With Affliction's first show in the books, the organization has already turned the focus to its next one.
When asked by MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) for a definitive date and location -- a question he was undoubtedly asked dozens of time throughout this past weekend -- Affliction Vice President simply smiled and offered what he could.
"When? The beginning of November," Atencio said. "Where? We haven't finalized that yet. We're still looking at a couple different locations."
As expected, Affliction will use many of the fighters that took part in this past Saturday's "Affliction: Banned" debut show at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Now boasting the majority of the world's top-10 heavyweight fighters, Atencio said the big guys will again be on display in November.
"We're obviously going to use the guys who won (on Saturday)," Atencio said. "Josh Barnett definitely. Who we're going to set him up with -- we're going to talk about that as well. (Also), Andrei Arlovski definitely. We have three-fight contracts with these guys.
"And ... obviously Fedor. Everybody I'm sure wants to watch him fight. Is that guy amazing or what?"
One other possibility is Aleksander Emelianenko. The Russian fighter, a PRIDE veteran and the younger brother of Fedor Emelianenko, was scratched from the event just minutes before he was headed to the scale for weigh-ins.
Emelianenko was scheduled to fight Paul Buentello in an FSN-televised fight, but he was replaced by Gary Goodridge 24 hours before the fight.
Other than saying Emelianenko didn't meet licensing requirements, the California State Athletic Commission has been unable to divulge additional information. And while rumors have surfaced of Emelianenko testing positive for Hepatitis B, the fighter's camp repeatedly stressed to MMAjunkie.com over the weekend that the issue was non-medical.
"I hope so," Atencio said when asked about Emelianenko's possible inclusion on the second fight card. "That was the one glitch (from the weekend), but I'm a big fan of Aleksander's, and I'd love to see him come back."
Atencio said Buentello, who defeated Goodridge via unanimous decision, is expected to take part in the next event, as well.
A source close to the organization tells MMAjunkie.com that Nov. 8 is the most likely date for the event. And although far from definitive, one rumored location for the next show is Atlantic City, N.J., which would allow Affliction to from jump from the West Coast for its debut to the East Coast for the follow-up. In addition to its proximity to lucrative New York-area markets, Atlantic City is home to Affliction executive Donald Trump's A.C. properties, including Trump Taj Mahal.
"There's competition now," Atencio said. "That's all I can say. We didn't start out to do it. We didn't start out to compete with anyone."
