Tom Atencio: 'Affliction does not intend to rollover and be extorted' by M-1

by Narcisist on Nov 13, 2009 9:09 PM EST Comment 20 comments

Last week we posted a story on Fedor Emelianenko's representatives at M-1 Global, filing a lawsuit against Affliction over the cancelation of "Trilogy" this past summer. In the suit, M-1 alleges that Affliction canceled the event, but Brett Rogers was ready, willing and able to fill in for Josh Barnett as a last minute replacement.

MMAPayout.com reports that Affliction filed a motion in civil court to dismiss the lawsuit. Tom Atencio, who served as the face of the promotion, responded to M-1's lawsuit by saying Affliction would not be shaken down by the "Russian visitors:"

"Affliction landed a serious blow to the Fedor and M-1 lawsuit by filing a motion to dismiss in federal court in response to the Russians’ complaint only eight days after being served. . . . The counter by Affliction goes to show Affliction does not intend to rollover and be extorted by the Russian visitors and how frivolous and meritless Affliction considers the allegations of their complaint."

David Wolf also gave us insight on both sides of the lawsuit, presenting their arguments in the most simple form for those of us without law degrees:

"Although the complaint itself is quite complex, it actually can be easily summarized in lay terms. Fedor had a three-fight contract with Affliction, and fought two of the three fights, and agreed to fight Josh Barnett to close the contract. Barnett failed a steroids test, Affliction had discussions with prospective replacements for Barnett (e.g., Vitor Belfort and Brett Rogers) but ultimately reached an agreement with UFC that would permit Affliction to once again sponsor UFC fighters so long as it agreed to exit the promotion game. All contracts have what is called an implied covenant of good faith, and Fedor argues that Affliction, instead of satisfying its obligation of booking a third fight for Fedor by finding a suitable replacement for Barnett, chose the path of least resistance by returning to UFC and canceling the third show altogether, leaving the contracts with Fedor unsatisfied."

This is a rather unique case because when most promotions go out of business, they have no money to fight a lawsuit or for fighters to actually win in court, so it's a losing battle.

In Affliction's case they still have a clothing line and cash flow coming in, or so it would appear at first. Affliction "Clothing" and Affliction "Entertainment" are two separate companies as was pointed out in the Kim Couture lawsuit against Todd Beard and Affliction. We do not know if the clothing company can be sued for damages caused by the promotion, but you never know what is possible.

We don't know how this is going to play out in the future, but as usual we will keep you up to date on how it goes down.

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Congrats to MMAMania.com on coming over to SB Nation, trying to help out.

Narcisist aka: Alberto Martinez, owner of URDirt.com.

by Narcisist on Nov 13, 2009 9:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Man, I hope Fedor doesn't get anywhere with this lawsuit. It's total BS.

by TDITZ on Nov 13, 2009 11:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

‘Affliction does not intend to rollover and be extorted’ by M-1…..anymore.

by prokstar on Nov 13, 2009 11:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

why is

this narcisist guy posting “old news” on mania’s front page? The fedor story below is old and mania never even posted the lawsuit story, so half the guys here don’t even know what ur talking about! Are you a mania employee or an SBnation homo trying to take over?

by kevjack115 on Nov 13, 2009 11:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Jealous much?

kevjack115 — If you have a great idea for a blog article, why don’t you post one yourself?

by MMACrossfire on Nov 14, 2009 2:12 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

SBnation homo

Stay classy dude.

I love me some Sexyama!

by pud333 on Nov 14, 2009 2:17 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

if you guys were offended by Kev’s comments above – you havent read mania much before im guessing. 99% of the reason I go to Mania is to talk to guys I recognize from years ago and recently. Sure, it gets carried away and immature – but there are silver linings everyday.

If Kev or someone else wants / should call me a homo or worse ,well Im completely cool with it. See that’s the thing about Mania – everyone will still talk to you tomorrow.

Hopefully the new format Mania doesn’t get all sensitive on us.

by Bigger Zino on Nov 14, 2009 8:57 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

that all being said narc – i did open the thread to read it.

by Bigger Zino on Nov 14, 2009 9:10 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There's been a lot worse insults on Mania than this...

I’m trying to cut out the swearing but there’s been a lot worse things than “homo” posted over the years on Mania.

Hopefully M-1 get some money out of Affliction, they deserve to pay for cheating the fans and fighters out of a PPV. Atencio and co are a disgrace, balls (so much for not swearing) to their t-shirts and lies.

by David W-S on Nov 14, 2009 9:21 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

what's up with random dudes starting threads?

