This evening the two super-companies made the announcement official through a press release issued to FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

“We are excited about the return of Affliction to the UFC and look forward to seeing our fighters once again walk into the Octagon wearing the Affliction brands,” said UFC President Dana White in the recently released statement. “Affliction is an innovator of mixing fashion with this sport and we are looking forward to working together to promote the sport.”

While the representatives from Affliction stopped short of confirming earlier reports that the company had agreed to cease promoting mixed martial arts events in the future in order to once again become a UFC sponsor, they did report that an agreement had been met that both sides were happy with.

“Our brand is synonymous with the “Live Fast” approach to life and UFC is the perfect venue for us to market our brand,” explained the Co-Founder of Affliction, Eric Foss. “We have come to an agreement with the UFC which we feel will be the best for the sport and will help the UFC continue delivering the highest caliber of fights.”

Stay glued to Five Ounces as we continue to keep you up to date on the latest developments between the UFC and Affliction in the coming days.

According to multiple sources including MMAWeekly and Yahoo Sports, and as confirmed by a representative of the UFC, Affliction has signed an agreement with the world’s leading Mixed Martial Arts company to act as an official sponsor of future events. The deal also includes a stipulation stating Affliction will cease operating as an independent fight promotion. A formal announcement is expected to made in the near future.

No word has been given on how the Mixed Martial Artists contracted to Affliction will be handled. Current fighters signed to the now-defunct promotion include Gegard Mousasi, Vitor Belfort, and of course the man who was expected to headline the “Trilogy” show – top ranked heavyweight Emelianenko.

The former UFC heavyweight champion was contracted to fight three fights for Affliction. The first of which was his mugging of Ben Rothwell; the second, the disappointing knockout loss at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko; and the third and final bout in his agreement with Affliction was his recent loaning out to Strikeforce where he was overwhelmed by Rogers in lightning quick fashion.

“His contract has expired and right now we have so many fighters under contract that we are just concentrating on working with them,” said Affliction VP Tom Atencio in a recent conversation with Fighters Only Magazine.

When questioned as to whether or not Affliction would be pursuing a new contract with Arlovski, Atencio was quoted as saying,”No, we are not looking at that right now.”

Although Arlovski is still extremely marketable and talented, the record of 0-2 in his last two bouts and his hefty price tag is going make it extremely interesting as to who decides to play ball with Arlovski and sign him next. The UFC recently let him go, Affliction isn’t interested, he’s 0-1 with Strikeforce.

Although Arlovski has been flirting with making his professional boxing debut for a while now it’s unclear what the next move will be for “The Pitbull” at this time.

M-1Global.com was the first to break the news of the middleweight bout.

The event is set for August 1 and will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. and will be headlined by a heavyweight bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett.

Linhares is a Team Finland fighter that has won his last four straight bouts with a recent win over UFC veteran Sean Salmon while Zayats competes for Fedor Emelianenko’s Team Russia Imperial and has dropped his last two bouts after going on a four fight win streak.

The two are no strangers to one another as they fought in one of the most electrifying battles in M-1 Challenge history back in June of 2008. Zayats ended up with the decision victory in a bout that many felt could have gone the other way. They will have their chance to settle the score once and for all at “Trilogy” in a fight that is impossible to disappoint.

A full list of the bouts expected for the event are listed below:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett

Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral

Paul Buentello vs. TBA

Jorge Santiago vs. Vitor Belfort

Jay Hieron vs. Paul Daley

Ben Rothwell vs. Chase Gormley

Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon

Deividas Taurosevicius vs. Brett Cooper

Jesse Gibbs vs. Rob Broughton

Lucio Linhares vs. Mikhail Zayats

The report of Affliction’s decision to cut Sylvia from the event comes courtesy of MMAFanhouse.com.

The announcement comes on the heels of Sylvia’s ten second knockout loss at the hands of 48 year old former heavyweight boxing champ Ray Mercer in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday evening. Previously slated as a boxing match, the bout inevitably failed to be sanctioned and was switched to an MMA rules bout just prior to fight time. Sylvia weighed in at 310 pounds before the loss to Mercer.

“It’s his second knockout in a row, and I don’t want to take a chance on anything,” Affliction VP Tom Atencio was quoted as saying in the report. “The fight is less than 60 days away.”

Atencio also confirmed that Paul Buentello would still be competing on the card. His opponent will most likely be the winner of the upcoming June 27 clash between Gilbert Yvel and Pedro Rizzo at “Ultimate Chaos”.

In the co-main event slot, reigning Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral will face former DREAM Middleweight champion Gegard “Young Vagabond” Mousasi, who recently submitted Mark Hunt in the opening round of the DREAM Super Hulk tournament.

