As Fedor Emelianenko prepares to make his Strikeforce debut Saturday in Chicago, he still wants a piece of Affliction.
The Russian heavyweight and M-1 have filed suit in California district court against Affliction and its MMA promotional division seeking damages for breach of contract. The lawsuit stems from Affliction’s cancellation of its Trilogy show in August.
Under terms of the fighter’s agreement with Affliction, Emelianenko was to fight for the promotion three times and earn $300,000, plus travel and accommodation expenses for each bout. Affliction delivered only two of those bouts and, according to the suit, also breached the “covenant of good faith and fair dealing” as it related to its fighter agreement with Emelianenko.
According to the suit, after Josh Barnett failed a drug test and was knocked off the card, Brett Rogers was tapped as a replacement and was willing to fight Emelianenko at Trilogy. However, Emelianenko and M-1 allege that, “Affliction elected to serve its own financial interests at the expense of its partners” by sponsoring the UFC, instead of staging its third show.
Emelianenko and M-1 assert that Affliction didn’t inform them about negotiations with the UFC to resurrect its sponsorship agreement, the successful outcome of which would have led to the cancellation of Trilogy.
And, ultimately that’s how it played out.
The suit alleges that Affliction was “speaking out of both sides of its mouth” while it was actively involved in discussions with the UFC; at the same time it purportedly was negotiating to obtain a replacement fighter for Trilogy.
In addition, the lawsuit states that Affliction breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing by failing to sign Rogers and canceling the show. M-1 also alleges that Affliction failed to honor a consulting agreement in which M-1 was to provide consulting services to the upstart promotion.
With Emelianenko set to fight Rogers this weekend, the fighter and M-1 are getting the bout they sought last summer. However, that’s a secondary matter. Affliction failed to deliver a payday Emelianenko and M-1 believe they rightful deserve.
On the other hand after their initial title fight was scrapped from this month’s UFC 106 card, an expected re-booking at UFC 108 between heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (4-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and challenger Shane Carwin (11-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) also appears dead.
Heavy.com was the first to report Lesnar’s withdrawal, and according to Carwin, he’s been notified Lesnar is suffering from mononucleosis and their UFC 108 bout is “not happening.”
“Brock has mono, and what the UFC has told me is that I have earned the title [shot] but I have to wait for the title holder,” he wrote on shane-carwin.com. “I hope Brock gets well soon.”
Carwin’s manager, Jason Genet, confirmed with MMAjunkie late Wednesday that updates had been trickling in that made the fight seem unlikely.
In an earlier blog posted last week, Carwin announced that Lesnar was sick and out of their UFC 106 booking, which was slated for Nov. 21 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. (Carwin also claimed he had H1N1 but had opted not to pull out of the fight.)
The fight was then expected to be announced for UFC 108 on Jan. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. However, a potential match-up between top contenders Cain Velasquez and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, which MMAjunkie.com reported on Wednesday (as likely but not signed), is now the leading candidate to headline that show.
The scrapped main event was supposed to serve as Lesnar’s first title defense since unifying the UFC’s heavyweight belts with a UFC 100 victory over then-interim champ Frank Mir. Lesnar won the title with a November 2008 victory over then-champ Randy Couture.
Carwin, meanwhile, looked to claim his 12th straight win at UFC 106. The 34-year-old has yet to fight longer than two minutes and 11 seconds in any bout. He had posted swift UFC victories over Christian Wellisch, Neil Wain and Gabriel Gonzaga to earn the title shot. There is currently no target date for the matchup, and Carwin told MMAjunkie.com he’s remaining positive despite the financial strain caused by not fighting since March – and the challenger even offered a tip to aid Lesnar in his recovery.
“I am honored to be considered the contender, and I will wait for however long it takes to fight a healthy Brock Lesnar,” Carwin said. “I would suggest that he visits a Max Muscle Sports Nutrition near him as they have been a key to keeping me healthy and moving forward.
