UFC Gobbles Up 20 Affliction Contracts Plus MORE
UFC is set to make what they considered a HUGE announcement this Friday. The speculation and rumors about Fedor Emelianenko‘s signing and battling with Brock Lesnar are climaxing more and more. Dave Meltzer says they have bigger fish to fry, but what? What could possibly be bigger than that?
Well we’ve learned that UFC has actually picked up 20 contracts from Affliction MMA, as part of an absorbtion deal. We are not sure of who exactly is signed, but I can definitely tell you UFC President Dana White has had interest in bringing back Vitor Belfort as well as a handful of others.
InsideFights.com reports the following:
We have no word on which contracts have been picked up, but they would appear to be lower-tier fighters. Gegard Mousasi and Renato Sobral are scheduled for a bout at the Strikeforce show on Aug. 15, so we can rule them out as potential pickups. Jay Hieron will allegedly face Nick Diaz for the Strikeforce welterweight title (although we’ve heard conflicting reports today on whether or not Hieron has actually signed the deal at this point), so he can be ruled out as well.
You can read the full article by clicking here.
We now await Friday…
P.S. – I will be doing my critically acclaimed Superfriends Podcast tonight at 10PM where we will preview the forthcoming UFC 101: Declaration PPV. You can listen live tonight at 10PM here. Parental Discretion is Advised.
Big mistake not getting Mousasi. Won’t mind Sobral not being around.
But signing Fedor would make everything alright.
Big Ben Rothwell and Chase Gormley are coming to the UFC according to sherdog.com.
That adds some youth and talent to the HW class as well.
It’s not necessarily a big mistake getting Mousasi. I think, if he beats Renato, they’ll go after him. Part of the issue with him is that no one in the US knows him. So they can’t give him the big money he’d be looking for.
Nice job D!
Good points G.G., as always. I was looking at it from a skills point of view rather than a financial view.
He isn’t very marketable yet and couldn’t carry a card. But he has talent.
No, I’m with you. But I think they may want to see what he does with Babalu.
But from everything I’ve heard, Mousasi is the real deal and I hope they do sign him. I wonder if he’d even come to UFC exclusively though. He wouldn’t be able to fight in Japan.
JP thanks for calling into FGB Radio