“People said we wouldn’t be here after the first event. Well, we were. We had a second event, and it was a bigger card than the first. . . Once again, we’re back, and with a card that’s . . . actually better than the first and second event,” proclaimed Affliction VP and matchmaker Tom Atencio.

Promotional partner Roy Englebrecht added “I think the reason why we’re here today . . . is the fact that we’re seeing, in my estimation, the greatest mixed martial arts heavyweight fighter of all times, trying to do something for the third time: beat three former UFC heavyweight world champions. First show, Tim Sylvia. Second show, Andrei Arlovski. And now, standing in his way, is another former UFC champion, and he was the youngest – Josh Barnett. The trilogy . . . doesn’t happen very often, can happen on August 1st.”

The Los Angeles press conference was short and sweet, with brief, generic comments from Sobral, Mousasi, and Emelianenko about their respective matches. Each fighter was respectful, almost to a fault, of their opponents, and indeed, Atencio, Englebrecht, and M-1 executives Joost Raymond and Vadim Finkelstein almost seemed to play microphone hot potato, as if nobody wanted the spokesman responsibilities. Barnett, who prides himself on having studied the interview skills of pro wrestling personalities, was notably absent, apparently due to transportation problems.

Ever the man of few words, Emelianenko, through his translator (and M-1 USA VP of Legal Affairs) Steven Bash, simply said “I’d like to thank everyone for inviting me out again and giving me the opportunity to fight on a world-class level. I expect the fight with Josh to be very exciting and I promise you a wonderful show.”

One of the more burning topics of conversation was that of Affliction’s future as a fight promotion. Although there was discussion that the “Trilogy” moniker indicated a planned finality to promoting MMA after August 1st, Atencio steadfast denied any intentions to quit.

“Our future isn’t undetermined. I’ve always said that we’ll take one fight at a time. . . We came out and made a big bang in the industry. . . [M-1 Global] has been doing this for a long time, and I couldn’t ask for better partners than them. . . I’ve learned a few things and I’ve made some mistakes, myself and my partners. We take that and we move forward and we correct those mistakes. And that’s what we’re looking to do,” said Atencio adamantly.

M-1 Global President Vadim Finkelstein, also through translation, echoed the sentiment, saying “I’m very proud and honored to have partners such as Affliction. Together, what we’ve done is we’ve come together to build a worldwide MMA company, and utilize both of our resources and put together many products and projects all over the world, culminating in what will be and is the biggest fight in mixed martial arts. This will be the best fight this year and many, many years.”

Another recurring subject of debate was the ongoing standoff with the UFC and promoter Dana White. Keeping true to form with Affliction’s prior two events, an invitation was extended, via M-1 Global COO Joost Raymond, to White and his two reigning heavyweight champions, Brock Lesnar and interim champ Frank Mir, to attend “Trilogy.”

“They are all very cordially invited to come and watch . . . And ultimately we can follow up, in the same lines as what the UFC has done for Mr. Mirko Cro Cop, in a one-fight deal . . . We’d like to make that happen. So, again, we can bring out the true champions and the best fights available for all.”

Mousasi is a former DREAM Middleweight champion who recently declared his intent to move up to light heavyweight, claiming he no longer is able to make the traditional 185 lb. limit. In May, he submitted Mark Hunt in DREAM’s Super Hulk tournament, giving up 63 lbs to the Kiwi kickboxer.

Mousasi was originally expected to face Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort, a former light heavyweight (205 lbs.) who now fights at middleweight. However, in an interview with Tatame.com, Belfort denied any intention to fight at anything above 185 lbs., suggesting that Mousasi’s lack of name value and challenge makes going up in weight not worth his effort.

“I don’t know if he turned it down. I heard, because I had received the contract, I had signed the contract, that I would fight him. I thought he had the contract. He received also the contract, so I thought he knew about it. But obviously he says he didn’t, so I cannot say. . . Because he’s a middleweight, so I cannot say ‘come up and fight light heavyweight.’ I thought he knew about it,” explained Mousasi.

“I think Babalu is a very big challenge. I still have a very tough fight,” he added.

Other matches listed in the press materials were Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia vs. Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello, “Big” Ben Rothwell vs. the unbeaten Chase Gormley, Chris “The Polish Hammer” Horodecki vs. Dan “The Upgrade” Lauzon, and Jay ‘The Thoroughbred” Hieron vs. Paul “Semtex” Daley. The undercard, which includes the Horodecki-Lauzon and Hieron-Daley fights, will air live on HDNet.

Sources close to the fight have recently confirmed the bout to MMAWeekly.com.

Afliction III: Trilogy is set for August 1 in Anaheim, California and will feature a headlining bout between heavyweights Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett.

