MMA Junkie is reporting that Matt Lindland and Trevor Prangley are set to face off against one another at October’s Affliction: Day of Reckoning event. Lindland’s original opponent, Vitor Belfort, had to pull out of the fight due to a hand injury.
Lindland’s last fight came at Affliction: Banned where he took a unanimous decision victory home over a very game opponent in Fabio Negao. Many thought that Lindland would steamroll Negao but Negao was able to give Lindland some trouble on the feet during the fight and was able to sustain a deep guillotine attempt, which is Lindland’s bread and butter submission, in the first round. Lindland was able to pull out the victory and knock off the ring rust from not fighting for over a year.
Prangley will now face off against Lindland at the event. Prangley is a long time veteran of the sport and has fought some of the biggest names in the middleweight division. He holds wins over fighters such as Chael Sonnen, Yuki Kondo, Travis Lutter, and Matt Horwich and has fought against several other top level fighters as well.
Prangley is also a former BodogFIGHT middleweight champion and at one point had been rumored to be set to defend his crown against Lindland, a former Olympic silver medalist in Greco Roman wrestling. However, financial problems pertaining to the new-defunct fight promotion prevented the proposed bout from ever being finalized.
Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio informed MMAWeekly.com on Thursday that former UFC light heavyweight champion and current middleweight competitor Vitor Belfort has pulled out of his previously scheduled Oct. 11 bout against Matt Lindland due to a hand injury.
Belfort is the second top fighter to pull off of “Day of Reckoning” due to a hand injury, as WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko was unable to move forward on a possible title defense against Andrei Arlovski due to a lingering hand injury of his own.
As of now, Lindland is still believed to be on the card but without an opponent. There has been some speculation that EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields has been offered an opportunity to fight Lindland on the show. While Atencio expressed to MMA Weekly that Affliction has admiration for his ability, he was quick to point out that Shields is currently under contract to another organization.
It should be note that Affliction did pursue one other fighter under contract to EliteXC. Sources informed FiveOuncesOfPain.com earlier this week that Affliction officials had been interested in putting together a featherweight bout at “Day of Reckoning” between Mark Hominick and Bao Quach.
It was determined that Quach’s limited non-exclusive would prevent him from competing on the Affliction show and a 140 lbs. title match between him and Wilson Reis on Sept. 20 was finalized on Thursday.
“Day of Reckoning” is scheduled to be headlined by a battle of former UFC heavyweight champions Arlovski and Josh Barnett fighting for a title shot against Emelianenko. Heavyweight bouts between Ben Rothwell vs. Pedro Rizzo and Paul Buentello vs. Roy Nelson are expected as well a light heavyweight contest between Vladimir Matyushenko and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
MMA Weekly is reporting that Jay Hieron officially announced that he would be signing a one-year, three-fight deal with Affliction. His Xtreme Couture teammates, Mike Pyle and Chris Horodecki, have all jumped on board with Affliction and Hieron is the latest fighter that they’ve added to their stable. Hieron had some thoughts on the deal:
“They came and offered me what I thought I was worth, and I’m happy to be a part of it,” he said.
“I’m finally going to see where my career’s going,” he said. “Now I can just put my mind at ease and train and know I have a home. Get back to what I love doing, and that’s competing.”
I love that Hieron’s going to get an opportunity to shine on a bigger stage. He was once with the UFC but it was so early in his career and he was fed to a superstar in the making in Georges St. Pierre in his first UFC bout. That didn’t make for an especially impressive debut. Since that time, however, Hieron has only gotten better. He’s found a great camp to work with and he has absolutely shined since he signed on with the IFL, going 7-2 with the promotion and capturing their welterweight championship in the process. With the IFL going under, however, Hieron was left in a state of flux and had to make a move on where to go next.
As much as I would have liked to seen Hieron back in the UFC with the best 170 lbs. fighters in the world, Affliction will give him an opportunity to stand out in a less crowded division. Actually, it’s a division that’s really only occupied by one other guy right now and that’s Hieron’s teammate Mike Pyle. So while finding worthy opponents at this point is an obstacle that Affliction has to overcome, it’s good to see that Hieron is finally getting his due.
