TORONTO,
ON – June 21, 2008… The Fight Network’s
President and CEO George Burger announced today that it has secured the
exclusive rights to air the live star-studded, one-hour undercard for July 19th’s
Affliction Banned
Pay-Per-View event on its Network.
Mr. Burger made the announcement at
a packed news conference at Toronto’s MMA Expo, alongside Tom Atencio,
Affliction’s Vice President; Fight Network Senior Vice President,
Strategy and founder Mike Garrow; and two MMA superstars: Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovksi and “Big” Ben Rothwell who will face each
other on Pay-Per-View.
“This is a stellar card,
arguably the best collection of heavyweights under one roof in the history of MMA.
The Fight Network is excited to be working side by side with Affliction in
taking the launch of this promotion worldwide,” said Mr. Burger.
“Not only are we showing the undercard live and exclusively on our
Network, a great lead-in to the Pay-Per-View event, but we are also
distributing the Pay-Per-View in Canada,
Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.”
The 60-minute broadcast on the Fight Network will air
in Canada
at 8 pm ET/ 5 pm PT, and is expected to feature at least two of the five scheduled
preliminary bouts, including a heavyweight clash between former UFC heavyweight
title challenger Paul Buentello and Aleksander Emelianenko. The pay-per-view
broadcast will follow starting at 9 pm ET.
“With this card, Affliction
vaults into the front ranks of what is the fastest growing sport in the
world,” said Mr. Atencio. “We have a long relationship with
The Fight Network and are pleased to share this momentous event with
them.”
Affliction
Banned is the monster
mixed-martial-arts promotion presented by Affliction, the premier fashion label
for men who love hard rock and fast living, in association with Roy Englebrecht
Events. Earlier this month, Donald Trump announced his involvement and
partnership with the promotion. The
main event features the return of Russian combat fighting icon Fedor ”The Last Emperor” Emelianenko against former
two-time UFC® heavyweight title-holder Tim “The Maine-iac”
Sylvia at the Honda Center in
Anaheim, California.
Mr. Burger also announced that The Fight
Network’s on-air MMA experts Mauro Ranallo and legendary MMA pioneer and
Fight Network analyst “Big” John McCarthy
will be calling the action for this worldwide event.
Along with the Emelianenko-Sylvia match-up, former
UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett will take on Pedro Rizzo in a rematch of
their February 2001 bout, Team Quest founder Matt Lindland will return to
action against Fabio “Negao” Nascimento, and UFC veterans Renato
“Babalu” Sobral and Mike Whitehead will collide as well.
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