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Thanks to some inside sources, as well as some reasonable assertations, I believe we'll see the following things going down on the media call:

• Dana's official take on the Affliction MMA collapse, plus details about Affliction being a UFC sponsor once again. We may also hear about the UFC picking up contracts of some Affliction fighters now that they don't have a home there.
• Tito Ortiz is back in the UFC and will fight perhaps at UFC 104 in Los Angeles -- he is "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy," after all.
• Those Affliction contracts might include Fedor, universally regarded as the best heavyweight in the world, and by most as the best pound-for-pound. But it's not looking likely at this point -- despite the items from a few sources earlier this week saying it was a done deal.
• More than likely, though, White will hit on some new deals to come out of the Affliction collapse, including the signing of Ben Rothwell, which has already been reported. And perhaps one that no one is reporting yet except for me, right here -- Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin at UFC 103 in Dallas. A source close to Franklin's camp tipped me off that this was going to be the case. White mentioned last month that he hoped to get Belfort over to the UFC. Affliction's demise made that possible. He thinks Belfort can challenge Anderson Silva's middleweight supremacy. So could we see Belfort-Silva for the strap if Belfort gets past Franklin? Maybe. The Demian Maia-Nate Marquardt winner is also in the mix, though. Could get interesting -- because we also hear from a source that Silva has one fight left on his deal after the Forrest Griffin fight next week.
• A partnership with ESPN, at least in the UK. But we have a source telling us that ESPN in the USA will be announced, as well -- and that this will include a studio show in the same way that ESPN has studio shows for baseball, football, etc. This would be a HUGE step in the mainstream direction for MMA.

But I have found what has got to be the greatest MMA shirt in HISTORY.

Miguel Torres' mullet is legendary. He often jokes and says it has Sampson-esque qualities -- that it is the source of his strength and that he will never cut it off. (Then again, he also told a small group of reporters recently that corn tortillas were the source of his strength, so ya never can quite know when the dude's feedin' ya a little fish tale.)

Anyway, one of the newest shirts at his site, which is run by Crown Point-based Blackbird Clothing Company, features the all-time classic line on the front "RESPECT THE MULLET." The back features a Torres MMA logo.

I'm not saying the purchase of this t-shirt would give you instant street cred, but it certainly would draw some attention. Head over to Blackbird to check out some of their items, including quite a few Torres pieces. There's some pretty sweet stuff there, and it's a locally based company. Bonus!

I suppose if I was guessing, I'd say I have 10 Affliction shirts, 12 Xtreme Couture shirts, four Warrior Wear shirtss, three Stagr shirts, two Tapout shirts, one Riot Gear shirt, one MMA Elite shirt, three Ecko MMA shirts, one One More Round shirt and one One More Round hoodie, one Hostility hoodie, and a pretty good handful of UFC and WEC shirts.

And then there's the hats ... and shorts ...

So when I find a good sale, I typically jump all over it. Right now, I wanna pass on to you that Tapout has a pretty sweet summer sale going on.

If you spend $50, not only do you get FREE SHIPPING, you also get a free pair of board shorts.

The shipping alone for a couple of shirts, using UPS Ground, saves you $14.99. And while the shorts are THEIR CHOICE (you tell them the size and they pick the style), at a bare minimum, you're going to get their cheapest board shorts -- $29.95.

So in essence, if you spend $50, you're going to get about $45 in freebies. That's pretty hard to beat.

There are a ton of brand new styles of shirts in stock and most of them are $24 each for guys. If you pick up two shirts, that gets ya to $48 ($52 if you're an XXL). So throw in a $3 sticker to your order and you'll be over the $50 mark and you'll get your free shipping and your free shorts.

Check it out at Tapout's online store.

MMA Junkie first reported the signing of Jansen to the WEC last week. Most recently, Jansen has fought for the M-1 Challenge Series. He is 12-0 in his professional career and trains in his native Oregon with the elite Team Quest.

Crunkilton will be making his return to the cage after nearly an 18-month layoff. Injuries kept him out of WEC 39 and WEC 41. At 18-2 overall, Crunkilton trains with American Kickboxing Academy alongside UFC stars like Jon Fitch, Cain Velasquez and Josh Koscheck. Not too shabby. He's 8-1 in a WEC career that spans back to 2002.

WEC 43 will be the organization's first trip to Ohio and its second trip to the Midwest. WEC 40 took place at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago in April, featuring East Chicago native Miguel Torres in a successful bantamweight title defense against Takeya Mizugaki.

WEC 43 will also have local flavor on it. Chesterton's Eddie Wineland, himself a former WEC bantamweight champ -- the first bantamweight belt holder in WEC history -- will fight Manny Tapia.

Be sure to head over to nwi.com to read the full details of the Crunkilton-Jansen bout.

Sports Illustrated's Josh Gross published a report in the wake of that citing a source saying the two sides aren't close to a deal, and our good buddies over at MMA Junkie backed that up this morning with similar claims.

The Times can also confirm that it has talked to a source with ties to Fedor who says a deal between the heavyweight regarded as the world's top pound-for-pound fighter and the world's top promotion is very unlikely.

That source said a deal is unlikely to happen because of the amount of money Fedor makes on pay-per-view fights in Russia. Another major sticking point is Fedor's manager, who owns M-1 Global. He insists that any fight with Fedor be promoted in full or co-promoted by M-1 Global -- and that's something the UFC has never been down for in the past.

Fedor was to fight Aug. 1 against Josh Barnett as the headliners of the Affliction: Trilogy card in Anaheim. But a failed drug test for Barnett (the second of his career), allegedly for a banned anabolic steroid, resulted in his license being pulled by the California State Athletic Commission. That meant the fight with Fedor was off, and it left Affliction scrambling to find a replacement. Without a suitable one, the event was canceled.

The next day, Affliction scrapped its fight promotion business altogether and went back to just being a clothing company, hooking back up with the UFC to be one of its major sponsors after more than 18 months of bad blood between the two parties.

A source close to Affliction, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Times that Affliction lost in the neighborhood of $2 million from the cancellation of the card. That source said the card was canceled because it would be too costly for the company to change out all its promotion and advertising for a new Fedor opponent. The source also said Affliction was highly concerned over the amount of refunds it would likely have to give out for the pay-per-view buys it had already sold at $44.95 each.

When Affliction folded, Fedor became a free agent. UFC president Dana White said after UFC 100 in Las Vegas on July 11 that he fully intends to get Fedor to the UFC and to make a fight between him and heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar happen.

We're back.

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