We all remember a few weeks ago when Affliction announced that they were throwing their hats into the MMA cage (if I say octagon I'll get sued). Most of us were perplexed about a clothing company putting on fights, espically when the UFC and EliteXC responded by banning their fighters from wearing Affliction gear. It seemed that the rising clothing company was making a foolish decision.

But with the catchy pun-laced title Banned for their July 19th show plus a fight card loaded with HW talent as well as every talented fighter the UFC won't sign or refuses to, the card and the organization is looking promising. While this is one event, with great fighters who don't have great name recognition (for casual fans) Affliction is setting themselves up to be the HW organization. Let's look at the talent out there. The UFC has Vera, Mir, Lesnar, Werdum, Coleman, Gonzaga and Nogiuera and EliteXC has Antonio Silva and...well...Kimbo...and that's it. And these fighters aren't free from doubts or problems. For instance Gonzaga is still ridign a Crocop headkick, Lesnar and Kimbo are unproven, Vera should be at LHW and no one knows what Coleman will be like out of retirement.

Affliction on the other hand has Fedor, Sylvia, Barnett, Arvolski, Rothwell, Emelianenko and Couture waiting in the wings. Not to mention good non-HWs Matt Linland and Renato Sobul. While the pay per view sales will probablly not be UFC like their are making some smart moves. Affliction is going to lose exposure in the UFC and EliteXC but they are not necessarily in trouble. In fact Affliction is more popular now than ever before (especially in the hip-hop and African American community). Sam Cassel of the Boston Celtics was wearing an Affliction shirt last night. And with Ozzie Osbourne on board with the new Sinful line they are far from in trouble of alienating certain markets. Xtreme Couture is still out their and Randy as well as his Affliction line are extremely popular.

In the end though we will have to wait and see what happens with Affliction and their new promotions. If you want to hear more about Affliction go over to www.myspace.com/thefightcard and listen to the guys at the fight card radio show.