According to an Affliction Press Release and Paul Buentello himself, feared striker and former Pride veteran Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge has been marked as the last minute replacement for Aleksander Emelianenko in his bout with "The Headhunter" Paul Buentello.

Russian Red Devil member and brother of Fedor, Aleksander Emelianenko received word that he had not met licensing standards to fight just minutes before weighing in at tonight’s Affliction "Banned" weigh ins at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

"It’s official," Buentello told MMAjunkie.com. "We weigh in at around 11 (a.m.) tomorrow."

There is no word on whether or not Goodridge is in shape or has been training as of late but one thing is for sure; Big Daddy wasn’t about to let an opportunity to fight on one of the world’s greatest heavyweight cards pass him by.

There is no doubt that this update is more than a letdown for Aleksander Emelianenko fans around the world but we still have a pretty nice brawl on our hands. It sure would have been nice to see the Emelianenko brothers clean house though on a night like tomorrow night. Regardless the rest of the card makes up for this small sacrifice.

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The Affliction "Banned" weigh ins took place tonight at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA, at around 6:20pm ET.

22 fighters were scheduled to hit the scales in preparation for what some are calling the greatest heavyweight card of all time. Unfortunately two of the stars of tomorrow nights event did not even make it to the scales.

After a last minute issue with Aleksander Emelianenko’s medical clearance, the bout between the Russian and "The Headhunter" Paul Buentello was scratched, for now at least.

The fight was previously scheduled to air on the FSN portion of the card which was suppose to broadcast a total of three fights.

Tomorrow night’s star-studded event features a main event between Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia to see who is the first ever undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Affliction has attempted to take it to the next level with their inaugural show and will feature live music in the form of rock group, Megadeth.

The organization recently reported that all of the fights would see air time including three undercard bouts that will be featured on FSN and eight main card bouts available on PPV.

Affliction "Banned" Weigh In Results:

Main Card (PPV)

• Fedor Emelianenko (230) vs Tim Sylvia (263)
• Andrei Arlovski (241) vs Ben Rothwell (264)
• Josh Barnett (256) vs Pedro Rizzo (242)
• Renato "Babalu" Sobral (201) vs Mike Whitehead (206)
• Matt Lindland (185) vs Fabio Negao (185)
• Edwin Dewees (205) vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (205)
• J.J. Ambrose (170) vs Mike Pyle (171)
• Ray Lizama (186) vs Justin Levens (189)

Undercard (FSN)

• Paul Buentello () vs Aleksander Emelianenko () *
• Vitor Belfort (185) vs Terry Martin (185.5)
• Mark Hominick (144) vs Savant Young (145)

* The bout between Aleksander Emelianenko and Paul Buentello was scrapped due to a last minute medical clearance issue with Emelianenko.

RedSweat will be bringing you all of the live action including play by play and a contest to commemorate this monumental event. Simply post your predictions for the fights and you could win an official Affliction "Banned" t-shirt.

Affliction’s plans for a successful debut PPV event were tarnished this month when the UFC announced that they would be airing UFC Fight Night 14 on the same night as Affliction "Banned".

While Affliction is coming out strong with a recipe for success that consist of top ten ranked heavyweights, the Russian Emperor, and Megadeth, there is no doubt that the UFC’s July 19th event will take it’s toll on the companies PPV sales.

The message boards are already crawling with fans that say that will not purchase the event but will instead watch the UFC’s free event on Spike TV.

While Dana White would never admit that he scheduled the event on the same day on purpose, it is quite obvious that he was looking to send a message to his competitor in the form of a giant FU. The two organizations have formed a rivalry of sorts that goes back to UFC 79 when the UFC’s fighters were banned from wearing Affliction clothing.

Headlining UFC Fight Night 14 is Anderson "The Spider" Silva who will make his light heavyweight debut against James "The Sandman" Irvin. Affliction "Banned" features a main event that will decide the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in a match between number one ranked Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

With a total of five top ten ranked heavyweights on the card, you would think the choice for many would be simple. That is not the case however. It seems the UFC’s branding power has a hex over it’s fans who are loyal to say the least. There seems to be two types of fans in mixed martial arts at this point in time, MMA fans and UFC fans. It’s unfortunate but I truly believe this is the case.

