Closing out one of the biggest news weeks in MMA history–especially one during which there was no UFC event–is the Friday story that Affliction has officially closed the doors on its MMA promotion.
The news was preceded by reports that, in the wake of Josh Barnett’s positive drug test, Affliction had canceled its August 1 event. Barnett was set to headline against Fedor Emelianenko; despite a long list of mixed martial arts fighters asking for the fight (and the rumored $500,000 payday), Affliction opted not to sign a replacement bout and nixed the event.
News later broke that Affliction was to fold its mixed martial arts promotion and, in a new deal with UFC, return to sponsoring Octagon events and fighters with its clothing division.
At press time, no details were available on the future of fighters under contract to Affliction. There had been talk of working out a deal with Strikeforce, but such discussions fell through. The belief is that Strikeforce was unwilling to absorb many of the fighter contracts, which were very lucrative for the competitors (a major reason the Affliction MMA group was suffering such massive financial losses).
UFC could potentially buy the contracts out, although since many were both high-priced and non-exclusive, it is unclear how many UFC would be willing to purchase unaltered.
