Rumors: Affliction 3 to go head to head with the UFC?

There is a lot of speculation going on about Affliction and their much anticipated third MMA event. Sam Caplan, from FiveOuncesofPain.com had reported earlier that Affliction was interested in a July 11th date, that would compete directly with UFC 100.

The UFC 100 event, is headlined by the much anticipated Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar re-match, as well as popular champ and p4p fighter GSP taking on devastating striker Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves. Many believe, this would be a horrible decision for Affliction to go against the UFC intentionally especially against what has been labeled as a special event by MMA fans.

Reports have been circulated that Affliction 3 could possibly be shown on a non-premium cable network rather than on PPV like previous Affliction events. This has also, been coupled with stories coming out that Fedor and Josh "The Baby Face Assassin" Barnett will both participate in the third affliction event, but perhaps not against each other.

If, the event will not be aired on PPV, some believe that it would be to expensive to pay for a Fedor vs Barnett fight and will be saved for a later show. Vitor Belfort who has been asking for a shot at the Russian WAMMA champion said about possibly fighting Fedor "The guys from (Affliction partners) M-1 want this fight, but Tom Atencio and Affliction wants to put him with Barnett, who is their big boy," Belfort said. "But I'm waiting. If this fight doesn't happen at Affliction 3, it can be on the next one."

When asked by versus.com blogger Ariel Helwani about the rumors that Affliction 3 could be the farewell event for the MMA company, COO Michael D. Cohen, responded “It’s absolutely untrue... Trump’s Affliction Entertainment is going nowhere except to the top, and the company will continue throughout 2009 and well into 2010."