
On that front, Trump also announced that former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski had signed with the company and would appear on the July 19th pay-per-view headlined by Tim Sylvia and Fedor Emelianenko. Arlovski will meet Ben Rothwell on the card. Along with Sylvia and Arlovski, Affliction also has Josh Barnett under contract, giving them three former UFC champs to go along with Emelianenko in a very strong heavyweight division.
Trump also said that he'd like to sign Tito Ortiz, star of his Celebrity Apprentice, to fight under the Affliction banner. Ortiz has expressed interest in starting his own promotion but Trump's involvement with Affliction is likely a game changer for him and many other fighters. The light heavyweight roster isn't quite as star-studded but good fights could be had with Renato Sobral and Antonio Rogerio Noguiera.
There's no doubt that Trump's involvement will spread Affliction beyond the hardcore MMA audience, the latest jump in name recognition by the competitors to UFC. None have had quite so strong a roster of fighters, however, which should make July 19th a big day in the sport's history indeed.