Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett Verbally Agree to August 1 Affliction Bout
by Kid Nate on May 21, 2009 9:17 AM EDT
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Mike Chiappetta reports:
Affliction's third event, featuring a main event of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett and taking place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on August 1, should be officially announced within days, a source with knowledge of the situation told FanHouse.
Though neither Emelianenko or Barnett has signed official bout agreements, they have both verbally accepted the matchup, according to the source.
Zach Arnold is quick to piss on the excitement comments:
See, both fighters have reportedly agreed verbally, but no contracts have been signed. Enough cold water to pour on the fight?
So, if the fight takes place, ponder the following questions:
- Does the fight impact the standing of both men in their profession as far as the outcome goes?
- Over/under the amount paid to watch the fight in Anaheim - 7,000.
- Over/under the PPV buys it draws - 60,000.
- Is this going to be the last Affliction MMA event?
Personally as a fan, if Affliction pulls this off I will consider them a success as a worthwhile promotion. Booking and mounting three fights in the U.S.A. with the world's #1 heavyweight against three of the top American heavyweights is no small gift to the MMA community.
You can say what you want about them being poor promoters but I'm for one grateful they've done what they've done and I wish them success on their third card.
Also don't miss BE member weoweoweo's series of posts Twittering with Affliction boss Tom Atencio. That seem to confirm Chiappetta's report and do a little smack talking with Dana White.
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I too can appreciate what they have done and lining up three fights against household names for Fedor is great.
However… waiting six months to see them run a show is tough and I want to choke Tom Atencio, who is clearly trying to play Dana White and doing so unsuccessfully.
by E. Spencer Kyte on May 21, 2009 9:14 AM EDT reply actions
Finally! Though I think Barnett will get murdered. Good for Affliction and better for us! :) So will it be PPV again or HDNet or both like last time?
I made Fedor in UFC Undisputed last night and beat the crap outta Kongo in an online ranked match :) The create a fighter is actually better than I though it would be, I think I made a damn good recreation of him. Sucks that you cant input your own nicknames though.
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
i do
Barnett is the last of the top PRIDE heavyweights who never faced Fedor. Sure its not as cool as it would’ve been in 2006 but I’ll take it.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
I just want to see more than 1 round, Barnett! DO NOT GET ZULU’D! =D
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on May 21, 2009 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions
I was curious about it several years ago
But then Barnett didn’t spent ten minutes mounting guys and not finishing them. Especially not Yvel.
I don't think he'd be that cautious against Fedor
against Yvel he had nothing to win and everything to lose. The situation is reversed against Fedor.
If Barnett steps into the ring against Fedor it will be the do or die defining moment of his career.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
Don’t say that Nate, you’re getting me hyped.
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on May 21, 2009 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions
So ...
Are you suggesting that once faced with the overwhelming force that is FEDOR he’ll finally be able to do something against Yvel, or that he’ll be able to A) get Mount/dominant position and B) do something offensively to Fedder?
Funny how people are only commenting about his last fight against Yvel. I guess what he has done in the past means nothing =)
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions
It’s been over two years since he fought a top ten HW – and he looked like shit against the last can he faced.
by Derek Suboticki on May 21, 2009 1:54 PM EDT up reply actions
Still, not a can though. Hes fought incredibly tough opposition and has a hell of a fighting background. 35-13 is a can?
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions
It is if you got the 35 wins crushing smaller cans and your losses were to cancrushers or better.
by Derek Suboticki on May 21, 2009 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions
I base his being a can on the competence of skills displayed in combat and how often I can count him out against the top 10-20 people in his/her division. By that measure I think Yvel is a can. But a very experienced one.
Winning a lot against simpler competition when you’re built like Yvel is not a terribly compelling argument for fighting against a legendary ground fighter liker Barnett. He was handed to Barnett to beat spectacularly so-as to hype the Fedor match.
That’s how this Barnetto fan sees it.
Shamrock
Heh-heh, a low blow to be sure, but in this sport past accomplishments matter to history and not to how dangerous people think you are to face.
In this situation I think Yvel had a name known to the hardcores, an imposing physique, and a style perfectly suited for Barnett to finish.
If he doesn’t win, I’ll remember him for using steroids against Randy Couture and leaving the UFC in disgrace. If he pulls it off, though, he’s the guy that pulled the sword from the stone. He’s legendary.
by Derek Suboticki on May 21, 2009 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions
you've been doing good stuff.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
thanks a lot.. I’m glad you think so. :)
by Anton Tabuena on May 21, 2009 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions
I can appreciate what Affliction has done for hardcore fans. They put on fights that we wanted to see. But their business model in the beginning wasn’t smart, throwing out all that money. But I do appreciate the fact that I got to see Fedor topple some of the best out there.
As for the matchup, I think Fedor might ragdoll Barnett. I don’t think it’s going to be that close.