Sherdog.com did a poll asking it’s readers which event they would watch on July 19th. Twenty five percent said that they would watch UFC Fight Night 14 instead of Affliction "Banned". It is also clearly evident in the forums that a good percentage of people will not pay Affliction’s $39.95 price tag to watch the event. In fact some posters have even posted topics warning others not to pay for the event.

Here are some of the reasons that people will watch the UFC instead of Affliction:

"The headliner is great, but otherwise I have never been that pumped about this card. I don’t really care about the heavyweight division, can’t stand Lindland, and a lot of the other fighters are past their prime. Now that UFC has a decent free event on I’m gonna save myself some loot and just watch that. I’ll check the PBP on here for Affliction."

"I was going to buy just to support them, but it is in a friggen ring, so no, I will not be giving any MMA org money, who is dumb enough to use a ring. I hope they fail."

"The UFC is basically the NFL of mma and I would much rather watch the Dolphins play the Browns than any arena league game and this affliction card is like watching the 49ers play the Rhine Fire."

"I too will no longer be purchasing the affliction show. The card has a lot of big and recognizable names, but the actual matchups don’t interest me that much. Tim Sylvia’s fights are often boring. AA hasn’t looked like the AA of old since getting ko’d by Tim. Lindland’s style is often boring. Barnett’s too. I would’ve gotten the card to watch Fedor fight against a decent opponent, but now that Anderson Silva, Vera, Franca, Edgar etc. are fighting on a free card…I think I’ll just save my money instead."

"The only fighters worth watching on the Affliction card are Fedor and Arlovski….I don’t understand why everyone thinks this card is so great. Id rather watch Anderson any day."

"I’ll watch the free prelim card for sure on FSN, but once its time for UFN… Spike channel it is. I mean I’m sure the Affliction PPV will end up on the net anyway. In all honesty, the economy is rough and gas prices are high. $40 for a PPV = gas money/groceries."

"I will watch the free UFC fight, then find free videos of Affliction fights."

The most common reason for people deciding to watch the UFC over Affliction was the fact that Anderson Silva is on the card. Another common reason was that many believe a lot of the heavyweights on the Affliction card are past their prime. Some also stated that a lot of the fights were mismatches.

A very common solution to the problem of deciding what to watch was to DVR the UFC event and watch the Affliction event live on PPV.

So what will you do and explain why?

Mr. metaphor himself Mauro Ranallo and veteran UFC referee Big John McCarthy have been chosen as the broadcast team for Affliction’s upcoming debut event "Banned" on July 19th.

Affliction "Banned" takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA, and features one of the most talent packed cards of 2008 with a total of 5 top ten ranked heavyweights.

The event also marks the first time in history that an undisputed heavyweight champion of the world is crowned.

The battle for the WAMMA Championship Belt will be between number one ranked Fedor Emelianenko and number four ranked Tim Sylvia.

Mauro Ranallo is a member of WAMMA (World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts) and serves on the rankings committee. The 38 year old Canadian announcer has called some of Pride FC’s most memorable fights including Kevin Randleman’s infamous knockout victory over Mirko Crocop at Pride Total Elimination 2004. Ranallo is no stranger to spectacular cards and should feel right at home come July 19th.

Mauro has called many events in addition to Pride FC including EliteXC and ShoXC events on Showtime. His unique approach and overly dramatic style as a commentator even landed him a spot at EliteXC’s Primetime debut on CBS. The May 31st event was the first MMA event to ever air on a major network television channel. Ranallo is currently the host of Fight Network Radio, which is broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio.

While Ranallo is definitely the more colorful of the two, Big John McCarthy was obviously brought in to handle the technical side of Affliction’s debut show. With 535 fights under his belt as a referee, the Los Angeles police officer knows the fight game in and out. At 6′4" and 240lbs, "Big" John was an integral part of the world famous octagon and officiated almost every fight from UFC 2 until UFC 31.

McCarthy is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and currently runs his own training center "Big John McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy". Like Mauro, he also works for the Fight Network, doing commentary for their coverage of UFC events.

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