I interview Tim Starks to talk about Vernon Forrest’s career. As a bonus, if you listen all the way to the end, I add the second part of our conversation which focused on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight, which also goes head to head with UFC 103.

Then Big D and I talk Affliction, take Twitter questions from the listeners, welcome JP who calls in to talk Fedor, and finish off with talk about SummerSlam.

The show is Twitter interactive, so follow us on Twitter @fightgameblog. You can also follow Big D @EmperorBigD, and Stevie J (who hosts this podcast) @Angrymarks.

Thanks to Stevie J for letting us be a part of his Angrymarks podcasting network. Please visit Angrymarks for all the news in pro wrestling and MMA.

Listen to the show below.

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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.

According to this Yahoo/MMA Weekly story, the show has been canceled.

We’ll update this story if there’s more to it.

Update: 5:15 PM

It looks like Affliction, the MMA company is done.

Kevin Iole from Yahoo! Sports reported that Affliction is no more.

The company and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are expected to release a statement sometime on Friday in which it is announced that Affliction will cease operations as a promoter and that its clothing division will become a UFC sponsor.

We are back at square one.

We are heavy on the latest topics with emphasis on opinions. Please let us know what you think. It will help me make the decision on whether to go on a regular schedule or not.

Also, we want to make it Twitter interactive, so follow us on Twitter @fightgameblog.

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Today, it looks like those rumors are true.

Here’s what is known so far:

- It’s related to Barnett trying to renew his license in California.

- The California State Athletic Commission is supposed to make a report on exactly what happened today.

- The top three replacements are supposedly Brett Rogers, Bobby Lashley, and Vitor Belfort (who is scheduled to fight Jorge Santiago on the same show at 185). It looks like Lashley may have already pulled himself out of the running. And Rogers is under contract to Strikeforce so something would have to be worked out.

We will definitely know more later today and I will update this post when we find out.

Update: 2:45 PM Pacific

According to a press release from the CSAC, Josh Barnett failed for steroids. Here’s part of the press release below:

Barnett’s June 25 drug test came back positive for 2a-methyl-5a-androstan-3a-ol-17-one, an anabolic steroid. CSAC learned of the results July 21 and immediately denied a license for Barnett. CSAC also informed the promoter of Barnett’s August 1 bout against Fedor Emelianenko that the bout would not be approved.

2a-methyl-5a-androstan-3a-ol-17-one is Clostebol according to Bloodyelbow.com.

Update: 7/23/09 2:10 PM Pacific

Dave Meltzer says what Barnett failed for was Masteron, a steroid used for athletes cutting to get into a lower weight class and attempting to maintain as much strength as possible such as bodybuilders, powerlifters, and MMA fighters.

He also says in today’s F4W/Wrestling Observer update that it’s either going to be Brett Rogers or Vitor Belfort and Rogers’ wants it bad even though he hasn’t been training.

Lastly, he also posted this:

California announced Josh Barnett was not going to be suspended, he was just being denied a license to fight. That’s a key issue because not being on the suspended list would allow him to fight as long as another state would license him, and there would be no reason not to except if they asked him to test beforehand (which many states would) and he were to fail that test as well.

So, if Barnett wants to fight in the US, he can as long as another state would license him and he wouldn’t fail the test to get that license.

Ortiz had been telling the media that he was negotiating with other MMA groups such as Affliction and Strikeforce, going so far as to say that fighting for Strikeforce was a guarantee. Now it looks like we will probably see Ortiz on a UFC PPV before the end of 2009.

Tito and Dana have had a less-than-friendly relationship with each other, often publicly insulting each other but almost always making up. This “feud” was highlighted on an often-forgotten Spike TV UFC special called “Tito Ortiz vs. Dana White: Bad Blood”, where a special exhibition boxing fight was built up for the duration of the special, telling the story of how the feud started, why they hated each other so much, and Dana’s preparation to fight a former world champion. As for the actual fight – Tito no-showed. It was a lose-lose situation for him.

This however, is a win-win for the UFC, Tito, AND the fans. It’s just another major star UFC can add to their roster. Question is, who will Tito fight in his return? The 205 lb division is STACKED with talent, but I guess this will be a wait and see type situation.

Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio refused to offer Arlovski a contract renewal after his two-fight deal with Fedor expired. Arlovski was knocked out by Fedor in the first round at Affliction’s second Pay Per View event in January. Since then, Arlovski has gone on to get massacred in 22 seconds by heavyweight upstart Brett Rodgers at the June 6th Strikeforce show from St. Louis.

We can’t confirm this, but one can assume that after suffering two first round knockouts back to back and not looking anywhere near being formidable since 2005, Atencio probably assumed Arlovski’s power as a drawing card and serious contender was rapidly dying out.

What does the future hold for Arlovski? Well the Russian has stated a few times that he wants to get into pro boxing, but with a jaw that is apparently as soft as feathers, he’ll probably get owned even by a lower level fighter. Arlovski made over 2 million dollars in his two fights with Affliction and that is plenty of money. Maybe he can be an accountant.

This is from PRIDE/WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko’s appearance on Sports Science. A huge plethora of stars from MMA including Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson, and Bas Rutton have appeared on the program. The studies found here are amazing and make you truly appreciate how frightening these folks are.

Who do you think is the top P4P fighter in the world? Last year, we discussed whether or not Anderson Silva or Fedor Emelianenko was the top fighter. Now, GSP’s name must be in the argument.