Follow my analysis of all things MMA on BloodyElbow.com
The placement of this PPV I feel is terrible, but this fight is great
To have this PPV a WEEK before UFC 101 containing a card of Forest Griffin vs Anderson Silva and BJ Penn vs Kenny Florian, and approximately three weeks after UFC 100 is honestly not the best date to put an MMA PPV no matter how stacked it can be. I like Affliction, but I have to question their business model as well.
Also, the thing to look out for in regards to Affliction is simple: what is Affliction going to do after this event should Fedor win this fight (if Affliction is still in business of course)? Who can go up against Fedor that actually looks to have a shot at beating him after Barnett? I know that Vitor Belfort and Jeff Monson expressed interest in fighting Fedor, but I don’t think that anyone would see those two as even remotely a threat. I guess that Affliction can book Overeem vs Fedor as I can’t see anyone else fighting Fedor after Barnett.
Actually, everyone is looking forward to Fedor vs Arlovski II and Roger Gracie, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, etc would all make some pretty good matchups.
Same problem would happen in the UFC. If Fedor beat Lesnar, Cain, and Carwin, who would he fight that would be interesting? Kongo or Gonzaga? Yuck…
Same goes for Anderson Silva, if he beats Maia, Nate, and Swick (horrible just thinking about it), who would he fight next, and even then, those are fights that won’t really sell.
Who does BJ fight after he beats Ken Flo? Sherk again?
All dominant fighters have this problem once they start beating all the contenders.
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh Yeah,
I forgot Mir…LOL.
So his run would be Lesnar, Mir, Cain, Carwin, and Cain and Carwin are just too green at this moment.
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions
It would be another year before he faced your ‘too green’ guys (and after Zulu and HMC, NO ONE is too green for Fedor to fight).
by Derek Suboticki on May 21, 2009 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions
There are noticeable differences though
The biggest difference is that the UFC has up-and-coming prospects like dos Santos and Duffee, and up-and-comers exists in all of the UFC’s weight divisions. Affliction doesn’t have that benefit. Fedor has already beaten Werdum, and his stock is down especially after his loss to dos Santos, and Roger Gracie has had only two professional fights and hasn’t fought in Affliction, Strikeforce or the UFC against upper or even mid tier competition, so he is still a big question mark (and Roger has hardly any real U.S. exposure). Also, there are good Heavyweights out there that are not in the UFC, yet the matchups would be only somewhat intriguing at best. I do have to go by rankings here for this argument in that there really isn’t much appeal in seeing Fedor fight someone that isn’t even a highly ranked Heavyweight that doesn’t even look like he would be much competition. It is different with Affliction because their main events have been centered around Fedor, so it is more of a concern with them than any other promotion because Affliction does not have too many other options for main events outside of Fedor (the only one I can see is Arlovski vs Barnett). The UFC obviously does not have this same problem especially since the UFC has fighters that are PPV draws but not champions, and they also have five chamipions meaning that they have many options for main events for their PPVs.
In regards to your BJ Penn question, Diego Sanchez is an obvious next opponent and then there are up-and-comers like Nate Diaz, Gray Maynard, Joe Lauzon and Tyson Griffin that are climbing up the ladder. Champions only fight in the UFC two times a year and sometimes three, so within that time there is a good possibility that someone will come up by then.
I don’t know why you placed Swick on that list for Middleweight when he has been fighting as a Welterweight in his last three fights. While there is an obvious problem in the Middleweight division as far as worthy contenders, it is not the same as Affliction’s problem because their promotion is more-or-less centered around Fedor. Obviously, the UFC is not centered around Anderson Silva or just ONE fighter.
The issue that I presented has more to do with Affliction and their business model than Fedor himself. I personally don’t see too many options for main events outside of Fedor, and who would honestly pay to see Fedor fight a fighter in the main event who is NOT perceived as a legitimate threat?
And has beaten no one else other than Werdum.
=)
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 5:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Sorry, I was totally wrong on that one
I totally goofed. Werdum fought Aleksander Emelianenko and Werdum won. Because I didn’t double check, I totally got this confused.
Agreed
It wasn’t even worth it for you to put all that down since we all know very well the differences between UFC and Affliction.
UFC has the hype machine and the loyal fans, so selling a PPV won’t be much of a problem for them, even if Penn vs Maynard is the main event. My point is that Affliction doesn’t have all that obviously (which they really need to keep growing, although they are using M-1 Global and Strikeforce fighters to get contenders and build talent for future contenders), but they are using Fedor as a tool to sell PPV’s. Obviously, they will have to build on matchups that people want to see if they want to survive and keep going. They could easily sell Fedor vs Arlovski II with 1 or 2 great showings by Arlovski, or put on Overeem vs Fedor, which would ABSOLUTELY sell, without a question.
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Well I think fedor is the worst match up for barnett (& not because they’re friends or whatever relation they got here), but we’ll see.
short of pissing himself
I don’t see how Josh does worse than Sylvia.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
I wouldn’t call Affliction a success. Anybody with a lot of money could do what they have done. The fact that they continue to lose money means they are anything but a success. No money, no momentum, no TV contract.
by AlwaysRelaxing on May 21, 2009 10:23 AM EDT reply actions
i'm not saying they're a success as a business or even as a promotion
I’m just saying they’ve accomplished something big, even if its not sustainable.
