FSN To Air Undercard Of Affliction Banned

Posted on | July 2, 2008 | 1 Comment

MMA Event Set To Make Broadcast History

One-Hour Special Airs Live—Pay-Per-View Event To Follow

SIGNAL HILL, California (July 1, 2008) – Fans worldwide now will have a free sneak peak at “Affliction Banned”, the greatest MMA event ever staged. George Greenberg, Fox Sports Net (FSN) Executive Vice President of Programming and Production, announced last week that FSN will air the undercard of the “Affliction Banned” event live on Saturday, July 19 at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST. The broadcast will immediately be followed by all main event fights available on Pay-Per-View. This will be the first time that an event will air live on a basic cable network and immediately switch to Pay-Per-View.

“FSN has long been at the forefront of televised Mixed Martial Arts action,” said Greenberg. “Our viewers are loyal, informed and passionate about the sport. This is a great opportunity to deliver a major MMA event to them featuring world-class fighters.”

The one-hour live undercard will feature at least two fights. In FSN’s main event, Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3) from St. Petersburg, Russia will make his American debut as he takes on Texas native Paul Buentello (23-10) in a 3-round heavyweight bout. This battle will follow a light heavyweight showdown between Chicago’s Terry Martin (16-4) and Vitor Belfort (16-8) of Brazil.

FSN was one of the first networks to televise MMA action and has been the home to UFC, PRIDE and IFL. Most every major star in the sport has fought on the network.

FSN is the nation’s leading provider of local sports. FSN’s 16 owned-and-operated regional networks and its affiliated networks reach more than 80 million homes across the U.S. FSN serves as the TV home to nearly two-thirds of all MLB, NHL and NBA teams based in the United States. FSN also produces close to 5,000 live local events each year, including more than 1400 in high definition. In addition to its thousands of home team games and a wide variety of locally produced sports programs, FSN televises national sports events and programs, including Pac-10 and ACC basketball and Pac-10 and Big 12 football.

“Affliction Banned,” presented by Affliction Entertainment, is so stacked with talent that it had to be separated into two live shows produced for broadcast. The night’s activities will kick off with a one-hour, free live telecast on FSN (Fox Sports Net) in the United States and on The Fight Network in Canada starting at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM/ET), dubbed “Affliction Live.” Following that is “Affliction Banned” — five incredible fights on pay-per-view starting at 6 PM/PT (9 PM/ET) via iN DEMAND, TVN, Shaw Communications, Viewers Choice Canada, DirecTV, DISH Network, Bell ExpressVue and Star Choice in the United States and Canada for a suggested retail price of $39.95.

Tickets for “Affliction Banned” range between $50.00 and $1,000.00, and are on sale at Honda Center Box Office and also online at Ticketmaster.com.

To download all video, photos and PR-related media go to: http://www.afflictionbanned.com/media.html

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