(Somebody better tell him that’s not a regulation boxing glove.)
I love guessing games. And it is because I love guessing games that Affliction and the ever-changing story behind their second event is a constant joy for me. So what’s the story now? Will they have a completely new date scheduled? Will they claim to have no date at all? Will they go so far as to name some of the fighters on the card? Or will they shoot down any interesting rumors about who might be fighting?
This time around Affliction VP Tom Atencio is saying the main event will likely be a boxing match, thanks to Golden Boy’s involvement, and MMA will comprise the entirety of the undercard:
“We are going to do a combination show of boxing and MMA. They will run the back end and we will do what we do well.” Atencio says of the show. “It will be between nine and ten fights total. Right now it looks like we are going to do a boxing main event and everything under it will be MMA. It really depends on who we have boxing though. If they are big enough names then absolutely they will be the main event and that is what we have planned right now. Things change though and we have nothing finalized.”
Hold up, Tom. What about Fedor? We all know he’s the cornerstone of this little operation. Is he lacing up the boxing gloves, you know, just to give himself a challenge? Because if not, it sounds like you’re saying either a) Fedor won’t be the main event (and when’s the last time that happened), or b) he won’t be on the card at all.
Option b sounds more realistic, what with Josh Barnett saying he won’t fight Fedor in January and Fedor feeling his annual New Year’s Eve itch coming on. But on that subject, Atencio is uncharacteristically forthcoming.
Sports
We have a solid relationship with Fedor. We have extended our deal with Fedor. He and M-1 global are 110% our partners. The rumors are that he is fighting in Japan on New Year’s Eve but I can crush and squash those rumors right and tell you he is not fighting on New Year’s Eve.
Notice how he stops short of saying that Fedor is fighting for him in January. Which would be the next logical step. Looks like all we know right now is that FEDOR WILL RETURN! I saw it on TV, so it must be true.
Oh, and Atencio also wrote the Gegard Mousasi vs. Vitor Belfort report off as a rumor. What’s funny is Mousasi is the one who first spouted off at the mouth about that. According to Atencio, they’ve never even discussed a contract to fight for Affliction. That just figures.