Vote in the poll in the upper right hand corner. Is it still Fedor? Is it Silva? Is it now GSP?

Affliction: Day Of Reckoning

Big D

Show overall rating: Thumbs In The Middle

Best Fight: Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel
Worst Fight: None

I’m not sure if anybody really bought this any more than any big TNA show, but entertainment-wise, Affliction: Day of Reckoning really wasn’t a bad show. The big story coming out of the show was the near-fatal knockout of one Matt Lindland by Vitor Belfort. A lot of people are saying “the old Vitor is back” and I disagree. The supposed “old Vitor” comes back every couple of months, then he ends up reverting to the hit or miss status that we’re accustomed to.

Barnett vs. Yvel, while it wasn’t the most technical of the two fights, really was entertaining. Barnett had some troubles finishing Yvel. I completely underestimated the toughness of Yvel. Barnett kept at it and actually looked *gulp* in shape.

The main event was quite the spectacle. Arlovski entered the ring like he was about to yell “SPARTAAAAA” and Fedor, as usual, was cold and lifeless. Arlovski’s new boxing techniques and handspeed were working quite well for him to start. I could clearly see he wasn’t really afraid of Fedor and was actually winning the fight on points. Then he gets Fedor to a corner and goes for a flying knee (which according to big Dave Meltzer, his corner told him not to do, but he didn’t listen) and gets caught with the shortest right hand in the history of God’s green Earth. The shortest right hand may have also been the most powerful, as it dropped Andrei out cold. This was the most unbelievable thing I had seen in quite some time. Fedor waited for Andrei to make a mistake, he made it, and capitalized. It may be damn-near impossible to find a fighter THIS good at Heavyweight perhaps ever.

Overall, if you ordered the show, you got something good, if you didn’t… eh… you didn’t miss enough to make you go “dammit… I wish I’d seen that”.

Alan

Show overall rating: Thumbs Up

Best Fight: Andrei Arlovski vs. Fedor Emelianenko
Worst Fight: Paul Buentello vs. Kiril Sidelnikov

Eh, it was alright. No BAD fights, but nothing exceptional. There’s just something so slimey about that company that I can’t get into their shows.

Duan

Show overall rating: Thumbs In The Middle (leaning down)

Best Fight: Andrei Arlovski vs. Fedor Emelianenko
Worst Fight: Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel

Considering the amount of money Affliction blew on this show, it really should have been a hell of a lot better than it was. Their presentation of the product is horrible. It just comes across as such a minor league promotion. The new commentary team was no better than the old one, and the interview segments were awful. The quality of fights was passable, but you would see just as good (if not better) action from any of the smaller MMA promotions.

This event aired for free on the Bravo network here. It was perfectly fine in that context, but i would have been very disappointed if i had bought this on pay per view.

Cactus Jim

Show overall rating: Thumbs In The Middle

Best Fight: Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Worst Fight: Dan Lauzon vs. Josh Green

Decent fights, but horrible production and the announcing and interviewing teams have got to go. Chuck Zito? Really? I thought it (Babalu vs. Sokoudjou) was a competitive fight and had some good moments. A sloppy fight all around (Lauzon vs. Green). Green had balls taking the fight on less than 2 days notice, but it was clear the guy who claims to have over 100 street fights didn’t have much beyond his street fighting skills. Charles Bennett made a bit of a career out of it. Maybe this guy can too.

WEC 38

Alan

Show overall rating: Thumbs Up

Best Fight: Jose Aldo vs. Rolando Perez
Worst Fight: None

Fun fun show. First two fights had some crazy action and the main
event was a war of a trition. Jose Aldo is a STAR!

Cactus Jim

Show overall rating: Thumbs Up

Best Fight: Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner
Worst Fight: Jens Pulver vs. Urijah Faber

Free! And the fights were well matched. Good back and forth battle (Cerrone vs. Varner) with both guys showing good skills on their feet and on the ground. The pace of this fight never slowed. The way the fight ended was anti-climatic, but up to that point it was very exciting. This was a very one sided fight (Pulver vs. Faber) that probably was a career killer for Jens. I think that makes 5 losses in 6 fights for him, if I’m not mistaken, having beaten only Cub Swanson in his WEC debut. The fight itself was fast paced, but so was everything else on the Versus televised card and those fights seemed to be more even match-ups than this one.

GG

Show overall rating: Thumbs Up

Best Fight: Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner
Worst Fight: None

This was one of those shows that went by really quickly and you didn’t feel as you wasted any time watching it. I really enjoy the two hour MMA time block. I can spend two hours watching a fast paced show. With some of the longer UFC Fight Night shows, you enjoy yourself, but they’re just so long that you almost wish you could pause it in the middle, do something, and come back and watch the rest. You need a break.

Varner vs. Cerrone was very good. Both of those guys were just going without stopping. Cerrone looked like a beaten man because of the cut over his eye, but at no point did I really think he was going to be finished. Varner was just ahead of him by a slim margin in every round and I’m not sure Cerrone won more than one round (at least as far as I was scoring). But still, it was a very good fight. Jose Aldo looks like he’s going to be a star for the promotion. The only thing I truly didn’t like was watching Jens Pulver fight when it didn’t seem like his mind was completely there. Justin Eilers was one of his best friends and you could tell that Pulver wished they could’ve delayed the fight. Fighting only one month after the loss of his friend was probably really tough. But at least Faber looked like a monster again. Kudos to WEC for another solid show.