Widespread speculation before the confirmation of Santiago as his opponent had Belfort taking on Gegard Mousasi at the event before today’s news. Mousasi has since revealed that he would be facing off with Renato “Babalu” Sobral according to a report from M-1 Global.com.

Belfort was last seen at Affliction knocking Matt Lindland unconscious in the first round at Affliction: Day of Reckoning and Santiago is coming off of an impressive first round submission over the highly touted Kazuo Misaki at Sengoku: No Ran.

A report released by www.M-1Global.com this afternoon suggests that Renato “Babalu” Sobral will very likely be the man to face Mousasi on August 1. M-1 Global was able to confirm the report from sources close to Mousasi.

Mousasi is widely considered to be one of the top pound for pound fighters competing in the sport today. He has put together a more than impressive record of 28-2 during his professional MMA career and has had his hand raised in his last twelve consecutive bouts. Names such as Denis Kang, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Melvin Manhoef and most recently Mark Hunt are just a few of the men that have fallen victim to the well rounded Armenian-Iraninian.

Babalu bounced back in the Octagon following consecutive stoppage losses to Jason Lambert and Chuck Liddell when he put David Heath to sleep with an unforgiving side choke at UFC 74. It was his choice to hold he choke a couple of seconds too long on his unconscious victim that left him as an outcast from the UFC. The release may have been a blessing for Sobral, who has gone undefeated in his four fights since his departure from the UFC over the likes of Bobby Southworth, Mike Whitehead and most recently Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.

The bout between the two had been rumored for quite some time before MMAFanhouse was able to confirm the bout this afternoon.

Affliction III: Trilogy will take place at the Honda Center in Los Angeles, California on August 1 and is expected to be headlined by a heavyweight bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett.

Sylvia is set to face off with former heavyweight boxing champion Ray Mercer on June 13 in a boxing match that will be held in Birmingham, Alabama. His last appearance in mixed martial arts saw him on the receiving end of a Fedor choke at Affliction: Banned in July of 2008.

Buentello has gone undefeated in his two appearances with Affliction, defeating Gary Goodridge by decision in July before stopping Kirill Sidelnikov by TKO in January.

A full list of the bouts expected for Affliction III as of this writing are listed below:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett

Tim Sylvia vs. Paul Buentello

Jay Hieron vs. Paul Daley

Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon

Mousasi has made it known that there is no way that he can physically make the 185 pound weight class any longer and wants to meet up with Belfort at a catch-weight. Something the Brazilian gives little to no chance of happening.

“Who defines this isn’t him,” Belfort was quoted as saying in a recent interview with Tatame.com. “I fight at 185lbs. If they want to do this fight at 185lbs, it’s done, otherwise I see no option to go up, even because he isn’t a challenge, a man with much name. To go up, I don’t see him as a challenge. I want to fight with him in the weight he was champion (at DREAM), then I think its worth”

Mousasi can’t make 185 pounds anymore, there’s no two ways around it. Nothing to discuss there.

“I cannot make the weight, otherwise I would have continued to fight at 185 and not given up my DREAM middleweight title,” explained Mousasi in the interview with M-1Global.com. “I cannot make 185 anymore and that is final.”

The former DREAM middleweight champion went on to challenge Belfort to a catch-weight bout at the upcoming Affliction show in the interview. Mousasi also expressed surprise at the fact that Belfort had recently made his desire to move up to heavyweight to face Fedor Emelianenko public yet is currently completely unwilling to budge from the middleweight mark for a possible bout with Mousasi, who is widely regarded as one of the game’s most complete mixed martial artists.

Mousasi found Belfort’s comments about him not being a challenge interesting to say the least considering that Mousasi is currently ranked higher than Belfort in most respectable ratings polls today. In the exclusive interview with www.M-1Global.com  Mousasi went on to say that it was “strange that he does not see me as a challenge when many rankings have me ranked higher than him at middleweight.”

You can read Mousasi’s response to Belfort’s recent comments in its entirety by CLICKING HERE.

The two are expected to face off at the third Affliction event that has been rumored for August 1.

Mousasi revealed his next opponent in an interview with M-1 Global shortly after his decisive submission victory over Mark Hunt at DREAM 9.

“Yes, those (rumors) are true and I will be fighting Vitor Belfort,” said Mousasi when asked about the bouts widespread speculation for an August 1 Affliction card.

Mousasi also discussed the factors behind his decision to move up to heavyweight, his recent victory over Mark Hunt and much more in the exclusive interview at www.M-1Global.com .

To read the interview in its entirety CLICK HERE.