When: Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008
Where: Thomas & Mack Center; Las Vegas, NV
Watch: Pay-Per-View
Here’s the latest on the Affliction: Day of Reckoning event:
Main Card
- Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski @ HW (official)
- Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort @ MW (official)
- Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira @ LHW (official)
- Ben Rothwell vs. Pedro Rizzo (official)
- Jay Hieron vs. Drew Fickett
- Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon @ LW (rumored)
HDNet undercard
- Roy Nelson vs. Paul Buentello @ HW (official)
- Mike Pyle vs. Jason High @ WW
Card subject to change. All matchups are rumored unless stated otherwise.
Check out more Affliction content on 5 Oz. of Pain.
Ben Rothwell has confirmed rumored reports that he will be fighting Pedro Rizzo during Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view event on Oct. 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Rothwell revealed the fight to CagePotato.com earlier today.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com spoke with Rothwell’s manager, Monte Cox, last week and Cox indicated that Rothwell was not expected to be involved with the second Affliction event. However, Rothwell indicated that there was a change of plans.
“Monte turned down their original offer for this fight, so that’s why he said none of his guys would be fighting on the show,” Cage Potato quotes Rothwell as saying. “Then they came back with another offer that was better, so we agreed to it.”
The wording of Rothwell’s statement has led some to believe that he had to accept a cut in pay from the $200,000 salary he received for Affliction: Banned on July 19 but that has not been confirmed.
Rothwell originally was announced as having signed a three-fight contract with the promotion so for him to have to sign a second agreement when he has an existing salary schedule suggests that a change of some kind has occurred.
The Rothwell vs. Rizzo heavyweight title joins a lineup already set to feature bouts between Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett, Vitor Belfort vs. Matt Lindland, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko, Paul Buentello vs. Roy Nelson, Mike Pyle vs. Jason High, and Chris Horodecki vs. TBA.
Tom Hamlin of MMAWeekly.com has a good followup to a SportsIllustrated .com report last week that indicated that former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz was about to finalize a contract with Affliction.
The report was later amended after Ortiz failed to show up the next day for a press conference in Las Vegas to promote Affliction’s second-ever event, “Day of Reckoning.”
Hamlin quotes Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio as confirming that the promotion is engaged in contract talks with Ortiz. At one point he goes so far as to say there’s a contract in place.
“We’ve got a contract, and it’s just not feasible,” Hamlin quotes Atencio as saying.
Wait, did he mean they have framework of a contract or do they actually have a finished contract and simply have buyer’s remorse regarding a contract that Ortiz described as record-breaking?
Based on the timing of last week’s events, I’m not sure what to think because there were people convinced, Ortiz being one of them, that an agreement was in place.
Hamlin states that few details are available regarding the state of the negotiations but that the money being discussed is a major sticking point.
The article quotes Affliction officials as saying that if Ortiz does sign, he’d be unlikely to be available for the Oct. 10 show.
Following up an exclusive story we first reported yesterday, former IFL lightweight wunderkind Chris Horodecki has officially signed a contract with Affliction.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed the news earlier this afternoon with one of his agents, Matt Stansell of North County Fight Club. According to Stansell, Horodecki has inked a three-fight deal.
MMAjunkie.com is also reporting that Horodecki will debut for the promotion during its next card on Oct. 11 in Las Vegas. An opponent has yet to be named.
With rumors continuing to swirl that Tito Ortiz is close to signing a deal with Affliction, it got me thinking: is Ortiz really worth all the money that he says that Affliction is going to pay him? Sure, he was a no-show at the presser today and nothing official has been announced regarding his signing with the company but all signs point to him having a contract with them at some point soon. So is he worth the money?
If what Ortiz said to SI.com is true, that he will be getting a contract like no other fighter has ever seen before, then it’s obviously going to be very big money. Now, granted, Ortiz has been known to exagerrate in his past, but exagerration or not, it’s going to be big dollars. He is a hot free agent, there’s no doubt about that. He’s a huge name, a very good trash talker who knows how to hype a fight, and he’s helped build the sport of MMA into what it is today. He knows how to sell pay-per-views and that’s something that Affliction needs help with. I realize these things.
