Fedor Emelianenko has come up short in a Sambo tournament this past weekend, earning only a Bronze medal after losing decisively to Bulgarian Blagoi Ivanov, according to a report from MMAMania. As one might imagine, this is somewhat of a big deal since Fedor practically had to scour the earth just to find a willing Sambo opponent in the past. Not to mention that Fedor walked through Ivanov with ease in their previous meeting. Of course, Sambo is not exactly MMA, but it isn’t terribly far off either. If pressed, I would have to agree that combat Sambo is about as close as one is going to get to modern mixed martial arts.

Additionally, Fighters Only is now passing along the rumor that Ivanov’s performance has earned him a contract with Affliction, which was apparently inked “immediately after winning the tournament.” Wow, that Atencio guy must work fast.

Affliction has officially confirmed that Fedor Emelianenko (29-1) will face Andrei Arlovski in the main event of Affliction: Day of Reckoning on January 24th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Day of Reckoning will air live on pay-per-view and is also slated to feature Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Matt Lindland vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral. Josh Barnett and Chris Horodecki are among additional fighters scheduled to be in action at the event with additional bouts to-be-announced.

A heavyweight bout between WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelinaneko (29-1) and Andrei Arlovski (15-5) will headline Affliction “Day of Reckoning”, which is scheduled to take place on January 24th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio recently confirmed the news to MMA Rated.
Though the event will still be promoted in partnership [...]

Fedor Emelianenko, the world’s near-consensus top heavyweight and among the planet’s best pound-for-pound fighters, will not be competing on New Year’s Eve and will also not meet Josh Barnett early next year at Affliction’s second event.
Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio recently alerted MMA Junkie of the status of the promotion’s top fighter.
“I’ve been told actually [...]

DREAM middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1), who last week claimed the title with an upkick knockout of Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at DREAM 6, has signed with Affliction and will debut at the promotion’s next event, tentatively slated for January 17th in Anaheim, California, against Vitor Belfort (17-8).
Mousasi confirmed the matchup to Fighters Only.
Belfort, a former [...]

On Wednesday Affliction announced that they are rescheduling their October 11th event in Las Vegas to January 17th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
At the time we speculated that card changes could be a possibility and they have already become a reality just one day later.
Though a major announcement will be made on Saturday [...]

The long-awaited matchup between UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture and former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko has one less road block than originally believed.
M-1 Director of Operations Joost Raimond told USA Today on Thursday that Emelianenko’s current contracts with M-1 and Affliction wouldn’t prevent a potential bout against Randy Couture from taking place in the [...]

UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture may be on the verge of resolving his contract dispute with the UFC and could return in November to take on heavyweight contender Brock Lesnar in the main event of UFC 91.
Additionally, if he gets past the former collegiate and professional wrestler Couture’s hopes of fighting Fedor Emelianenko could become [...]

– UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture and WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, as well as the fighters’ management, met on Monday in Los Angeles for undisclosed reasons likely relating to a potential future bout between the top heavyweights. [Sherdog]
– In a recent post at MMA.tv Jon Fitch revealed that he hopes to return to the [...]

WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelieanenko will be healed from his recent hand injury in time to compete by New Years Eve, reports Sports Illustrated.
“I think definitely by New Year’s Eve I’ll be ready to go,” Emelianenko told SI. “My desire at this point is to meet with the winner of the fight [between Arlovski and [...]