"Affliction Banned" Event Now Official: Main Event To Feature Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia

Many people thought that this event would never take place. It seemed as though many problems were dogging the event - there were issues with the venue (the event was rumored to take place in Dallas, Texas but it eventually ended up in Anaheim, California); there were issues with the PPV rights, and there were rumored issues with the amounts of money that were being paid to certain fighters. In the end though, everything came together and "Affliction Banned" will take place on July 19th, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Affliction is a men's fashion label, and they will be putting on this event with the help of M-1 and Roy Englebrecht Events. They pulled off a major coup by landing the services of Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko, arguably the best heavyweight fighter in the world.

Emelianenko will be taking on Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia in the main event of the card. Sylvia recently defected from the UFC, and a win over Fedor would be a huge boost to his reputation and earning potential going forward.

Fedor currently has a record of 27-1-0, with 6 of his victories coming via knockout and 14 coming via submission. Fedor's last fight was an unimpressive first round submission victory against Hong Man Choi on New Year's Eve. Some have been questioning Fedor's choice of opponent recently, with many saying that his last legitimate opponent was Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, whom he fought in August of 2005. Many feel that an impressive victory over Sylvia would lead to renewed negotiations with the UFC.

Sylvia is currently 24-4-0, with sixteen of his victories coming via knockout. He recently parted ways with the UFC on less than favorable terms, and will be looking to move into the upper echelon of top MMA heavyweight fighters. A victory against Fedor would certainly do that.

Here is how the undercard for the event currently looks:

Josh Burnett (21-5) vs Pedro "The Rock" Rizzo (16-7)

Mike Whitehead (20-5) vs Renato "Babalu" Sobral (29-7)

Matt "The Law" Lindland (20-5) vs Fabio "Negao" Nascimento (8-3)

"Big" Ben Rothwell (29-5) vs TBA

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