Exclusive: Trump To Announce Arlovski Signing Tomorrow

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Exclusive: Trump To Announce Arlovski Signing Tomorrow

Posted by: arielhelwani

06/04/08

Comments: 7

Tags: andrei , arlovski

MMARated.com has learned that at tomorrow's Affliction press conference in Manhattan, Donald Trump will be announcing that former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski, has officially signed with the upstart promotion. The Executive Vice President of The Trump Organization and the Special Counsel to Donald J. Trump, Michael D. Cohen, confirmed the news with MMARated.com. It has long been rumored that Arlovski would be facing Ben Rothwell on the inaugural Affliction card but Mr. Cohen would not officially comment on when "The Pit Bull" would be making his debut. We should, however, find out more tomorrow. Trump will also announce that he has become an equity partner in the Affliction promotion. When asked what percentage of the organization he now owns, Mr. Cohen would only say "a significant amount." Finally, when asked if Trump's relationship with Tito Ortiz would help bring the former UFC light heavyweight champion to Affliction, Cohen said: "Everything that Donald Trump does is the biggest and the best and the "Afflcition: Banned" show will be just that. Due to the status of the Trump mark, and Donald Trump as a mogul business man, Mr. Trump has received dozens of phone calls from fighters who are interested in joining the Affliction family." Stay tuned...

The Andrei Arlovski Revolution Has Begun

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Jeffrey.Lee

08/25/08

Wow, total bummer to see him leave the UFC. But if he's fighting Ben Rothwell, I really cant blame him. Great scoop!

DBuss00

08/25/08

Nice scoop! There had to be a reason why no announcement from Arlovski had come, and I guess they wanted to time it with Trump's announcement.

Anonymous

08/25/08

trump>dana

DBuss00

08/25/08

I wonder how long Trump will be willing to take losses in MMA. If the real estate/bank loan crisis keeps inching towards commerical real estate, Trump may be headed towards his third bankruptcy. But he has shown he is willing to throw money at projects, even if they are headed towards failure, so maybe that instinct will pay off in his MMA venture if he bails out Affliction until they can become competitive. The president of Affliction already called Trump "the most accomplished business mogul in the world", so they are already showing they know something about the fight game - that promotors are supposed to wildly exaggerrate. At least that is what Dana White and Gary Shaw have taught us.

oo718oo

08/25/08

kudos tp the pitbull thumbs down to trump.

Anonymous

08/25/08

why thumbs down? I think the more billionaires we have in MMA the better off we are. anything to get people from going to the UFC.

Anonymous

08/25/08

Why does everyone hate the UFC? They have done more for this sport than anyone. I just don't get this "anything but the UFC" attitude. Do they not put on great fight? Do they not spend tens of millions of their own money to keep expanding the sport. If the UFC earns money, the put lots of it into growing the sport - they spend it lobbying athletic commissions to legalize the sport, they spend money taking MMA to Europe and other locations and expanding the fanbase, the spend money on educating the public about MMA, and yes, they spend money on increasing fighter pay and bonuses despite what others would have you believe. Now, imagine if guys like Tito Ortiz made all that money himself instead of the promoter. You think Tito would spend that money on the sport? My guess is Tito would spend it on cars, houses, and we would see the results of our ticket money when he walks us through his mansion on the next episode of MTV's Cribs.