC.
Good for Affliction. It’s been so long since their first event I was starting to wonder if the second event was ever going to happen. How can Affliction compete with the UFC event? Affliction cannot live off Fedor alone. Barnett may be very good but he is not a draw. I do not believe there is ONE single thing Affliction could do to rival the UFCs Ireland event. UFC Ireland has Serra/Hughes and possibly Franklin/Hendo. Is the UFC event free on Spike how most of the England cards have been? Anyone? Even if not for free I bet my testes UFC beats the shat out of Affliction that night. I can never enjoy Affliction after being taken over by Golden Boy Promotions. There is no partnership. Just a failed MMA promotion doing every last desperate thing it can to stay afloat while hurting the sport.
Affliction is bad for MMA.
Found this regarding the UFC Ireland event.
Additionally, the organization announced UFC hall-of-famer Mark Coleman (15-8 MMA, 6-3 UFC) will meet former PRIDE stand-out Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (16-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in a long-awaited rematch.
So as of now we could have:
Serra/Hughes
Franklin/Hendo
Shogun/Coleman
Liddell/???
F YOU TSHIRT company!
UFC 93 if you add a title fight between
Forrest vs Evans
Serra vs Hughes
Franklin vs Hendo
Shogun vs Coleman
Liddell vs TBA( I will take TBA by KO)
Way better card than 92 or 94
@KOuch, Fedor v Barnett is a fight that I personally have wanted to see for quite some time… Musasi v Belfor cool matchup forsure that too is interesting to me…o but because of their deal with GB they might (rumor says will) have a boxing match on this card too..yay… Not so much huh???
Mark Coleman v Shogun is pretty imo but first thought is the UFC is hoping Rua wins this but remember what happend the first time. The Ireland card is going to be great and I wonder who Liddell might be facing as well
Lidell vs Hamill
Lidell vs eric schaefer
Lidell vs the assasin
Or more likely
LIDELL VS BONNAR
Captain Emotionless takes on Tons of Fun Barnett. How exciting.
Liddell vs Bonnar would be nice. It gives Liddell a good chance of getting back in the win column, and it gives Bonnar a chance to get back on TV, as he’s been in prelims since getting busted for ‘roids.
good point Justin
Fedor vs Barnett is going to be a good scrap. Can’t wait for that main event.
i think we will see the winner of the jardine vera match face the iceman, i hope chuck can get his shiit together i want to see another 5/6 chuck fights b4 he hangs the gloves up, i dont think their is any1 else im mma at this moment in time who gets the croud going like chuck does.
ide also rather see fedor vs the pitbull barnet is guna get handled
what weight class will the coleman/shogun fight be at?
Affliction would be smart to keep it at 2 fights a year, do 2 big events so as not to oversaturate their small list of fighters.
They do have enough good fighters to put on an exciting show now and then.
They should just worry about doing their own thing, there are UFC or nothing people out there who wont look twice because it dosent have the UFC label attached, they are the best though.
Kouch
I love your stuff and usually spot on in most debates, but come on the UFC is stepping it up because of Affliction. Who cares if Affliction goes out of business in a year, they were the sole reason that UFC stepped up and put on fan favorite fights. It’s simple business competition improves the product.
But anyway i’m more interested in Belfort and Mousasi than Fedor/Barnett cuz Fedor should stomp Barnett. But when Fedor fights its like Picasso going to work, its amazing and he alone can get the world to watch
B Free,
You are right on.
Kouch,
Affliction is good for MMA and great for the fighters. The UFC will need to always put on great cards. 2008 wasn’t as hot as 2007 and 2006. Mainly because, PRIDE was over. No competition. The UFC will now be paying their fighters more, or they’ll lose them. All the ex-UFC fighters at Affliction: Banned, got payed. Remember there was a time when pro baseball players had to do construction jobs in the off season to make ends meet, while the owners made all the cash.
I hope this is’nt the card they plan on competing with the UFC’s Superbowl card because if so they’re dead!! The UFC’s card have been getting better & better & I just dont see affliction keeping up!
Way to go Affliction. UFC = DVR, Affliction = PPV.
Affliction bad for the sport? That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a while. It is quite obvious it is GREAT for the sport as the UFC is bringing us a great card and their cards have gotten signifigantly better since Affliction began.
I’d prefer to skip a boxing match though…ugh.
