(Photo:Sherdog.com)

The waiting game seems to continue for Andrei Arlovski and the UFC.  The former Heavyweight Champion who is in free agent status has taken a little break following his recent defeat of Jake O’Brien , who was since released by the UFC.
Arlovski who is sitting on a 3 fight win streak should be marketed as one of the premier Heavyweights in the UFC, but instead his position is a clear reminder of the business side of the sport.  In a division that is arguably the weakest in the organization, the UFC could have been hyping up Arlovski following the departure of Couture, but they didn’t .
Rumours are that the two sides can’t come to an agreement on money and Arlovski is likely looking to increase his per fight take.  The UFC left Arlovski for almost a year before scheduling the fight against O’Brien which was the final fight on Arlovski’s contract.  The widely reported preference for the organization is to have fighters locked into a contract or ready for release prior to that last fight.  It gives additional leverage to the organization so that they don’t get caught bargaining with a recent winner or get played between organizations in a highest bidder scenario.
In this case, Arlovski seems to be able to weather the storm and he will either be returning to the UFC with a handsome contract or he will soon be moving on to other opportunities.  The one opportunity that is repeatedly mentioned is the upcoming Affliction event scheduled for July 19th.  Adrenaline MMA fighter and confirmed Affliction event participant, Ben Rothwell is currently reported to be facing the elusive TBA… although the rumor mill says that TBA = Andrei Arlovski.

It would be a smart move for Affliction, to round out their Heavyweight focused event  by picking disgruntled talent from the UFC.  With the massive growth of MMA in recent years, the market is primed for competition and if Andrei Arlovski is dead set on a big payday… he will get it . At least in the short term.  The Rothwell fight is a legitimate one with both fighters representing the upper echelon of Heavyweight MMA competitors today.  Arlovski is playing his cards relatively close to his chest, so the exact issues in the contract negotiation are not well known yet.   If they do come to terms, it will be a case of I’m  happy with the deal and looking to the UFC only, etc.
If the deal isn’t done, Affliction will likely be throwing around numbers that are too good for Arlovski to resist.  If he isn’t under contract with the UFC and they aren’t scrambling to retain his services, is there really a reason for the Pit-Bull to show loyalty to the UFC?  You can almost hear the clock ticking…

(Image: AfflictionClothing.com)

Former UFC mega sponsor Affliction Clothing   has confirmed the long rumored extension of it’s interests to include MMA fight promotion.  The company who ended up in the UFC bad books for a number of reasons has announced that their inaugural July 19th event will be named “Banned”, no doubt in homage to their sour relationship with Zuffa and the UFC.  UFC management (Dana White) advise that they distanced themselves from Affliction due to promotion and marketing by the company that smacked of competitive angling.  Affliction on the other hand, claim that the issue was more about the UFC and Affliction sponsored fighter Randy Couture than anything else and that they were more or less caught in the crossfire. 

In a SI.com article on the finalization of the event, reports are that the venue has recently been moved from Dallas to Anaheim and that they are well on their way to firming up plans with the California State Athletic Commission.  The headline bout will be former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Tim Sylvia facing off against Fedor Emelianenko who is widely considered the best Mixed Martial Artist in the world today.

While dusting off Fedor, who last fought for less than 2 minutes in a New Years Eve bout against the 7′ 2″ Hong Man Choi  is a feat in itself these days, the organization isn’t resting solely on that fight to make the card interesting. Rounding out the fight card will be an old school match between Pedro Rizzo and Josh Barnett as well as Renato “Babalu’ Sobral Vs. Mike Whitehead.   Former UFC fighters Mark Hominick, and Justin Levens as well as Mike Pyle are also confirmed to be fighting on the under-card portion of the event.
 
Affliction is a company poised to make a big impact on the MMA scene and clearly targeting a space that is in direct competition with the UFC.  Having locked down the marketing of Gothic and mythical imagery in their clothing lines, if Affliction is able to get any kind of success going in the MMA promotion space, it will without a doubt be looking to market the product side of the organization heavily.  They have a wealth of experience in that space and with a captive audience at the mercy of Affliction, who is arguably at the pinnacle of their success so far, the money making machine will continue to churn, thus enabling the buying of top level fighter contracts… and it goes on and on….
 
Competition is good for the fighters and the fans, but obviously not as good for the UFC, so it will be interesting to see what their next move will be.

 (Photo:UFC.com)

It seemed odd at UFC 83, as GSP came out to a championship fight in front of the largest UFC crowd in history at the first UFC event in Canada, in his hometown no less… that he had no sponsorship on his fight shorts.  It didn’t take long for people to catch on that something was amiss and it appears that the issue was tied to ongoing issues between Affliction, the once welcome fight themed clothing manufacturer and  the UFC. 

Details from the issue were hinted at during the post fight press conference that were posted on a few sites.  When asked about the lack of sponsorship on his shorts  GSP replied,

“…my sponsor paid me to wear shorts without a sponsor… it’s affliction and they are banned now” and Dana laughs and says “He got his plug in!…”

The UFC and in particular Dana White has had issues with Affliction that began with it’s deep rooted association with Randy Couture who is in an ongoing legal dispute with the organization, and hit a peak with a promotional campaign by Affliction, featuring Fedor Emilianenko and Randy Couture that came off as fight promotion to the UFC brass.

  (Photo - M1 main site)

It turns out that the UFC intuition was correct as Affliction is moving into the fight promotion world and is rumoured to be involved with HDNet Fights in a July event featuring a match between Fedor and recent UFC emigrant Tim Sylvia who left the organization to join Adrenaline MMA. There will certainly be more news on the UFC vs Affliction resistance in the future and actions taken will set a precedent for future fighter sponsors that look to promote their brand through the UFC’s elite.  

For a solid rundown on the UFC vs. Affliction history, check out a recent and informative post at MMAPayout.