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More Affliction Banned photos at CombatLifestyle.com

Josh Barnett has an opponent now for the upcoming Affliction card, but it isn’t Brett Rogers or Aleksander Emelianenko as previously rumored. It’s Gilbert Yvel, someone who probably has an even smaller chance of getting licensed in California than Aleks does. In terms of “meaningful fights,” this one isn’t, so I’m not going to lie and say I’m not disappointed in the match-up. Either of the rumored opponents would have much better in my opinion, but I suppose they just didn’t work out for whatever reason. If you really hate this fight, check out Zach Arnold’s thoughts on it. He hates it too.

The press release also mentions that one of the Discovery Channel’s “Fight Quest’ co-hosts, Jimmy Smith, will be calling the action. Apparently, he and this other guy, Sean Wheelock have been the broadcast team for the M-1 Challenge, thus how they got the job. I’ve watched a little bit of the M-1 Challenge, but admittedly haven’t paid any attention whatsoever to the announcing, so I couldn’t tell you one way or the other if this is a good thing, although they couldn’t be any worse than Glazer and Trigg. Five Oz. has more on them if you’re interested.

Anyways, here’s the press release.

M-1 Global is pleased to announce that Gilbert Yvel, one of its top heavyweight competitors, has agreed to terms on a three-fight contract with Affliction Entertainment.

More Affliction Banned photos at Sherdog.com

When Fedor Emelianenko lost his Sambo match earlier this month at the World Combat Sambo Championships it was quite the shock. The man never loses in Sambo, hell, he never loses in anything. So while the Sambo loss isn’t the end of the world or indicative of where he stands amongst the world’s top mixed martial artists, it was cause for concern that perhaps what he was doing outside of the ring was catching up to what he was doing inside of it.

Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions may be producing Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” show on Jan. 24, but that won’t be the only event they’re involved in that day. According to ESPN’s Dan Rafael, Golden Boy’s Shane Mosley will box Top Rank’s Antonio Margarito in Las Vegas on the same night as Affliction’s second show. The match was talked about before, but the deal ended up falling through until now. Apparently, HBO stepped to save the day.

The Affliction “Day of Reckoning” ticket presale began earlier today. It will end on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 10PM ET. Tickets will go on sale to the general public following the presale. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster (password: reckoning). Prices range from $50-$100 for the upper level terrace, $200-$450 for the lower level plaza, and $450-$1000 for floor seats. With a purchase of $200 or more, for a limited time, you will receive an official “Day of Reckoning” t-shirt.

With all the negative press Affliction is receiving these days thanks to their president, Todd Beard, we were starting to wonder what, if anything, is going on with their big pay-per-event that is supposedly scheduled for Jan. 24. Well, at least according to the subdued member of Affliction’s management team, Tom Atencio, an announcement is supposed to be made on Monday.