It’s On: Fedor Emelianenko v. Tim Sylvia Confirmed
Fedor Emelianenko told Sherdog.com today that he will be facing off against former UFC star Tim Sylvia on July 19:
“[Sylvia] is a good fighter, a strong fighter, the former UFC heavyweight champion, which is important,” Emelianenko said via telephone from Stary Oskol, Russia. “I am looking forward to fighting him and training hard for this fight.”
In more good news for those of us in Dallas, Sherdog is reporting that the bout will headline a card at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. This has lead to speculation about HDNet’s involvement in the fight, with rumors having the bout televised on HDNet and promoted by Affliction.
Those rumors also will most likely add speculation about Golden Boy’s involvement. Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De Loya’s company, was rumored to be starting an MMA promotion with Affliction back in February. Last month, rumors surfaced that the Golden Boy/Affliction partnership had fallen apart.
I’m sure more rumors will surface since Tim Sylvia has signed with the new Adrenaline promotion. They’ll obviously have some part in promoting this fight card. That leads to another question: is Affliction now partnering with Adrenaline? I’d say that’s the likely scenario.
Another thing here: Mark Cuban is smart. It’s possible that he’ll latch on to Adrenaline and Affliction, and try to build a partnership with them to televise all of their cards, whether it’s on HDNet or on PPV. If he combines forces with both of those outfits, his goal of successfully promoting big-time MMA might not be too far off, especially with a Randy Couture-Fedor fight waiting in the wings.
One thing is certain. Despite all the rumors, good things are hapenning for MMA fans here in Dallas.