Mousasi has put together a beyond impressive record of 25-2 during his mixed martial arts career while compiling victories over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, Hector Lombard, Melvin Manhoef, and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza to win the DREAM middleweight championship in the process. The same championship he recently relinquished to pursue a career in the heavyweight division. Mousasi has won his last 12 straight contests.

Belfort has recently rediscovered himself since 2007, racking up four consecutive wins in impressive fashion with his most recent being a devastating knockout over top rated middleweight Matt Lindland at the second Affliction card that took place in January of this year.

Next Tim Sylvia said he was fighting an unnamed opponent for an organization he could not reveal sometime in August.

Now MMAJunkie.com is reporting based on sources close to the event that Chris Horodecki will take on Dan Lauzon at Affliction III in August.

It is safe to assume that Affliction will be holding their third event in August.

Horodecki and Lauzon were scheduled to face off at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” in January but Horodecki was unable to receive medical clearance due to a neck injury.

Lauzon, the younger brother of UFC lightweight contender Joe Lauzon, has made quite a name for himself fighting predominately for World Championship Fighting in Massachusetts. To this day he is still the youngest fighter to participate in a UFC event. He was just 18 years old when he took on Spencer Fisher at UFC 64. Fisher was victorious in that bout via first round TKO. Lauzon was last seen submitting Bobby Green who was tapped as a replacement for Horodecki at Affliction II. Lauzon holds an impressive 12-2 record.

Horodecki will be fighting William Sriyapai at “Fight Force: Ultimate Chaos” on June 27. The event which will feature a main event between Bobby Lashley and Bob Sapp, will also see Afflcition VP Tom Atencio fighting in his second MMA bout.

Affliction III is expected for for August 1 and will emanate from the Honda Center in Anaheim California.

The news of the signing was first reported by MMA Fanhouse.

Hieron will be making his second appearance in Affliction. He fought on the promotion’s “Day of Reckoning” card where he knocked out Jason High in 64 seconds. It was Hieron’s fifth consecutive victory.

Daley is a veteran of Cage Rage and had posted six straight wins of his own before falling to Jake Shields in 2008. Daley rebounded from the loss to Shields with a victory over John Alessio but lost by unanimous decision to Nick Thompson earlier this year.

However, Daley remained busy and quickly got back into the cage, posting first-round knockouts over lower-level opponents on March 29 and April 18. This will mark his third fight in the last six months.

Affliction III is expected to take place in the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett have verbally agreed to meet at the next Affliction event tentatively scheduled for August 1 according to a recent report by MMA Fanhouse. The event is to take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Fedor has been Affliction’s golden boy and he has delivered in two outstanding performances on his part. At the first Affliction event in July of 2008 he dismantled former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in just 36 seconds. This past January at “The Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view he knocked out another former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in the first round.

Josh Barnett has competed on both cards as well defeating Pedro Rizzo and then Gilbert Yvel. The two also fought for Pride and there was talk back then of a Barnett-Fedor bout but it obviously never happened. Some have speculated that the two share a close friendship and have been hesitant to fight each other. Regardless this is the only bout that makes sense for Affliction in what could be its last hurrah.

Also rumored for the unnamed event is a fight featuring Gegard Mousassi who won the Dream middleweight grand prix but has since decided to move up to the light heavyweight division. His opponent is none other than the “Phenom” Vitor Belfort who has currently been fighting at middleweight but has fought at 205lbs in the past.

Belfort has been impressive in his last two bouts as he knocked out Terry Martin in the second round of the inaugural Affliction card and then completely devastated perennial top 10 middleweight Matt Lindland with a left hand just seconds into their bout at “Day of Reckoning” leaving Lindland unconscious for sometime on the canvas.

Tim Sylvia who is taking part in a boxing match with 47 year old former world champion Ray Mercer next month in Alabama is rumored to be on the card as well. His opponent may be either Gilbert Yvel or Paul Buentello.

Sources have informed FiveOuncesOfPain.com that Affliction Entertainment is currently engaged in preliminary discussions regarding the possibility of promoting its third-ever event on Saturday, July 11. Such a booking would put the promotion in direct competition with the UFC’s historic UFC 100 pay-per-view event.

Several fighters and managers have contacted FiveOuncesOfPain.com in recent days informing the site that they have been approached by Affliction officials about the possibility of accepting restructured contracts in order to compete on the show.

According to the sources, Affliction wants to reduce it overhead for a potential third event so that it could host it on a network or basic cable television platform, as it would be next to impossible to convince PPV distributors to promote an event that would be in direct competition with the UFC.

Sources made it a point to caution Five Ounces of Pain that the possibility of Affliction counter-programming UFC 100 was still only in preliminary stages. Additionally, several insiders we spoke with expressed pessimism about Affliction being able to pull off the July 11 date.

