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  - AFFLICTION NEARING OCT. 11 DATE IN LAS VEGAS
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - by Ken Pishna and Tom Hamlin - MMAWeekly.com
Despite much speculation about a possible Nov. 8 date for the next event from fledgling MMA promotion Affliction, MMAWeekly.com has learned from multiple sources close to the negotiations that the promotion is instead nearing finalization of an Oct. 11 date for its next event.
Perhaps more surprising is the location. If the Oct. 11 date is finalized, the second edition of Affliction will take place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, smack in the backyard of industry juggernaut the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Affliction’s clothing brand was once prominently displayed on fighters entering the UFC Octagon, but once the company ramped up plans for its own mixed martial arts promotion, the relationship between it and the UFC quickly fractured. Fighters in the UFC are no longer allowed to wear the competing brand’s clothing at UFC events.
One source indicated that the move to Oct. 11 was primarily to try and facilitate the participation of the promotion’s cornerstone, Fedor Emelianenko. His manager, Vadim Finkelstein, stated prior to the first Affliction event on the M-1 Mix Fight official website that “Two more fights are planned for Fedor in 2008. The first one in October in the context of the next Affliction show in conjunction with M-1 Global, and the second one at New Year’s Eve in Japan.”
When contacted by MMAWeekly.com for comment, Affliction vice president Tom Atencio said that while he could not confirm an Oct. 11 date in Las Vegas, that he would not rule it out either.
“Obviously the UFC is going to counter-program whatever we do,” said Atencio. Asked if he thinks that the UFC would continue to counter-program Affliction, he continued, “I would think that’s what they would do. They tried to crush us with the first show.”
To counter Affliction’s first event, the UFC, in five weeks, put together a UFC Fight Night event that aired live on basic cable network Spike TV. The main event featured UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s light heavyweight debut against James Irvin.
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