Affliction Clothing created the Affliction MMA fight promotion in 2008 after its clothing line was banned from UFC events. The UFC organization prohibited its fighters from wearing any sort of clothing related to Affliction after learning that Affliction was considering also becoming an MMA fight promotion. Although the promotion bears the Affliction name, it is not run by Affliction Clothing, but it was an independent branch of the company.
On Friday, July 24th, it was learned that the Affliction ‘Trilogy’ event was completely canceled. The August 1st event was expected to be one of the biggest fight cards of the year. However, Josh Barnett who was headlining the Affliction 3 main fight card, tested positive for steroids and was forced off of the card. Due to this, Affliction MMA decided to cancel the event because it could not “find a replacement and adequately promote the new main event,” the company said in a press release. Now, Affliction MMA announced that it would cease operations as a fight promoter and that its clothing division will become a UFC sponsor.
Snip from Affliction co-founder Eric Foss:
“Our brand is synonymous with the ‘Live Fast’ approach to life and UFC is the perfect venue for us to market our brand. We have come to an agreement with the UFC which we feel will be the best for the sport and will help the UFC continue delivering the highest caliber of fights.”