However, meetings are expected to take place within the next several weeks regarding a possible television partner for the proposed event. If enough fighters were willing to accept a reduced rate to compete on the show and if a deal with a suitable television partner could be reached, the door would then be open for Affliction to go head-to-head with UFC 100.

One source also indicated to us that the possible July event for Affliction could be the company’s last MMA show, with the popular lifestyle clothing label looking to “go out with a bang” by going up against UFC 100.

When contacted by FiveOuncesOfPain.com for comment, Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio said he could neither confirm or deny our report.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed the rumored signing with a source close to Thomas early Friday morning.

Thomas, a veteran from the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, is 23-8 in a pro career that dates back to 1998. The American Top Team-trained fighter holds notable wins in his career over Dokojonosuke Mishima, Jens Pulver, Matt Serra, and Clay Guida.

Competing nine times under the UFC banner, Thomas holds a lifetime record of 5-4 while competing inside of the Octagon. Thomas’ most recent bout took place on Feb. 7 for a promotion billing itself as Headhunter Productions. Facing MMA rookie Dustin Pierkin, Thomas submitted the newcomer with a triangle choke at 2:58 of round 1.

No longer a regular competitor at 155 pounds, Thomas is expected to join an Affliction featherweight division that includes L.C. Davis, Bao Quach, Mark Hominick, Deividas Taurosevicius, and Savant Young.

A debut date and a first opponent for Thomas are not yet known.

Josh Gross of SI.com went on to say that although a date has not been secured plans are in motion for a battle between the two heavyweights. The bout was set-up over a month ago when both fighters were victorious at Affliction’s last pay-per-view, “Day of Reckoning.” Barnett defeated Gilbert Yvel by third round submission and Emelianenko defeated former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski via  round knockout.

Emelianenko who is ranked as the number pound for pound fighter on most pundits lists has defeated everyone who has been thrown in front of him including Tim Sylvia who he defeated in just 36 seconds at the inaugural Affliction pay-per-view last July. The former PRIDE superstar holds notable victories over five former UFC heavyweight champions including Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, Tim Sylvia, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman and Arlovski.

Barnett could be number six as he stands as the youngest UFC heavyweight champion. He captured the title from Randy Couture back in 2002 at the age of 24 but was soon stripped of the title after it was discovered he tested positive for steroids. Barnett (24-5) also fought in the PRIDE organization but for some reason he never challenged Emelianenko. Apparently the two share a close friendship and that may have been a reason these two have yet to meet.

Putting on quality fights – at least through their first two pay-per-view events (“Affliction: Banned” and “Affliction: Day of Reckoning“) – hasn’t been an issue.

However, their fighter payroll, which is reported to be over $6,000,000 combined for those events, is an issue. And, if the company has any chance at financial success, especially with their astronomical payrolls, then they must succeed in two areas: live gate and pay-per-view revenues.

Affliction can keep their pay-per-view numbers on the down low if they choose. Various sources have reported that their latest show, “Day of Reckoning,” sold anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 buys (FiveOuncesOfPain.com has been told the number right now is 120,000 but that it could increase when late buys are collected by the cable and satellite companies).

But there’s one thing they can’t hide: the production of Affliction’s pay-per-view telecasts is not good. In order for their pay-per-view numbers to increase – and the promotion to continue – changes must be made.

PRODUCTION AND PACING:

Golden Boy Promotions took over the production reigns for “Day of Reckoning.” “Day of Reckoning” was nowhere near the train wreck “Banned” was, but the improvement was more like an F to a C-minus as opposed to an average to good improvement.

In short, Affliction pay-per-view shows are still poorly produced.

When viewers, especially in this economy, are forking over their hard-earned money for a pay-per-view, they expect a quality show. In the world of mixed martial arts and television, that translates to a show that focuses primarily on the fights, without having to sit through dead air and useless segments. It’s about producing and pacing.

Affliction needs major work in those departments.

To appreciate what Affliction’s television team is up against, let’s make a comparison to the UFC and Zuffa’s pay-per-view telecasts.

During a UFC pay-per-view event, the fights are certainly the cornerstone of their telecasts, but there’s also more “business” to conduct. Their production team needs to hit promo spots for things such as future pay-per-views and television shows, as well as sponsor segments (a movie, a poker company, a motorcycle company, etc.).

With Affliction Entertainment, at least for the time being, there are no future events to promote during their pay-per-views. There are no reality shows. And there are far less sponsor spots to hit, especially when your company is a spinoff of a t-shirt company.

In other words, the “rundown” of the show focuses primarily on the fights. Therefore, making seamless transitions from one fight to the next can be challenging at times.