But what assets does Ortiz bring to the table that they’re willing to pay him so much money? Fighting acumen? Hardly. Ortiz’s days as an elite level fighter are well behind him. He’s lost a step in his explosiveness and his striking has always been mediocre. He’s a fighter, just like Matt Hughes, whose game has never evolved along with the sport. In modern MMA you have to be well rounded just to get by. You can’t rely on one thing anymore and Ortiz has always heavily relied on his wrestling and still does. When that’s not going well for him, he has nothing else to fall back on. He’s one dimensional. Is it worth it for Affliction to shell out big dollars for someone who is one dimensional and past their prime?
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Despite public comments that he would return for Affliction’s second-ever MMA event on Oct. 11 in Las Vegas, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia currently has not been scheduled for the show and is unlikely to be added, his manager Monte Cox relayed to FiveOuncesOfPain.com on Wednesday.
And in spite of a report in the Aug. 4 print edition of the Wrestling Observer that indicated Ben Rothwell (also managed by Cox) was looking for a possible fight against Paul Buentello, Cox also stated that Rothwell is not scheduled for the card and is unlikely to be added as well.
Cox did indicate that the two Miletich Fighting Systems heavyweights could be involved with the promotion’s third-ever MMA event.
Despite a report published late Tuesday on SI.com, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz did not appear at Affliction’s press conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The promotion was in town to kickoff the push for its Oct. 11 “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view that is set to emanate from the Thomas & Mack Center.
The news comes via a report by Sherdog.com’s Loretta Hunt.
According to Hunt, Affliction contradicted the SI report that stated it was expected to be announced formally on Wednesday that Ortiz had signed a lucrative contract. Officials with the promotion said that Ortiz has in fact not signed with the company.
Sherdog’s report goes on to add that an attorney for Affliction entertainment confirmed potential interest in Ortiz but went so far as to brand the original report by SI as a “rumor.”
It remains to be seen whether this was a case of Ortiz and Affliction being close to a deal and one of the parties getting cold feet or the report simply lacking validity.
Sherdog is also reporting that Affliction has announced matchups between Vitor Belfort vs. Matt Lindland and Roy Nelson vs. Paul Buentello at its upcoming show in October. The two bouts join the show’s main event of Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski as fights that have been made official.
It appears as though Affliction’s outstanding roster of talent could be on the verge of expanding even further, as a contract with Chris Horodecki is expected to be finalized with the promotion in the near future.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned of this development after contacting Horodecki’s co-manager, Matt Stansell of North Couty Fight Club. Stansell indicated that Horodecki had yet to formally sign a contract with Affliction but that a contract is expected to be signed soon.
While Stansell would not comment as to whether Horodecki would debut during the promotion’s Oct. 11 fight card in Las Vegas, he would seem like a logical fit for the show considering his local tie to the city by training out of Xtreme Couture.
The 20-year old standout kickboxer is 12-1 lifetime in MMA and compiled an 8-1 record in the IFL with notable wins over Ryan Schultz, Bart Palaszewski, and Shad Lierly. His lone career loss came at the hands of Schultz during their second-ever meeting while competing this past December in the finals of the IFL’s lightweight Grand Prix.
Known for a youthful appearance and an exciting fighting style, Horodecki is considered one of the top free agents in all of MMA and has attracted interest from multiple promotions since receiving a release from his IFL contract.
Bryan Alvarez of Figure 4 Online is reporting that former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz is expected to announce during a press conference tomorrow that he has signed with Affliction.
Ortiz completed his UFC contract at UFC 84 on May 24, losing a unanimous decision to undefeated light heavyweight Lyoto Machida.
Immediately after the bout, Ortiz became a restricted free agent with the UFC still retaining a right of first-refusal. However, that contract provision expired in recent days, making Ortiz an unrestricted free agent.
Previous reports have indicated that a light heavyweight bout between Ortiz and Renato “Babalu” Sobral, another former member of the UFC’s 205 lbs. division, are expected to fight during Affliction’s next show on Oct. 11 in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV.
