NBC Sports has the story:
Affliction COO Michael Cohen told NBCSports.com that the company is expecting to run the show in January, and that they would also make a major announcement in the next two weeks that would “change the dynamics of mixed martials arts. Not just nationally, but globally.”
The October event was initially expected to feature a main event with current WAMMA champ Fedor Emelianenko against Arlovski, but the former broke his hand in defeating Tim Sylvia and would not have been ready in time for October, necessitating an opponent switch.
Cohen said that Emelianenko will fight on the new January card, but an opponent has not yet been decided.
Some are speculating that Tito Ortiz might have come to terms with the organization. There are even possibilities of Tito vs Fedor being bandied about. MMA Weekly broke the news about Tito:
It looks as if the negotiations to sign the biggest free agent in all of mixed martial arts are about to come to an end. Tito Ortiz tells MMAWeekly.com that he expects to announce his new deal by the end of September.
One suitor that has been ruled out is Ortiz’s last employer, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, who had been talking to the former light heavyweight champion about a possible return.
MMA Payout has an interesting idea about the big Affliction announcement:
The Marquez-Casamayor fight is certainly an interesting choice of venues for the next announcement on Affliction’s future. That card is being promoted by Golden Boy and will air on HBO PPV. Affliction and Golden Boy had exploratory talks on possibly working together when Affliction was formulating it’s plans to enter MMA in early 08.
The possible pairing unraveled in late March due to issues over who would be in ultimate control of the promotion. However, Affliction apparently remained interested in the possibility of mixed boxing and MMA cards as part of their future. Part of Affliction’s decision to use the 5 roped over-sized boxing ring was reportedly to do MMA and boxing together on the same shows at some point.
Speculation within the industry concerning a potential deal between the two companies has been strong in recent weeks. Still open to speculation is the inclusion of HBO in any pairing between Affliction and Golden Boy. Golden Boy and HBO have a very close relationship, but the folks at HBO have been resistant to MMA in general.
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