With “Day of Reckoning,” viewers could have watched The Godfather trilogy during the time it took to get from the show’s woeful open to the first fight of the night. For nearly $50, you were treated to that woeful open, the announcer previews of the card, Scott Ferrall and Chuck Zito interviewing Freddie Roach and then the PRIDE-like introductions of all of the show’s fighters, all before seeing anything resembling a fight.

Question: Do you go out to a $50 dinner and expect to get just a glass of warm water 20 minutes after ordering your meal?

Personally, I would have canned all of the above; especially the fighter introductions. I believe that the lineup of the fighters is geared more towards the live audience than those sitting at home waiting for fights to start. It’s overkill, especially if you consider the fact that we’re also going to see pre-fight packages on these same fighters.

The solution is simple and different, especially for a promotion with almost no existing fight history of its own to fall back on: start the broadcast with what I call a “Cold Open Fight.”

That’s right…the broadcast begins, blow-by-blow announcer Sean Wheelock quickly introduces himself on camera along with his partners, Jimmy Smith and Tito Ortiz… Smith quickly introduces the first fight of the night and then tosses it to the referee asking the if the fighters are ready…the bell sounds… and within 30 seconds of the pay-per-view telecast that you are shelling out almost $50 for, you have a fight.

What if this idea had been executed for “Day of Reckoning’”s controversial opening fight, Dan Lauzon versus Bobby Green? Even with Green landing three supposed low blows on Lauzon and the delays that followed, it still would have been a high-energy way to start the night, especially with Lauzon reaping revenge on Green by making him tap out.

Speaking of producing and pacing, how does one make the call to NOT send Ortiz into the ring to interview Lauzon, especially after stating during the fight that Lauzon was “putting on an acting job?” Isn’t this the reason why you’d want to take the time to cut to a post-fight interview? Someone made that call in the truck – and someone failed at capitalizing on what could have been an interesting post-fight segment between the always opinionated Ortiz and Lauzon. Again, with just one card under their belt before “Day of Reckoning,” Affliction producers weren’t dealing with a lot of dramatic storylines coming into this telecast, so not recognizing the opportunity to let one play out was a poor judgment call that can’t happen again.

Another poor judgment call that cannot happen again is staying on shots of a fighter who may be seriously injured. This was the case with the Vitor Belfort - Matt Lindland fight. Lindland, who was knocked out in devastating fashion by Belfort, was shown unconscious on the ground with his legs twitching. Of course, you cannot predict how a human being’s body will react to such a violent act, but making the decision to stay on Lindland for so long, when it was clear that he was very, very hurt, was a terrible decision. Good, experienced crews who’ve done MMA telecasts before know this. If Affliction’s television crew was experienced, then someone simply made a horrible judgment call.

There were other options available, such as cutting back to the announcers while doctors tended to Lindland. It’s the equivalent of an NFL game cutting to a commercial after a serious injury; except this was a commercial-free broadcast. The decision to stay on Lindland could have been devastating – to Affliction, to the sport of mixed martial arts, and most of all, to Lindland, had he been seriously injured. Thankfully, he recovered – and hopefully, such bush league decisions will not be made in Affliction’s next show.

Affliction and its television producers also need to re-think how they present their fighters before their respective fights.

With “Day of Reckoning,” it seemed as if Affliction’s production team was trying to fill as much time as possible with fighter packages and introductions. The decision to go from a fighter package into that fighter’s ring walk (and vice versa, at times) into the ring announcement of that fighter completely brought the broadcast to a halt; especially considering that this was done for each fighter. If the producers were trying to do something different, it was a bad choice. Something different would have been producing fighter packages that resembled anything but a poor man’s rip-off of what the UFC does.

The solution? Keep it simple and get to the fight as soon as possible. Produce fighter packages that include both fighters, followed by each guy making his ring entrance, just like the UFC does. Oddly enough, the producers chose to actually do this with just two fights: Josh Barnett – Gilbert Yvel and Fedor Emelianenko – Andrei Arlovski. If they felt that this gave the two featured fights a “different” look, they were wrong. This is simply a case of Affliction and its producers trying too hard.

Another problem that was obvious on “Day of Reckoning,” which also supports the “fill as much time as possible” theory, was the reluctance of the show’s producers to end the telecast properly.

Fedor provided his knockout of the ages, and of course you have to interview him. And of course the viewer expects the announcing team to quickly wrap up the fight and the night in general. But to go to Zito and Ferrall for their analysis of the fight? Really? And then provide the viewers with a useless, long recap of all of the fights that we all just paid up to $50 for and watched with our very own eyes? Really?

The question Affliction’s producers need to ask themselves is, “What reasons are we giving the viewer to keep watching beyond the last fight?”

The answer: “There were none.”

