Affliction folds MMA promotion, will sponsor UFC

(Photo by Joe Corrigan/Getty Images)

According to Kevin Iole, over at Yahoo!Sports, Affliction and the UFC are expected to release a statement sometime today in which it will be announced that Affliction will cease operations as a promoter and that its clothing division will become a UFC sponsor.

Mr. Iole goes on state that Affliction was on the verge of a deal with Strikeforce for some sort of merger, but that fell apart in the last 24-48 hours.

That’s when talks began anew between White and Affliction. They had spoken earlier in July about such a scenario, but were unable to come to a deal.

While it is known that Affliction will now quit promoting fight cards, the status of the fighters is unknown. They could either revert to the UFC or become free agents, able to sign with the promoter of their choice.

This is by no means a guarantee that Fedor will be fighting in the UFC.

There is still a lot of red tape to cut through—specifically the same philosophical differences that M-1 Global, Fedor's management company, and the UFC have clashed over time and time again.

However, it certainly doesn't hurt the chances of Fedor one day fighting inside the octagon.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?