Affliction Entertainment promoted two
pay-per-view (PPV) MMA events. The third (Trilogy) was scheduled for August 1, 2009, but was canceled July 24, 2009 due to
Josh Barnett testing positive in the pre-screening drug test. On July 24, 2009 it was announced that Affliction had folded their MMA Promotion and would sponsor the UFC once again.
Affliction: Banned Affliction entered the world of MMA fight promotion with the announcement of its event
Affliction: Banned which took place on July 19, 2008 in
Anaheim, California at the
Honda Center. The
card at
Banned featured many of the top MMA heavyweight fighters. The main event was the return of
Pride FC Heavyweight Champion
Fedor Emelianenko fighting against former UFC Heavyweight Champion
Tim Sylvia. Emelianenko submitted Sylvia thirty-six seconds into the first round to win in convincing fashion. The event saw victories by former UFC Heavyweight Champions
Andrei Arlovski and
Josh Barnett and former UFC Light-heavyweight Champion
Vitor Belfort. Affliction's total attendance (14,832), with a paid attendance of (11,242) and live gate of ($2,085,510) The total disclosed payroll for the event was $3,332,100.
Affliction: Day of Reckoning Affliction: Day of Reckoning was the second event by Affliction and took place on January 24, 2009 in
Anaheim, California at the
Honda Center. The main event featured
Fedor Emelianenko against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski. Josh "Babyface Assassin" Barnett fought on the card and defeated
Gilbert Yvel. In a light-heavyweight match former
Strikeforce Champion
Renato "Babalu" Sobral beat
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Matt Lindland was reassigned from a 195-pound
catchweight bout with Sobral to a middleweight matchup against former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort.
Affliction: Trilogy Affliction: Trilogy was to feature a fight between
Fedor Emelianenko and
Josh Barnett as its headline event at the
Honda Center in
Anaheim, California on August 1, 2009. On July 22, 11 days before the scheduled event, the California State Athletic Commission announced it would not license Barnett because he tested positive for a banned substance. Later that day, the CSAC issued a press release which stated that anabolic steroids was the substance detected in Barnett's drug test.
Cancellation aftermath Many of the fighters on the card were able to find another promotion to work for shortly after Affliction Entertainment's demise. The Renato Sobral vs. Gegard Mousasi bout was moved to
Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg for Sobral's
Light Heavyweight Title, while Jay Hieron fought
Jesse Taylor on the same card.
Zuffa also picked up several fighters with the LC Davis vs. Javier Vasquez bout being moved to
WEC 42, the Mark Hominick vs. Deividas Taurosevicius bout being moved to
WEC 43, the Ben Rothwell vs. Chase Gormley bout moved to
UFC 104 and Vitor Belfort main eventing
UFC 103. As well Paul Daley, Dan Lauzon, and Rafaello Oliveira have signed contracts with Zuffa. The
Jessie Gibbs vs.
Rob Broughton bout was moved to M-1 Global Presents Breakthrough. While Lucio Linhares from the other
M-1 Global bout was also moved to the card, with a new opponent, he ended up fighting
Mikhail Zayats. ==References ==