Note to Affliction Entertainment: You’re not fooling the viewers. They know when a show begins and a show ends. Focus more on what comes inbetween that, and you’ll most likely have well-paced shows with good fights that are actually worth paying about $50 for.

THE ANNOUNCE TEAM:

A very positive decision by Affliction Entertainment was to bring in M-1’s announce team of Wheelock (blow-by-blow) and Smith (analyst) for “Day of Reckoning. Wheelock and Smith called the card exactly as they should have, which is professionally and as” a team who has worked together many, many times.

Even more impressive was how they incorporated Ortiz into the equation as the third member of their team. Both Wheelock and Smith allowed Ortiz enough time to show the viewer that, while very, very raw, he certainly has the opinions and knowledge to become a good MMA analyst.

Ortiz was hardly smooth in the analyst role, and he often stumbled upon his own words. But if you throw aside your personal opinions for Tito Ortiz the fighter, whatever they may be, you have to be fair and acknowledge that if he works on his delivery, he’d be a pretty darn good analyst. Also consider the fact that he was joining two guys who’d worked together on numerous occasions, so fitting in was a challenge. Assuming he’s available for their next pay-per-view, Affliction should not only use Ortiz again, but groom him even more as an analyst.

Then comes Tito Ortiz, the post-fight interviewer.

Let’s put it this way…you’re never going to see “The Tito Ortiz Talk Show” following Oprah. Matter of fact, Affliction should never, ever put Ortiz in the position of conducting a ring interview – whether he’s getting booed by the crowd or not – ever again.

From a production perspective, you don’t want the post-fight interviewer to take away from the fighters or interview itself. And almost every time Ortiz entered the ring, he was booed. Whether the booing got to him or not, Ortiz did not deliver. Fighting while being booed is a whole different story than trying to conduct an interview while being booed. When you’re fighting, I imagine you can block it out more. When you’re in the center of the ring and all eyes and ears are focused on everything you say, and not how you fight, I imagine it’s harder.

Also, eliminating Tito Ortiz as a post-fight interviewer will eliminate the possibility that viewers will ever have to listen to these types of lines ever again:

To Renato “Babalu” Sobral after beating Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: “I wanna tell me what you see. Let’s go ahead and see by the fight, what you saw, in the ring.”

Also to Sobral: “Everybody let’s give a hand to Renato Babalu,’ one of the greatest light heavyweights…of the night.”

Ortiz also didn’t appear to be too comfortable interviewing “Fee-dor” Emelianenko after his fight. Note to Tito: it’s “Fay-dor.”

The solution is to keep Ortiz in the “booth” and bring in somebody else to conduct post-fight interviews. Who that person should be is not my call, but I remember when I first saw Jim Gray on boxing telecasts and how odd it seemed. Now, he’s one of my personal favorites when it comes to conducting post-anything interviews. Gray gets my vote here.

Which brings us back to Ferrall and Zito. Personally, this writer is a fan of both of these men, but not in the roles they served for “Day of Reckoning.” Matter of fact, I believe that both men should be eliminated from future Affliction telecasts, only because the producers didn’t have the slightest clue on how they should use them.

As a sports talk show host, I’m a huge fan of Ferrall. But let’s face it; he’s an acquired taste. The same is true with Zito, who, if sitting in as a guest on a show, is a fantastic interview due to his amazing stories.

The problem with using Ferrall and Zito is that they use none of their above skills for these pay-per-views. Having Ferrall, on “Day of Reckoning,” give the viewer an over-hyped play by play of Babalu getting ready for his fight was completely forced. And having them analyze any fight, especially when you already have Smith and Ortiz doing the same thing, is absurd and unnecessary. It’s almost as if the producers weren’t quite sure what to do with Ferrall and Zito. The solution, to no fault of the twosome: lose them.

AND FINALLY….

Many viewers of Affliction: Banned may recall how awful the audio was for that show. The audio quality improved for Day of Reckoning, but the richness of the packed crowd still doesn’t compare to the UFC’s stellar audio production. On “Day of Reckoning,” one of the first things Wheelock did was describe the crowd as “a frenzied crowd.” The problem was, the audio quality hardly sounded as such; not to mention the fact that the director didn’t even cut to the crowd to compliment Wheelock from a visual perspective. Maybe they weren’t lit properly? Maybe the lack of micrphone placement prevented this from being executed? I’m not sure, but crowd cutaways and top-notch audio are very rare in Affliction Entertainment shows; yet both are crucial elements needed to energize television productions such as MMA shows.

There is absolutely no doubt that those who run Affliction Entertainment understand the importance of producing top-notch, pay-per-view events. But the bottom line is, there’s a big difference between understanding that and then executing it.

Hardcore fight fans may not care how it’s produced, because there’s only one thing they tune in to see: the fights.

