"Collaboration" between the UFC and Affliction officially announced

[Schiznick]

Tweet"Collaboration" between the UFC and Affliction officially announced
by Dann Stupp on Jul 24, 2009 at 10:55 pm ET
Today's earlier report of a deal between Affliction and the Ultimate Fighting Championship has been officially announced.

Affliction, which launched a fight series in 2008 after it was banned as a UFC sponsor, today canceled its latest show, "Affliction: Trilogy," which was scheduled for Aug. 1 in California.

As expected, Affliction will no longer promote MMA shows and instead will return to the UFC octagon as an officially approved sponsor.

"We are excited about the return of Affliction to the UFC and look forward to seeing our fighters once again walk into the octagon wearing the Affliction brands," UFC president Dana White stated. "Affliction is an innovator of mixing fashion with this sport, and we are looking forward to working together to promote the sport."

White often criticized Affliction once it launched its fight promotion, which hosted two very prolific (but hardly lucrative) shows to date. With Fedor Emelianenko in both shows' headline fights, the cards drew big names and proven stars but came with hefty disclosed fighter payrolls of nearly $3.5 million each. White often referred to Affliction vice president Tom Atencio as the "T-shirt guy" and criticized company officials for saying Affliction would go head-to-head with the UFC.

Fences have apparently been mended.

"Our brand is synonymous with the 'Live Fast' approach to life, and UFC is the perfect venue for us to market our brand," Affliction co-founder Eric Foss stated. "We have come to an agreement with the UFC, which we feel will be the best for the sport and will help the UFC continue delivering the highest caliber of fights."

When asked whether the UFC would acquire fighter contracts from Affliction as part of the deal, White was noncommittal during a radio appearance on ESPN1100 today. However, he said the organization has a major press conference tentatively planned for July 31 in which the UFC will make a "laundry list" of major announcement.

[tn94z]

TweetI don't know anyone that didn't see this coming. I think Dana called this one the week after they started. I bet he laughed and laughed at this one.