Affliction VPTom Atencio

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Ariel Helwani with the interview:

Ariel Helwani: Why did you ultimately decide to cancel the show?
Tom Atencio: There simply wasn't enough time to promote a new main event, especially for pay-per-view.

Are the rumors true that you were planning on canceling the show even before Josh Barnett tested positive for an anabolic steroid?
No.

How hard was it for you to pull the plug on the show?
Canceling this fight was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

When you announced the cancelation of the show, was there already a deal in place with the UFC?
No. We made the decision to cancel the fight prior to any sponsorship agreement with the UFC.

Will Affliction and/or Tom Atencio ever promote another MMA event?
Yes, through sponsorship and the support of MMA fighters.

The best part of the interview was Atencio communicating that he had worked out deals with most of the fighters to get paid that were to appear on the third Affliction show.  That was the worst thing about canceling the show in my opinion, but it appears that things are being worked out so fighters can get paid and still fight so that's great.

Affliction: Trilogy coverage