AFFLICTION CANCELLED, and DONE !

[MR Pain]

Affliction folds MMA promotion, will sponsor UFC

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.

[MR Pain]

Some fights may still take place on august 28th

Some of the undercard bouts slated for the recently canceled "Affliction: Trilogy" bout could end up on M-1 Global's Aug. 28 "premium fight series" event.

Sources close to the organization, which was the co-promoter of "Trilogy," today told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) that company officials are trying to secure some of the show's previously scheduled bouts, most notably Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral, for its upcoming show.

"M-1: Breakthrough," currently headlined by Don Frye vs. "King" Mo Lawal, takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California and airs on HDNet.

M-1 Global is perhaps best known for its country-vs.-country "M-1 Challenge" series, but the global organization now wants to focus on the U.S. market with a traditional event series.

Earlier today Affliction Entertainment began contacting fighters who were slated to compete on the organization's Aug. 1 "Trilogy" card with news of the cancellation. In a statement issued by the company, Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio stated the cancellation resulted from the loss of Josh Barnett, who was slated to fight No. 1 ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in the night's main event. Barnett failed a drug test due to an anabolic steroid and was denied a license by the California State Athletic Commission earlier this week.

Part of a star-studded undercard - which featured names such as Paul Buentello, Takanori Gomi, Jay Hieron and Ben Rothwell - could be secured for the M-1 event. (In fact, two of the un-aired preliminary card bouts on "Trilogy," Lucio Linhares vs. Mikhail Zayats and Rob Broughton vs. Jessie Gibbs, were billed as "M-1 showcase fights.")

According to one source, the organization is working with a limited budget and is unlikely to afford a fight such as the co-main event of Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago, but it is actively pursuing some other, more afforable matchups.

There's also speculation that some of the matchups or competitors could end up on the Aug. 15 Strikeforce card, though MMAjunkie.com has been unable to get confirmation about any such plans.