The event will be titled “Affliction: Day of Reckoning” and will be headlined by a heavyweight bout between a pair of former UFC heavyweight champions, Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett.
IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson could be the latest free agent heavyweight to migrate to Affliction, according to a report by MMANews.com.
MMA News spoke with Xtreme Couture heavyweight Jay White who revealed that he has signed a three-fight contract with Affliction and that he is slated to debut against Nelson.
The report does not specify a debut date for White, but with only one show scheduled for Oct. 11, the potential White vs. Nelson fight would appear to be a lock for the promotion’s Las Vegas event at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Neither Nelson’s camp or Affliction have yet to confirm the report. FiveOuncesOfPain.com had been informed last week that Nelson was under consideration for a bout against Dave Herman during an EliteXC show on Sept. 20 so he is not without multiple suitors bidding on his services.
If Nelson does in fact sign with Affliction, that would mean that three of the IFL’s champions potentially have signed with promotions other than the UFC, which has reportedly acquired select assets from the IFL.
According to a report on Sherdog, IFL light heavyweight champion Vladimir Matyushenko will be fighting for Affliction on Oct. 11 while IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz will compete for the Sengoku promotion in Japan on Aug. 24.
If a deal has been reached between the IFL and UFC, it remains to be seen just exactly what they have acquired besides the IFL’s extensive library of fight footage. While the UFC has signed IFL middleweight champion Dan Miller and his brother, Jim Miller, a source revealed to FiveOuncesOfPain.com that both were involved in litigation with the IFL over their contract and that their contracts were not transferred to Zuffa as part of an acquisition.
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If a bout between Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort is signed for Affliction’s second-ever show on Oct. 11 and it’s for a title, it won’t be for the yet-to-be institute WAMMA middleweight title belt.
After reading a report on FiveOuncesOfPain.com that cited a Belfort interview with the Brazilian website Tatame.com that quoted Belfort as saying the matchup would be for a belt, WAMMA CEO Mike Lynch contacted us to issue a statement. While WAMMA believes that the potential matchup is intriguing, it doesn’t consider it one worthy of determining an undisputed champion at 185 lbs.
“There has been a lot of speculation that an upcoming proposed match-up between Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort will be for a WAMMA title,” said Lynch in an e-mail to Five Ounces of Pain. “To be sure, Matt and Vitor are two of the very best fighters in MMA today. Lindland is currently ranked seven in our middleweight rankings and Belfort is a former UFC champion who is bound to excite fans everywhere with his explosive style. If this fight happens, it would be an incredible match up. It certainly rises to the level of a must-see fight and would be the highlight of any fight card.
“With that being said, any fight between Lindland and Belfort at this time would not be for a WAMMA title. WAMMA’s goal is to crown undisputed champions based on our objective rankings. Based on our rankings, we could not sanction a Lindland vs. Belfort fight as a WAMMA championship. However, the winner of the match-up would certainly cement his place as part of the fighter elite and would be a likely contender for a WAMMA championship in the future.”
In a recent interview with the Brazilian website Tatame, former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort is quoted as saying he will compete again for the Affliction promotion on Oct. 11 in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center.
According to Belfort, he will be fighting former U.S. Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland and that the fight will be for “the belt.”
It’s uncertain at this time what belt Belfort is referring to. Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio has been publicly bearish while speaking in the past about instituting Affliction-brand titles. However, the promotion did host the WAMMA heavyweight title during the main event of its July 19 show with Fedor Emelianenko procuring the belt following a first round submission over Tim Sylvia.
It’s possible that the title Belfort is referring to is a yet-to-be instituted Affliction middleweight title. FiveOuncesOfPain.com contacted WAMMA CEO Mike Lynch for comment via phone and e-mail but our requests have gone unanswered.
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Aleksander Emelianenko, in an interview with Life.ru, discussed his absence from the Affliction: Banned card two weeks ago. Translation from MMA Mania:
I passed the medical board and my license to fight was obtained without any problems. But the fact is that in California the commission is very rigid for admittance. One of the main conditions to let you fight is the ability to pass all of your tests on time. I had to be in America by July 13, the Visa was only good until the fourteenth and my tickets were purchased in advance for the fifteenth. On the whole, I was late. They thought the organizers could agree and settle the problem but they quickly found out they would not be able to get me on the card. Instead they were able to find a suitable replacement for Paul Buentello. The laws in California are so rigid.
