Reports from yesterday revealed that Affliction was possibly behind the rumored deal that would bring former UFC heavyweight Tim Sylvia and PRIDE Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko together at the American Airlines Arena on July 19th. Affliction is a well known brand of MMA clothing that produces street clothes than litter most MMA broadcasts. Now, it looks as if the clothing brand will make its way into the actual business of creating MMA events.

Unfortunately, this could be their very last. Adam Swift at MMAPayout.com reported some unconfirmed rumors regarding Affliction’s role in the matchup:

MMAPayout.com has received multiple unconfirmed reports of an offer worth slightly more than $2 million per fight from Affliction to Emelianenko. Sylvia is under contract to Adrenaline, the successor to M-1 Global which dissolved last month after parting ways with Fedor.

Interestingly enough, the event will mix in three different promotions. Affliction and M-1 Global will co-promote with each other on this event while HDNet Fights will indirectly have a connection due to the use of American Airlines Arena, a television deal on HDNet, and of course the connection between the actual fight promotion and HDNet itself.

There is one glaring problem that can be seen by nearly any fan reading that quote. If this rumor ends up being true, how can Affliction blow over $2 million dollars on one fighter on the card? Sylvia alone was reported to grab nearly $300,000 per fight from Adrenaline, but that number may be only for Adrenaline MMA cards only. Regardless, Sylvia will get a substantial amount of money, not to mention the undercard fighters that will also get paid.

Unless by some miracle that Mark Cuban has a brain fart at the day of negotiations and somehow gives Affliction huge money to televise the fights, I don’t see how Affliction can possibly make a profit on this event. Sylvia is not a drawing power and neither is Fedor. HDNet isn’t available in every home, and it’s a subscription service that some people are simply not going to pay for just to see one fight.

Affliction must know something we don’t because it seems completely illogical from our standpoint as observers to believe that they could make a profit from this show. Their intention could be to come out with a bang to produce hype around the new promotion, but I think they are underestimating the amount of losses that they could see.

I guess we’ll find out in the coming months what Affliction has up their sleeves. It should be interesting to see if these rumors are true.

Tim Sylvia wants to fight Fedor Emelianenko, but then again, what heavyweight in the top 10 hasn't said that in the last year? According to a recent article by Damon Martin of MMAWeekly.com, Tim Sylvia wanted to leave the UFC in order to fight the best heavyweights outside of the promotion that he would otherwise never be able to face in the Octagon. Specifically, he mentioned Fedor Emelianenko, but he stated that he would like to fight six to seven times next year:

“I’ve come to a crossroads in my career where I’ve fought all the best guys in the UFC. There’s a handful of guys outside the UFC that I really want to fight and I don’t think the UFC’s going to get some of them. Some of them are a little too high priced for the UFC to get. So I just think this is the best avenue for me right now.”

With multiple promotions in the United States including EliteXC, Strikeforce, the as yet unannounced Affliction/Golden Boy Promotion team and several more in Japan, Sylvia said he intends on fighting “six or seven” times next year.

The interesting part about all of this is that Monte Cox worked a deal with the UFC to allow Sylvia to be released from his contract. Sylvia apparently left on good terms and plans to make a move back to the UFC down the road in two to three years:

“We’ve been approached for a while about different organizations and stuff like that, and we were with the UFC,” Sylvia said on MMAWeekly Radio on Monday night. “Now, you know I had one fight left and just some great offers are coming in, and Monte’s like ‘hey, let me talk to Dana and see if maybe they’ll release you and see if we can go out there for a year or two and make some really good money.’

“So the UFC knew the offer and they said they would allow me to be released and that’s what they did. And Monte (Cox) obviously took the advantage that he has and signed me as soon as he could.”

It looks like a great deal for Sylvia, but I'd love to know who is offering such big money for a fighter who has disappointedly left us wanting more in each of his last few fights. Furthermore, how many fighters outside the UFC can provide able challenges and have Tim still fight six to seven times in a year? According to the quote, Sylvia stands to make some big money, so we'll definitely see if Tim can bring home the big bucks.

As for a matchup with Fedor, I don't think it will be happening anytime soon. Fedor is rumored to be asking for nearly $2 million dollars per fight according to MMAJunkie.com. At that fanatical rate, there isn't a promotion out there that will want to try to grab Fedor, an unproven PPV draw. Sylvia has other options though. Barnett, Aleksander Emelianenko, any of EliteXC's talent including Ricco Rodriguez or Antonio Silva, the list goes on. It should be interesting to see who his first matchup will be against.

Most of the MMA blogosphere and mainstream sites received emails yesterday from M-1 Global's Brian Patton regarding the recent shift of M-1 Global's American division to a new name. M-1 Global will now be known as Adrenaline MMA, and it also released a press release on two big name heavyweight signings:

Sylvia and Ben Rothwell have signed multi-fight contracts with the
newly-formed promotion.

Sylvia (24-4) is a former 2-time UFC heavyweight champion, while Rothwell
(31-5) was undefeated in the IFL for the champion Quad Cities Silverbacks.

Sylvia, 6-foot-8 and 265 pounds, has fought 13 times in the UFC and
defeated top performers like Jeff Monson, Andre Arlovski (twice), Brandon
Vera, Ricco Rodriguez and Assuerio Silva.

"Adrenaline is a new promotion, but it allows fighters to fight for other
organizations... that's huge," Sylvia said. "I've got 3 to 4 years left
and want to fight as much as possible, so this is the perfect choice for
me at this time."

Rothwell, 6-5 and 265, has won 13 straight bouts, including all 9 of his
IFL fights.

"Adrenaline will give me the chance to take things to the next level,"
Rothwell said. "I'm ready to see how I fare against the best heavyweights
in the world."

Sylvia and Rothwell both train at Miletich Fighting Systems in Bettendorf,
Iowa.

The big question here is whether or not Tim will actually have some upside in this small-time promotion. According to Monte Cox, the new promotion won't be the size of EliteXC or UFC, but it may reach a size equivalent to WEC. It'll also begin moving into larger midwestern markets with their first show possibly being in Chicago. With such a big market in Chicago, Adrenaline could start out with some profit on a small scale.

For Sylvia and Rothwell, this could potentially be a good deal for them if they manage to get bouts in other promotions that have some legitimate fighters. EliteXC is definitely going to be pursuing a way to grab the recognizable name in Sylvia for their CBS shows. Signing with a promotion that has non-exclusive clauses could work out great for Sylvia, but there still remains two huge problems.

Sylvia's reputation as a boring fighter that simply uses his size to win is renowned to UFC fans everywhere. He's booed in nearly every single performance he has even though he wins. Can this change? The consensus is that it's possible that Sylvia's style could pick up a step if he fights non-UFC competition in other promotions. Sylvia vs. Antonio Silva or Ricco Rodriguez could be exciting? I'm not exactly convinced, but if Sylvia doesn't do something to liven up his game, his UFC departure could spell disaster for his career down the road. Then again, Sylvia says he only has a few years left in his career, so maybe he can go out with a substantial amount of cash in his pocket before it is all said and done.