Will Affliction’s next big fight feature Randy Couture against Fedor? BY GEORGE WILLIS
MAY 24–Those assuming Affliction’s entry as a mixed martial arts promoter means a match between former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture and Russian superstar Fedor Emelianenko is imminent should slow your roll.
Couture still has to straighten out his legal issues with the UFC before negotiations can even begin. Unhappy over pay and treatment, Couture resigned from the UFC on October 11, 2007, and believes his promotional contract will expire in July. But the UFC contends it owns the promotional rights to Couture’s next two fights. The case is slowly working its way through the court system.
“Until Randy gets cleared and until he finalizes all his problems it’s not even something I’m even going to consider,” said Tom Atencio, vice president of Affliction.
Atencio has his hands full preparing for Affliction’s promotional debut on July 19 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The pay-per-view card will be headlined by Fedor fighting former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia. Also on the stacked card is former UFC heavyweight champ Josh Barnett facing Brazilian Pedro Rizzo; Mike Whitehead against Renato “Babalu” Sobral; and Matt Lindland against Fabio “Negao” Nascimento. “Big” Ben Rothwell will fight an opponent to be determined.
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and the Honda Center. The pay-per-view will cost $39.95.
Affliction’s entry has raised eyebrows around the MMA with reports Fedor is earning $1.5 million for the bout and Sylvia $800,000. The card is said to be costing nearly $6 million in purses. Atencio wouldn’t comment on the purse rumors other than to say, “Some of it’s true. Some of it’s not.”
If Affliction can succeed it will offer another organization for fighters like Couture, who been disgruntled with the UFC. A Couture-Fedor match might be the most anticipated in MMA history.
“That’s the fight that everybody wants to see,” Atencio said. “And that’s the fight Randy wants. Whether we do that or somebody else does, I think it will happen.”
POWELL-QUILLEN ON ESPN2
Sechew Powell and Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin will headline a ESPN2 Wednesday Night Fights card on June 11 at the Hard Rock Café on Times Square. Powell (23-1, 14 KOs) takes on Deandre Latimore (18-1, 15 KOs) of St. Louis in a 10-round junior middleweight bout, while Quillin (18-0, 14 KOs) battles Dionisio Miranda (18-2-2, 17 KOs) of Columbia in a 10-round middleweight contest. Only 500 tickets are available at Seminole Warriors Boxing (954) 985-1155 or Gotham Boxing at (212) 755-1944 and are priced at $300, which includes food and soft drinks.
MO’MONEY MAYWEATHER
The WWE reports WrestleMania XXIV generated approximately 1.1 million pay-per-view buys, amounting to $23.8 million in PPV revenue. Add that to the 2.4 million pay-per-view buys Floyd Mayweather generated in his fight with Oscar De la Hoya and the 800,000 for Ricky Hatton and Money Mayweather has generated 4.3 million PPV buys the last three times he has stepped into the ring. The WrestleMania XXIV DVD was released last week.
KIMBO’S A COVER BOY
The build-up for Saturday’s EliteXC show at the Prudential Center begins in earnest this week. It will be the first prime-time broadcast of a multi-fight deal with CBS. Kimbo Slice, who fights in the main event, is on the cover of ESPN The Magazine.
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