On a call today to promote the Affliction: Day of Reckoning card, Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio described the heavyweight picture in his promotion as "basically tournament style," with the two heavyweight fights on January 24 serving as the semifinals, and the winners facing each other in the finals.So that means Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski will square off in the main event at Day of Reckoning, and the Josh Barnett-Gilbert Yvel fight will be the top undercard fight, and the winners of those two fights will fight each other at the third Affliction event.
And I guess I feel like this is the equivalent of the NCAA giving us a college football playoff in which Oklahoma played Florida in one semifinal and Texas played Bowling Green in the other. Sure, the winner of that tournament is great. But do you notice someone that doesn't belong?
It's just a shame that Yvell, who went 2-7 in Pride, is being mentioned alongside Fedor, Arlovski and Barnett, who are arguably the three best heavyweights in MMA. Affliction should have found a better opponent for Yvell, and its inability to do so tarnishes Day of Reckoning.
But there is some good news: There's still a chance that the California State Athletic Commission won't clear Yvell to fight. Attencio said on the call that he is confident Yvell will get clearance, but he couldn't say he was 100% sure. So maybe, just maybe, Yvell will pull out, and Affliction will find a legitimate opponent for Barnett.
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