Matt Lindland Confirms July 19 Fight with Affliction

Matt "The Law" Lindland along with Gilbert Melendez and Josh Gross from Sherdog.com was featured on tonight’s edition of Inside MMA (full video) on HDNet.

During the one hour episode Lindland confirmed that he will be fighting on July 19 under the Affliction banner. The event which is rumored to have more than a few high profile names on the fight card is scheduled to take place at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX, the home-base for Mark Cuban’s HDNet Network.

Also recently confirmed to appear on the card is none other than Fedor Emelianenko taking on Tim Sylvia who recently signed with his manager, Monte Cox’s, new upstart organization, Adrenaline MMA.

Matt would not reveal any information regarding his opponent nor any other fighters set to appear on the card but Josh Gross from Sherdog seemed to have an idea of who Matt might fight.

Dave Terrell doesn’t ring a bell as a possible opponent? Lindland responded with a laugh "That would be a fun fight."

Following Inside MMA on HDNet was the SportFight 22 event from the Rose Garden in Portland, OR. SportFight is Matt Lindland and Randy Couture’s organization. During the event and in between bouts, Lindland spoke about possible opponents he would like to face on July 19. He suggested avenging his loss to either Dave Terrell or Murilo Bustamante who make up two of Matt’s 5 career losses.

Other big name heavyweights are rumored to be fighting on the July 19 card including Ben Rothwell, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Babalu, Mike Whitehead, Pedro Rizzo and Alexander Emelianenko. Keep in mind these are complete rumors although Josh Barnett is looking like a very strong possibility.

Apparently Adrenaline MMA is paying big bucks to secure some of the top names in MMA. Former UFC heavyweight champ, Tim Sylvia, had good reason for leaving his home in the UFC as he is expected to pull in more than $300,000 per fight. Monte Cox has stated that Ben Rothwell, also recently signed with Adrenaline MMA, will make ten times what he was making in the IFL.

It is a great time for mixed martial artist as they are finally starting to get paid what they are worth. This will allow fighters to fight full time, make a living doing what they love and possibly retire with a nice chunk of change.

Stay tuned for more MMA news at a fighter pace!