LOL.
So that was the big news. I had a feeling this would happen.
I wonder if there is room on that tombstone for Strikeforce. Maybe Strikeforce will become a Ladies only organization.
Dana with the deets at 9 ET, listen: LV Portal - ESPN Radio 1100
Hmm, I'm kinda surprised the ufc was involved with affliction canceling the third show. I knew the 2 orgs met a while back to discuss something similar but I just assumed the ufc was now waiting for affliction to fold by itself so they (ufc) wouldn't have to give up anything in return.
I also wonder what this means for tapout as they were basically the clothing sponsor ufc was pushing. I guess they will just have 2 major sponsors. This is good for the fighters though as many are still sponsored by affliction and couldn't wear their clothes whenever they were doing something ufc related.
Most interesting of all is what happens to the contracts as fedor and others still have fights left on their contracts. I wonder if they have to be paid in some way for what they had left and I'm guessing there is no non compete clause type thing for orgs to start trying to pick up these fighters as affliction is done as a promoter.
Fedor isn't a free agent though as he is basically a m-1 fighter by contract and had a separate co-contract of sorts with affliction.
ZUFFA (which owns the UFC) owns the WEC too : P
I did not know that. Good to know, cause I like WEC.
Also,
Affliction folds MMA promotion, will sponsor UFC
By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports 44 minutes ago
After promoting two critically acclaimed but financially disastrous mixed martial arts cards, Affliction on Friday first canceled its pay-per-view card scheduled for Aug. 1 and then opted to get out of the promotional business, Yahoo! Sports has learned.
The company and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are expected to release a statement sometime on Friday in which it is announced that Affliction will cease operations as a promoter and that its clothing division will become a UFC sponsor.
Affliction had a card slated for Aug. 1 with a main event of Fedor Emelianenko, the No. 2 fighter in the Yahoo! Sports mixed martial arts rankings, against former UFC champion Josh Barnett at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
But Barnett tested positive for an anabolic steroid and on Tuesday was denied a license to fight by the California State Athletic Commission.
That left Affliction scrambling to fight a replacement for Emelianenko. With no viable alternatives – the best was former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort, who was already down to 195 pounds for a scheduled middleweight fight – Affliction early Friday opted to scrap the show.
Later in the day, Affliction came to terms on a deal in which it would quit promoting fight cards. However, the status of the fighter contracts belonging to Affliction is unknown.
They could revert to the UFC or they could become free agents, able to sign with the promoter of their choice.
Multiple sources had indicated to Yahoo! Sports that Affliction was on the verge of a deal with Strikeforce for some sort of merger, but that fell apart in the last 24-48 hours. That’s when talks began anew between White and Affliction. They had spoken earlier in July about such a scenario, but were unable to come to a deal.
It's funny how these organizations are one such thin ice that one fight could ruin them. One upset win against Kimbo and EliteXC folds. One disqualification in the Fedor fight and Affliction folds. Would Affliction have folded if if Barnett suffered an injury during training?
Elite xc folded moreso from the investigation about fight tampering based on what seth 'hopping jab' petruzelli said about being influenced to keep the fight standing.
The thin ice seems to affect the orgs that try to be too big too fast. Strikeforce could survive adversity fairly easily since they have been established for some time now.
this could mean nothing or everything. need to see what happens with the fighters
Fighter update: Tito Oritz is back in the UFC mix, not official yet but came through Dana's twitter, but it's basically a done deal.
Changed the title a bit, lets put that UFC 100 thread to rest. Events can have their own threads outside this if you want.
mousasi vs babalu back on @ strikeforce. FUCK YES
Renato "Babalu" Sobral to defend Strikeforce title against Gegard Mousasi on Aug. 15
by John Morgan on Jul 27, 2009 at 4:35 pm ET
The first two pieces of the scrambled puzzle left by Affliction's recent demise have fallen into place as Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Renato "Babalu" Sobral (35-8) will defend his title against Gegard Mousasi (25-2-1) on Aug. 15.
MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) confirmed the rescheduled bout with Strikeforce Director of Communications Mike Afromowitz.
Sobral and Mousasi, who were originally scheduled to meet at the now-canceled "Affliction: Trilogy," will instead step into the cage at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on the main card of "Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg," which airs live on Showtime.
Mousasi will compete on the card with a new Strikeforce contract, Afromowitz said, and not as a loaned commodity from M-1.
Mousasi is currently riding a 12-fight win streak, including a successful run to DREAM's middleweight crown in 2008, as well as a current semifinalist in DREAM's open-weight "Super Hulk" tournament.
The new contract is not likely to affect Mousasi's position in DREAM's tournament, as the Japanese-based organization and Strikeforce have a history of working together to share talent.
Sobral will take a five-fight win streak into the contest, and the Brazilian has won 15 of his past 17 contests. "Babalu" earned Strikeforce's 205-pound belt with a TKO win over Bobby Southworth in November 2008.
While previously announced competitors Fabricio Werdum and Nick Diaz are still without opponents following the withdrawal of Alistair Overeem and Joe Riggs due to various ailments, Afromowitz said he was unable to make any other announcements at this time.
I'm surprised the Diaz fags havent been talking about this
STRIKEFORCE: AUGUST 15, 2009 ON SHOWTIME
venue: HP Pavilion in San Jose, California
- Gina Carano (7-0) vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (7-1) (145-pound title)
- Josh Thomson (16-2; #8 LW) vs. Gilbert Melendez (15-2) (LW title)
- Babalu vs Gegard Mousasi (LHW title)
- Nick Diaz (20-7) vs. Jay Hieron (WW title)
- Fabricio Werdum vs. TBA
- Isaiah Hill vs. Poppies Martinez
- Ricardo Barros vs. Scott Lighty
- James Terry vs. Jason Von Flue
that is a sweet card