“Affliction Banned” Drawing Record Media Interest

It’s only appropriate that the greatest show in mixed-martial-arts history, “Affliction Banned,” has already set an MMA worldwide media interest record for a single event. The star studded pay-per-view, featuring the WAMMA heavyweight championship fight between the most dominating, lethal MMA heavyweight of all-time, Russian M1 legend Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko (27-1), and former UFC® heavyweight champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia (24-4), will be broadcast live July19th from Honda Center in Anaheim, California. More than 250 media credential requests were received heading into today’s deadline, 10 days prior to the event, from numerous foreign countries including Russia, Japan, Korea, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

“Affliction Banned,” presented by Affliction Entertainment in association with Roy Englebrecht Events, is headlined by Fedor vs. Sylvia and powerfully supported by four other incredible bouts: former UFC® heavyweight title-holder Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (12-5) faces IFL® titlist “Big” Ben Rothwell (29-5), Josh “The Baby Faced Assassin” Barnett (21-5) fights stateside for the first time in two years in a grudge match against the only opponent to ever knock him out — Brazilian strongman Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo (16-7); three-time All-American wrestler Mike Whitehead (20-5) battles Brazilian sensation Renato “Babalu” Sobral (29-7); 2000 Olympic Wrestling Silver Medalist and Oregon House of Representative candidate, Matt “The Law” Lindland (20-5), meets Brazilian favorite Fabio “Negao” Nascimento (8-3).

“Affliction Banned” became so stacked with talent that it had to be separated into two live shows produced for broadcast. The night’s activities will kick off with a one-hour, free live telecast on FSN® (Fox Sports Net) in the United States and on The Fight Network in Canada starting at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM/ET), dubbed “Affliction Live,” featuring Fedor’s brother, Aleksander “The Grim Reaper” Emelianenko (13-3) versus Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello (23-10). Following that presentation is the five-fight “Affliction Banned” on pay-per-view starting at 6 PM/PT (9 PM/ET) via iN DEMAND, TVN, Shaw Communications, Viewers Choice Canada, DirecTV, DISH Network, Bell ExpressVue and Star Choice in the United States and Canada for a suggested retail price of $39.95.

Heavy metal band Megadeth, led by frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Dave Mustaine, will be performing live at the event.

Tickets for “Affliction Banned” range between $50.00 and $1,000.00, and are on sale at Honda Center’s Box Office and also online at Ticketmaster.com.