There’s this bar in my area that orders the afternoon UFC ppv, so I can watch that there and get the Affliction card at night. Two good ppv for the price of one, minus the price of beer, that sounds like a good night to me. I’m gonna go buy another Affliction t-shirt and order there ppv that night to show my support for them. Go Affliction, you are great for the sport!
Nice card
maybe they can get Tito on it too
Aww Dannyboy afflictions #1 fan boy. How has affliction impacted how the UFC pays their fighters? Only 1 of the guys affliction has under contract is a guy the UFC wanted to keep (Andrei Arlovski, and even he wasn’t a star in the company anymore) affliction isn’t helping any fighter. Signing washed up fighter the UFC discards isn’t helping anyone get better contracts. Like I said before how many defections to affliction from the UFC? Anyone?…don’t worry ill wait. That’s right the answer is ZERO.
As for affliction making the UFC put together better cards is a joke. The UFC is putting on better cards cause now they have more depth as a company, why do they have more depth? Cause Pride and IFL folded and those great fighters came to the UFC. Which actually proves the point that 1 major company is better for MMA.
@Spud…. when u buy the shirt it should be the Fedor shirt from Banned that was sick, yay Affliction.. im not fond of mixing boxing and MMA that just how i feel, i will buy the PPV yet i am nowhere near as excited for the Affliction card as iam for the UFC card(s)
Is Mousasi sure about Fedor/Barnett? Why haven’t any other sites picked it up? Nonetheless, I am glad. I think that Josh Barnett is the only real threat to Fedor at this point. By the time Fedor/Randy could happen, Randy will be pushing 47, and he has to get through Lesnar and (most likely) Big Nog first, both of whom present huge challenges for Randy. Arlovski is a great fighter, but Fedor has consistently shown that he has the ability to close with, take down, and out-strike taller and bigger fighters. I think that Cro Cop in his prime was a better fighter than Arlovski is today, and Fedor was able to outstrike him. Barnett, however, has both KO power and the ability to pull a slick submission out of nowhere. He also has a win against everyone he has fought except Cro cop.
I’ll pay $40 for an Affliction PPV, but I’m not paying $60 for a t-shirt. I gotta save that money for the 10 UFC PPV I buy a year.
My friends say we’ll split it and watch it at your place, but I always get stuck with most of the bill. Atleast, I keep all the extra beer that’s left over. If any of them are blogging, bottles only!!!!
@Gonzo, i love that when friends say hey order the fights and we will bbq give you some $$, ya know you got the big HD tv yada yada it should be at your house, soo im like good whynot these are my boys whatever… they all show up empty handed “food wise” and a six pack of corona, (the last fight i bought i sent my friends to the store and told them to bring more beer and buy food, some understood others got pissed F them).. but moral of the story i got home one day from business and turned on the tube low and behold i had like a $138 bill for the fights + dish fees and not a dime from any of my friends…. owell it is what it is but essentially i feel ya
aznstar, despite your opinion on my comment, there is nothing to back up the statement I attacked which was ‘Affliction is bad for the sport.’
I can already give you examples of free fights we’ve received thanks to Affliction and EliteXC. Even though they aren’t paying them more like I’ve always wanted, at least they are having more fights, which in a roundabout way means more pay.
You’ll need to do better than that to ruffle my feathers.
Naw Dannyboy I’m not trying to start a flame war or any of that BS. I’m just saying for all your hype of affliction they have done nothing to (in your opinion) further MMA, in regards to how fighters are paid or treated. Do I think they are bad for the sport? No. I think elite XC is worse for the sport due to the exposure they get and how they make MMA look like a WWE side show. But I also don’t think affliction is relavent to the long term future of MMA. They are just taking steps to quicken the fall into bankrupcy.
FR,
I haven’t been stuck with the bill like that, but then I’ve only had people over once, and that was family anyway. But lets face it, you would have bought the thing whether they were coming over or not right? So, besides the principle of it, its not a huge deal that you got stuck with the bill.
Gonzo,
I’m not even sure I’d pay for the PPV, but I know I’m not buying a $60 T-shirt. They’re thin too, not sure how long they would hold up.
@Justin naw its not truly that big of a deal, yet when people state that they are going to pay damnit pay, no worries at all i totally enjoyed myself and i would have paid for it….
o and i cannot bring myself to pay for a $65 (buckle co. fresno,ca) Affliction shirt, its just not on my gotta have it list…. MMA events different story i purposely set aside for those, thats my “play money”haha