The MMA world was afire with rumors regarding Emelianenko’s absence from the Affliction card two weeks ago, with hepatitis being the leading rumor. According to Emelianenko, those rumors are completely false. It’s not hard to believe that California denied him a license due to late medicals as they’ve done this kind of thing before. Armando Garcia doesn’t play around. If you’re late with your medicals then you aren’t fighting in California, period.
If it’s true that Emelianenko was only held off the card because of late medicals then it’s much better news than the rumor that he has hepatitis. I’d love to see him fight on U.S. soil against Affliction’s heavyweights and there would be almost no chance of him fighting if he had hepatitis. Late medicals we can work with. Hepatitis? Not so much.
At first glance, it appeared that Affliction’s first-ever pay-per-view on July 19 in Anaheim was a relative success story. It was announced that the Honda Center sold out for “Banned” and Tom Atencio, the company’s Vice President, stated that PPV buys were expected to be over 100,000.
While the 100,000 mark would have been well short of the UFC’s average, it still would have been a milestone for the fledgling company, as it would have represented the highest total in MMA for a non-UFC PPV in the United States.
However, it appears that Atencio may have mis-spoke, as Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports is indicating that early-cable estimates peg the buys in a range between 50,000-85,000. It had been believed that the event would need to do 250,000-300,000 buys to have a chance to break even.
Steve Cofield, another writer for Yahoo! Sports, also raised some questions about Affliction’s attendance figures last week. According to the California State Atheltic Commission, “Banned” was a sellout with 14,832 people attending. However, after speaking with fellow Yahoo! Sports columnist Kevin Iole, Cofield revealed that Affliction may have padded their attendance totals.
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A light heavyweight clash between former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz and former UFC light heavyweight title contender Renato “Babalu” Sobral is close to being added to the card of Affliction’s next show, according to a report by Yahoo! Sports’ Steve Cofield.
The proposed Ortiz vs. Sobral bout would co-headline Affliction’s Oct. 11 show at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The tentative main event for the show will feature Fedor Emelianenko defending the WAMMA heavyweight title vs. former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.
Cofield contacted Affliction V.P. Tom Atencio would not confirm the report. The promotion won’t be releasing further details about the October show until a Aug. 6 news conference that will be taking place in Las Vegas. Atencio also indicated that he was under the impression that under the terms of Ortiz’s non-compete with the UFC that they cannot speak with him until Aug. 4. He also expressed that financial Ortiz’s financial requirements could also be a concern.
Ortiz is 0-2-1 in his last three fights and last competed on May 24 at UFC 84, losing a unanimous decision to undefeated light heavyweight Lyoto Machida. Prior to the Machida fight, the last time he had competed was the previous July, going to a draw with Rashad Evans.
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There seemed to be a big to-do about Fedor Emelianenko’s official salary that was posted from the CSAC this past week. Emelianenko, on record, made a measly $300,000 for his fight against Tim Sylvia while Sylvia made a whopping $800,000. There was much speculation as to what Fedor was actually paid and now Mike Chiappetta at NBC Sports is reporting that the rest of Fedor’s money was indeed in the form of an advance signing bonus:
But a source told NBCSports.com that Emelianenko received a sizable part of his Affliction contract up front in the form of a signing bonus, and added that Emelianenko also owns the rights to his fight footage in several European countries. That second part may not mean much right now but if Affliction chooses to hold an event in Europe, they would have to pay him for the footage.
Love or hate Fedor’s management, you have to concede that they are doing what’s in Fedor’s best interest as far as the money side of things go. Making people pay for your own fight footage as well as getting advance signing bonuses before even stepping into the ring are a couple things that are just unheard of in this sport right now. Fedor’s management team is way ahead of the curve as far as MMA goes right now. Vadim Finklestein is the Drew Rosenhaus of MMA.
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