I’m grateful for the great fights they’ve put on.
Losing their shirts (ha ha) because of bad business decisions is on them.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
to clarify
I didn’t really mean to say they were a success as a promotion.
lol
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
They were a success at bringing us, the mma fanst, the fights that were impossible for anyone to put before they did. That alone, makes them a success. Forget their financial failures and look at the fights that they have put on in 3 events, which is something no other promotion with that short life cycle could mention outside of the Japanese special attraction shows like NYE.
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 1:33 PM EDT up reply actions
There is reason why Josh has never fought fedor before
He knows he can’t win, and probably will get KO’ed in the first round.
Don’t people say that about the majority of the heavyweights in the world? This is Fedor that we are talking about. No one is ever going to climb that mountain unless they get in there are try. I would say “what’s the worst that could happen” but all we have to do for that is look at Tim Sylvia’s current career.
I’m not sure if this will be the last Affliction event but most likely the last one I’ll pay to see. I feel forced to buy any ppv with Fedor and this match interests me enough.
by toughaintenough on May 21, 2009 11:00 AM EDT reply actions
You know, 99 percent of the time, I think Zach Arnold is pretty much The Dipshit King, but he’s got a point on this one. Affliction, Fedor, and Barnett all have reputations for posturing inthe media before things are official. Let’s see this one in writing.
I tend to agree with this.
The rumors of this fight have been circling since the day after Affliction 1. Call me when Barnett actually says he’s taking the fight, not a source saying he’s verbally agreed.
Even then, I’m not going to get excited until a few weeks out, in case we have another Arlovski Barnett situation.
Not Really...
Zach Arnold doesn’t like Affliction at all. I had a conversation with him a while back when DOR came out and he didn’t even post anything about the show at all. He basically ignored it and basically said covering them was not worth his time.
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Affliction Is Really Doing a Great Job of producing these Stack Cards and Letting Fedor fight the best Fighters in the world, Im sure UFC Fanboys and Dana will be pissed if Fedor wins and still not sign with the UFC , but as long Affliction and co. are doing great job on poomoting Stack Cards event after event No Doubt more and more loyal Fans will support them
by Over77 on May 21, 2009 12:57 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Please, let’s not turn this into another UFC-PRIDE fan rivalry thing. Almost everyone I know, including on BE (except subo, but he’s special) gets on Afflictions ass because they have run their business like a pack of illiterate fratboys, not because of any problems with their cards. We love seeing Fedor fight, we love seeing him fight top HWs; we don’t like seeing Tim Sylvia make a suitcase full of money for a 10 second beating, and we don’t like scheduled-cancelled-rescheduled-disappearing into the either shows.
This isn’t (or shouldn’t be) about “brand loyalty”. Whoever makes the best shows gets my money. If Affliction starts running a proper promotion and stops bleeding capital all over the floor, getting fans’ cash might actually count for something.
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
I was going to post the gif, but decided against it.
Glad you take all the ribbing with such a good nature, subo.
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
If everyone agrees with you all the time, you are wrong a lot. That, plus the implicit fear it shows (from some) of actually engaging my views, helps me remember that the universe tends to unfold as it should.
Plus I have a really large penis – that keeps me happy.
by Derek Suboticki on May 21, 2009 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions
Rec’d, that was funny. :)
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on May 21, 2009 3:00 PM EDT up reply actions
No contracts have been signed?
Affliction needs a third show like they need a hole in the head. As a fan, I would love to see this happen, but my brain tells me it probably won’t happen. At least not under Affliction’s banner.
I love me some Sexyama!
All signs point to your brain being wrong.
=)
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Atencio Comments about all the Affliction Haters and The Future Of Affliction
what do u expect? we are in for the long haul and our huge announcement will warrant the fact that we are… stay tuned !
Man I sure hope so. Show #2 was pure entertainment and I too am grateful for the hard work they’ve put into this. I’d love to have 6 shows of Affliction a year. Depending on who’s fighting, I’d choose it over the UFC most of the time.
If you were there live for the first two shows, you know how incredible that atmosphere was.
by MMASuPreMaCy on May 21, 2009 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions
I think that three to four Affliction shows per year is ideal, with a regular slate of M-1 and other co-promoted events happening more regularly, as well as co-promotion with DREAM on New Year’s Eve.
That said, next year, they’re going to need a new division and star to build around. Tito could be that guy, but he’ll probably be doing Strikeforce instead. Alvarez has Bellator, with JZ likely to join him. Bobby Lashley has ambitions of joining the UFC. Roger Huerta and KJ Noons have stepped away from the sport for a while.
For that reason, I’d focus on co-promotion in 2010, putting my fighters into Strikeforce, Bellator, DREAM, and Sengoku events, as well as into those of the mid-sized North American promotions, while doing one Supercard in the fall, which would feature a Fedor fight, as well as some other big fights.
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