Well, without significant improvement in the production of their pay-per-view events, there won’t be any fights left for Affliction to broadcast. Because some of those fans who do care about quality shows won’t continue to spend their hard-earned money anymore. And without that pay-per-view revenue, money will be lost.

Right now, the numbers speak for themselves.

And for a fledgling company like Affliction Entertainment, that could be devastating. The clock is ticking.

“We’re going to have a third event,” Atencio began. “It’s just a matter of when. Possibly in July (or) possibly in August. I’m just not really sure. We’re looking and we’re sitting down (and) trying to figure everything out.”

Prior to Saturday’s “Day of Reckoning” event, Atencio had been quoted as saying that the winners of heavyweight bouts featuring WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel would face each other in the future.

Emelianenko knocked out Arlovski at 3:14 of round 1 during the night’s main event with Barnett earning a third round submission against Yvel during the show’s co-main event. Atencio was asked whether Emelianeno vs. Barnett was likely to headline the next show.

“That’s what I’m hoping for but right now I’ve got to sit down with these guys and figure everything out,” he responded.

In an article by FiveOuncesOfPain.com and CBSSports.com’s Gary Herman, Barnett reportedly indicated that he was open to fighting Fedor but that nothing has been signed.

“I don’t have a bout agreement,” Barnett told Herman. “Nothing is signed. Nothing exists.”

A venue for the third event has yet to be determined but sources speaking on the condition of anonymity have indicated that either a return to Anaheim, Calif. or a Trump-owned venue in Atlantic City, N.J. are considered the most likely options.

The Good:

Fedor Emelianenko proved, once again, why he is the best fighter on the planet.In a fight against a physically superior opponent, he remained composed and waited for his opportunity. The resulting knockout was one that no one watching will ever forget. He targeted a man’s chin perfectly — while that man was flying at him 100 miles per hour through the air. Absolutely fantastic.

The phenom is back. Even at the ripe old age of 32, Vitor Belfort looked just as quick as he did hurtling across the cage to dismantle Wanderlei Silva in Brazil. It was a timely performance for Belfort. The UFC is in desperate need for credible opponents for middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva. Belfort has a big name and the credibility that only a former champion can bring to the cage. UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, who was sitting near the ring, had to be thinking about making this fight. I hope he does.

This show also provided some nice comic relief. Albert Rios with his gold plated chain and silly glasses made me laugh. Maybe after the win he can trade it in for one actually made of solid gold? And how about Bobby Green taking the time out from kicking a guy in the balls to mark out over Donald Trump and Oscar De La Hoya sitting ringside? Act like you’ve been there before!

The Bad:

Tito Ortiz on commentary. Some ex-fighters are great. Both Shamrocks, Randy Couture, and Frank Mir all bring an expert viewpoint and make solid points. Tito brought a giant head. And awkwardness. Don’t forget the awkwardness. Tito still gets a reaction from the crowd, but this didn’t seem like a group enjoying booing him and looking forward to rooting against him when he makes his return later this year. The crowd hated him and seemed to just want him to go away. Perhaps the bad boy has worn out his welcome?

What was going on with Vladimir Matyushenko? He sleep walked through the first round before getting stopped in the second. Horrible performance and the one fight on the card that failed to live up to expectations.

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou looked like a world beater in the first round, but ran out of steam in the second. It seems like a consistent pattern at this point. Is it just me, or is it unacceptable for a professional in his prime to be unable to fight for three rounds?

The Ugly:

Why didn’t the broadcast cut away from a disoriented Matt Lindland receiving medical care? After suffering a career changing knockout, the Olympic Silver Medalist was acting erratically in the ring. It isn’t appropriate for an incoherent fighter to dictate his own medical care. I talked to my uncle, an emergency EMT, who agreed the whole scene was a debacle. At least have the courtesy not to show it all to us. The disoriented fighter deserves more than that base voyeurism.

Dan Lauzon put on quite a show after some questionable low blows. But his sloppy rear naked choke was truly ugly. Greene may have made a name for himself, but he needs more work if he’s getting finished by a fighter whose balls are too sore to get his hooks in.

Josh Barnett’s post fight comments were not exactly in good taste, talking about losing his friend Justin Levens to “suicide or something.” That “something” consists of two deaths being investigated as a possible murder/suicide. Maybe glorifying a killer on live television isn’t the best idea, Josh? Levens may have been a friend, but his final moments were clearly nothing to be proud of.

“Baby Fedor” Kiril Sidelnikov took a horrible beating. Young fighters, take note of what Fedor’s style looks like when the fighter employing it doesn’t have the champion’s unique athleticism. Not everyone can lead with their head with their hands hanging at their waist.