Affliction has been making some headlines in recent months with its potential entry into the North American mixed martial arts market and becoming a possible power player in the industry. We’ve heard huge rumors surrounding an event taking place at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas on July 19th, and the announcement of Tim Sylvia vs. Fedor Emelianenko to headline such an event. Unfortunately, those rumors were exactly that… rumors, and the announcements regarding the event’s card are up in the air now.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com revealed that the deal between HDNet and Affliction had fallen through, and the booking of the American Airlines Arena did not happen. Affliction is looking to other venues, but it looks like this may be only the beginning to the snags that will begin surfacing as we lurch closer to July.

My current thoughts on Affliction are very similar to the thoughts I had about Golden Boy Promotions trying their hand at the MMA market. Why move into a market that simply doesn’t have the talent outside the UFC to fuel an entire promotion for years to come? Why spend extraordinary dollars to fund events that could potentially be flops?

Fedor was the subject of unconfirmed rumors that he may be receiving over $2 million to fight Tim Sylvia while “The Maine-iac” was reportedly going to produce a $300,000-800,000 salary, and sources at MMAPayout.com have the estimated salary number ballooning to $5-6 million dollars. With numbers that astronomical when compared to even the UFC’s payroll per event, can Affliction last more than one event?

No, they can’t and won’t be in the business of promoting mixed martial arts very long with those types of numbers. Golden Boy Promotions was smart to back out of their partnership. The simple fact of the matter is that MMA right now is ruled by the UFC in the North American market.

Most of the talent is still in the UFC, and Affliction cannot blow huge dollars to produce such a big event in hopes that it will carry them to the promise land. It’s unfortunate that companies and entrepreneurs won’t be able to move into the business in the upcoming years until something different happens, but it’s much better than wasting money that could be better used down the road for something bigger.

The way I see it, Affliction got ahead of themselves here. Guaranteeing such large sums of money to fighters was a mistake from the beginning, and it is clear that the promotion either has some bad business sense or has something up their sleeve. Nonetheless, the MMA market is too volatile right now to throw $5-6 million into the fight salaries alone. Just give it up, Affliction. Save yourself the embarrassment.

MMA Weekly is confirming that Fedor Emelianenko will take on former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in matchup between two top five heavyweights on July 19th of this year. Previous rumors that have been leaked out suggest the bout will take place in Dallas, Texas at American Airlines Arena with HDNet providing the broadcast and Affliction footing the bill. Details aside, this matchup will be the first to prove if Fedor Emelianenko still has the tenacity and skills we've seen in the past, and it will put him well on his way to proving to the fanbase that he is in fact deserving of being the greatest.

This is a bout that has taken years to happen and has been years in the making. In the days when PRIDE reigned supreme and feud between which promotion's fighters were better, Tim Sylvia vs. Fedor Emelianenko was a dream matchup that fans very much wanted to see happen. Rumors surfaced that Fedor had ducked Sylvia, and Sylvia had ducked Fedor, but both rumors didn't have much weight behind them. Sylvia was bound by the UFC's contracts, and Liddell was chosen to head to Japan for the Grand Prix to take on Wanderlei Silva. Of course, we all know that the matchup between Liddell and Silva didn't happen, and the rumor surfaced that Sylvia was ducking Fedor. The fact is that the matchup just wasn't available in those days, and now we'll finally get to see the showdown.

The difference between then and now is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Randy Couture. During Fedor's PRIDE reign, it wasn't inconceivable to believe that Sylvia had a great shot at defeating Fedor with his huge size. Today, many fans still believe he can simply stand and pepper Fedor to a victory. Nogueira submitted Sylvia with nice transitions, and Couture rocked Sylvia with an overhand that helped him neutralize Sylvia for the rest of the bout. Both fights made Sylvia seem vulnerable, a much different perception than the previous years he had.

How should this fight play out today? Fedor remains an explosive fighter with the best transitional MMA skills that we've ever seen. He's good to great in nearly all areas of the game, and his ability to reverse his fortunes in the middle of a fight is a testament to his survivability and diversity in his skillset. In my opinion, Sylvia is outmatched decisively in this matchup.

Sylvia has a non-existent ground game to finish a fight, and his only real advantage on the ground is his length. Length has been something that Fedor Emelianenko has never had problems attacking. His size likely won't stop Fedor from taking him down, and the only opponent that Fedor had problems taking down was the real life Goliath in Hong Man Choi. Fedor has explosively put bigger opponents to the ground with ease, and Sylvia will likely be no different.

The only advantage that appears to be valid is Sylvia's standup skills. While he does have crisp strikes that don't loop like many heavy handed heavyweights, will he be able to put Fedor out with a few? Not before he gets put to the floor. While I think this is a great matchup for Fedor and Sylvia, Fedor should prevail easily. One-dimensional fighters such as Sylvia are a beast of the past. Nonetheless, get ready for a showdown in the deep South.

Above is the bout between K-1 World Champion striker Semmy Schilt and Fedor Emelianenko. Schilt is a better striker than Sylvia by far, yet has no ground game. He shows some impressive submission defense, but gets crushed throughout the fight by Fedor's superior ground tactics. This could very well be what could happen. The only major flaw here is that this fight took place in Fedor's first PRIDE battle, and he's probably much better nowadays against seemingly the same type of fighter as Schilt.

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.