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01/07/2009 Archived Entry: "Affliction Day of Reckoning to feature Northwest Fighters"
Affliction Day of Reckoning to feature Northwest Fighters
By Jack R. Dunn
At a conference call earlier today Matt Lindland, Oregon City native and 2000 Olympic Wrestling Silver Medalist and Josh Barnett, formerly of Seattle, and a Former UFC® Heavyweight Champ came together to talk about their upcoming fights at the Affliction Day of Reckoning Pay-Per-View broadcast on January 24th. They were joined by Tom Atencio, Vice President, Affliction Entertainment Group. Donald Trump Jr. was also supposed to participate, but was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict. Michael Cohen of Trump Entertainment represented trump instead.
The upcoming show will feature some of MMA's best including Fedor Emelianenko, who is widely considered the best heavyweight in the world vs. Andrei Arlovski, a former UFC heavyweight champion. Lindland will be fighting Vitor Belfort, a tough Brazilian who built his reputation fighting the MMA circuits in Japan. While Barnett will face Gilbert Yvel of Amsterdam.
When asked about his opponent, Lindland said, "I'm facing one of the toughest guys I've ever faced. Vitor is a phenomenal fighter with super athleticism and I'm looking forward to a great fight with him." Lindland ran for Oregon State Legislature in the last election as a Republican, and lost by a two-point margin. When asked if he planned to continue his ambitions in politics, he said no, and that all of his focus was on fighting and his next fight.
Heavyweight Josh Barnett, a close friend of Fedor Emelianenko, may be next to fight the heavyweight champion. The winner of Barnett vs. Yvel is expected to fight the winner of Emelianenko vs. Arlovski in the near future, according to Atencio. Barnett was asked if he was recognized in his hometown since he's been fighting.
"Seattle ain't really an MMA town," said Barnett, "...That's why I moved to Orange County." He went on to point out that even though MMA has yet to gain a foothold in Seattle, the Northwest has still been a source of world champion MMA fighters such as former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Coture, who is a Washington native.
There is some controversy around Yvel; the Dane has not yet been licensed to fight by the California Athletic Commission. He also has something of a reputation for fighting dirty. In his last fight he was penalized for eye gouging. Asked what he would do in response to fouling, Barnett said it depends on the level of the offense. "If I think somebody took a cheap shot at me with a low blow, I'll probably just suck it up and just put them away, and just put a little extra stink on it. I somebody tries to bite one of my fingers off or gouge my eyes, then I'll probably lose my cool, and try to maim them for life."
Day of Reckoning will be Affliction's second major event, and was originally scheduled for October. According to Cohen, the event was rescheduled to January 24th because it would not have lived up to the level of entertainment Affliction is hoping to promote.
"Would it have been a good event? Yes. Would it have been a great event? No." Said, Cohen. The first Affliction show included musical performances by Megadeth, but this time around Affliction plans to stick just to fighting. "As a business choice we decided not to have the music again, it's a little costly," said Atencio.
Affliction Day of Reckoning is scheduled to include eleven bouts with Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski as the main event. The six-fight PPV telecast will begin at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT will feature Josh Barnett, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Chris Horodecki and Matt Lindland in separate bouts. In advance of the PPV show, HDNet will telecast live from 7:30-9 p.m. ET/4:30-6 p.m. PT five additional fights including Antonio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko as the HDNet main event.
