MMA Weekly is reporting that the undercard of Affliction: Banned will air live on Fox SportsNet:

Fedor Emelianenko will clash with Tim Sylvia in the main event, and Josh Barnett and Pedro Rizzo will co-headline the event in a rematch of their 2001 fight. Ben Rothwell, Matt Lindland, Renato “Babalu� Sobral, and Aleksander Emelianenko are but a few of the fighters filling the card.

And according to Tim Ryan, president and CEO of the Honda Center, the stars are lining up for the show, with $250,000 in tickets sold within the first 30 minutes of going on sale Tuesday morning.

California State Athletic Commission executive director Armando Garcia confirmed that a 3.5 million dollar bond had already been posted for the show, clearing the way for ticket sales to the public. The bond ensures, among other things, that fighters are guaranteed their purses.

The amount of the bond further refutes the rumors that the fighters’ purses alone were expected to total six million dollars.

Also announced was a partnership with Fox Sports Net to air the evening’s hour long undercard live.

This is not only good for the promotion in terms of exposure, but underscores the stupidity of a statement made by Fox Sports President Ed Goren not too long ago. Goren tried to cozy up to Montgomery Burns-like Viacom executive Sumner Redstone by saying that his network didn’t pursue a deal with “ultimate fighting” because they “don’t need money that badly”. Affliction becomes the third different MMA promotion to air on a Fox Sports property which makes Goren’s statement not only stupid, but disingenuous *and* stupid.

A couple of other news notes to come out of today’s Affliction press conference: Andrei Arlovski remains ‘officially’ unsigned by the promotion, though his rumored opponent–Ben Rothwell–is still listed as “opponent TBA”. Affliction also announced that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira–twin brother of UFC heavyweight champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira–will fight on the card.

Affliction MMA announces deal with Fox Sports @ MMA Weekly