The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts issued a press release on Thursday announcing that the heavyweight main event between Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski that is scheduled for Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view on Oct. 11 will determine the number one contender to the WAMMA heavyweight title currently held by Fedor Emelianenko.

“We couldn’t be more excited to see Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett faceoff for the right to take on Fedor for the WAMMA World Heavyweight Championship,” WAMMA CEO Dave Szady is quoted as saying in company-issued a press release. “In the spirit of crowning undisputed champions, we couldn’t be happier than to have two of the fighters who arguably deserve a shot at Fedor fighting it out for the chance to take on the champ.”

Both fighters competed at Affliction’s first-ever event on July 19 and both were victorious, with Barnett recording a second round knockout over Pedro Rizzo and Arlovski knocking out Ben Rothwell in the third round.

In other Affliction-related news, MMAjunkie.com was on hand to cover the promotion’s press conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Junkie is reporting that HDNet will broadcast a one-hour pre-show for the Oct. 11 event that will include several undercard matches being televised.

In addition to fights between Barnett vs. Arlovski, Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and Vitor Belfort vs. Matt Lindland having been confirmed, Junkie is reporting that undercard bouts between Roy Nelson vs. Paul Buentello and Mike Pyle vs. Jason High were also announced.

Finally, Junkie is also reporting that there is concern whether the Belfort vs. Lindland fight will take place, as Belfort is still not fully recovered from a hand injury suffered during his win over Terry Martin during Affliction’s first event.

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.”

I recently had the pleasure to interview one of my all-time favorites, former UFC heavyweight champion and current IFL color commentator Bas Rutten.

Bas has added co-producer to his list of many roles in MMA as he’s involved with a new MMA documentary called “Potent.”

Potent, which is available at PotentTheMovie.com, is an in-depth look at what it takes to be a successful fighter in MMA and includes testimonials from the likes of not only Bas but also Frank Shamrock, Mario Sperry, Dean Lister, Dan Henderson, Murilo Bustamante, Shawn Tompkins, and many more.

I was not only able to interview Bas about the movie for CBSSports.com but I was also able to ask him about a change in his role with the IFL, whether Xtreme Couture will be a featured team in the league next season, and his thoughts on star pupil, Kimbo Slice.

According to Rutten, Team Kimbo apparently wants another shot at Sean Gannon:

Q: Have you discussed an opponent at all?

BR: No, absolutely not. We would really like to have Sean Gannon, the guy he lost to on the Internet, because they changed a lot of rules with that fight. That fight was purely boxing and suddenly knees started getting involved and the choke holds and he started clinching, and that was not just the match. I think it’s really been bothering Kimbo and I think he wants revenge.

That match is high on the priority list and hopefully Tank Abbott is one, too. Apparently he made some videos and said some things about Kimbo. When you put those videos out I think you should not only just bark but you should fight and take the fight.

You can read the interview in its entirety by clicking here.

Street fighter Sean Gannon, who was given a shot to go legitimate by the UFC and lost to Brandon Lee Hinkle at UFC 55 in his MMA debut, has issued a post on the Underground forum claiming that he’s been contacted by K-1 about a possible future K-1 rules match against Kimbo Slice.

a lot of people have questioned the legitimacy of the win because of the chokeholds. the best way to settle this is a rematch in a pure striking environment…K1. K1 has already contacted me, i assume this is what they want. gannon/kimbo makes a lot of sense for them, would sell a lot of payperviews to people who don’t normally buy K1. help start the buzz, we made the first one happen, lets do it again!

Gannon may have to wait in line because it was announced after Kimbo’s win over Ray Mercer this past Saturday that he’ll fight Tank Abbott in Atlantic City this September.