So Narcisist runs some website and that automatically means he can post threads on Mania? I like my Mania news coming from Mania.

by jay. on Nov 14, 2009 10:08 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

True

BE “homo” would’ve been a better way to put it. ;)

by Alpha Male on Nov 14, 2009 10:46 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Actually kevjack115 I am at my house right now rolling around in SBNation dollars, Popping Moet, banging chicks with no rubbers two a time and selling out as we speak as much as possible.

The Affliction/ M-1 Lawsuit story was posted on Friday and I have always wanted to contribute to Mania, now with the new format I can.

I can only imagine how hard it was for Mania to bring their database over and saw they needed some News so I was glad to help.

Props Mania on the move over to SBNation.

Narcisist aka: Alberto Martinez, owner of URDirt.com.

by Narcisist on Nov 14, 2009 12:15 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Funny

Because URDirt articles that I tried to put a link here, were never allowed before. I thought that Mania was in war with your site.

by Alpha Male on Nov 14, 2009 10:41 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

First M-1 lawsuit report for those of you who did not know about it

So it seems that there are some Affliction news today, but it is not in a good light as their former prized employee, Fedor Emelianenko and M-1 Global has filed a lawsuit on Affliction’s clothing line and their entertainment division as well for breach of contract which states that they canceled this past August third event titled "Trilogy" plus what Affliction owes for Fedor’s fight salary and other issues as well.

According to MMAPayout.com was able to get the details which also involves the UFC which was able to come to terms with Affliction by bringing them back in as a sponsor as they shut down operations as an MMA promoter.

Here is what has been stated on the formal complaint:

"Plaintiff is informed, believes, and based thereon alleges Affliction intended to sign Brett Rogers to fight in Affliction: Trilogy and intended to go forward with the event if the UFC deal failed, but intended to cancel [the event] if the UFC deal closed. Brett Rogers was ready, willing, and able to fight Emelianenko in [the event], but instead of honoring its promises to Emelianenko and M-1 by signing Rogers, Affliction elected to serve its own financial interests at the expense of its partners."

As we all know the beginning of the end began for Affliction a week before the Affliction "Trilogy" event as Fedor’s main event opponent, Josh Barnett tested positive for a banned substance which had the ceased promotion searching for a suitable replacement which consisted of Vitor Belfort, Bobby Lashley and Brett Rogers of StrikeForce and if that turns out to be true, then Affliction as a whole may be in some jeopardy as M-1 Global believes that Affliction’s deal with the UFC was the main reason that the event closed their doors and were stalling to get a quick replacement in order to save the August 1 event in Anaheim, California.

The UFC has not only added Affliction back to their list of sponsors, but have brought in the majority of their fighters contracts, so now the UFC will also be taking the stand in the courtroom in an attempt to bail out the once failed MMA promotion.

Narcisist aka: Alberto Martinez, owner of URDirt.com.

by Narcisist on Nov 14, 2009 12:17 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Narcisit onboard!

Great person, great friend!
Fedor looks for what he deserves.

by Eduardo Cruz on Nov 14, 2009 7:15 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

good

If Affliction owes Fedor money…pay the man.

Business is business.

by introvert on Nov 14, 2009 9:40 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

for what?

What do they owe Fedor money for? Because they closed down and can’t pay him for a fight left on his contract? I can see this headline being posted again a year from now, except next time it will be SF instead of Affliction. Great business partners those M1 goons are. I do agree that he deserves his ‘show’ purse for the Barnett fight, nothing more than that. I’m glad to see that Affliction clothing and Affliction the brutal fight promotion are two different companies. Fedor won’t get a dime out of a busted company.

by jay. on Nov 14, 2009 10:05 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

We’ve yet to see how a company that works WITH M-1 Global will get along with them. The politics that seemed to emanate from the M-1/Affliction relationship were obviously going to create problems on both side.

This lawsuit will likely be dropped. It’s one part poking fun at American Civil Law and one part protest for the very real screwjob that Affliction Entertainment pulled on M-1. But I don’t think what transpired was against the law, just in poor taste and inconsiderate. There MAY be a breech of contract at stake but I haven’t had the time to comb over the details, nor am I a student of law.

I may share a blog post I have in the works regarding Affliction in general with the site at some point. Amazing what you can find when you dig.

by bonez2799 on Nov 15, 2009 3:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

A “serious blow”? Just an FYI, everyone files a motion to dismiss in almost every case. And “does not intend to rollover and be extorted” sounds like standard boilerplate language for MTD.

There is meat to this legal claim, and it is almost assured there will be a long protracted legal battle. For some reason, given the parties involved, I do not see a settlement coming soon. If I were M-1, I would dismiss the lawsuit if Affliction and the UFC gave M-1 Global and Strikeforce permission to use Fedor’s Affliction and PrideFC footage for promotion. Never going to happen, but it is what I would ask for.

by pj48 on Nov 16, 2009 2:44 AM EST reply actions 0 recs