The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, Indiana

To most the date September 7 doesn't mean much. But it was one year ago today that the mixed martial arts world lost one of its best characters and people in Evan Tanner.

Tanner passed away due to exposure in the deserts of California. He was an adventurer in the classic sense.

There's a line in the Jimmy Buffet song "A Pirate looks at 40" that goes:

"Yes I am a Pirate
200 years too late"

That line epitomized Evan Tanner.

Well Affliction MMA announced earlier that they were cancelling their Aug. 1 card because they couldn't properly promote a replacement main event after Josh Barnett tested positive for steroids.

Late Friday, the word is that Affliction is done in the MMA promotion business and that they'll go back to just making t-shirts.

There's also word from Yahoo sports that they'll be a sponsor in the UFC again.

Last year Seth Petruzelli was given the dubious honor of the man responsible for sinking Elite XC.

I guess that makes Barnett the man that sunk Affliction.

The August 1 pay per view Affliction Trilogy is not happening.

By way of a TKO via a positive steroid test from heavyweight Josh Barnett.

Affliction boss Tom Atencio confirmed today that the show will not go on in a conference call with MMA media.

The show is off, not because they couldn't find a replacement for Barnett in the main event. It's off because even if they had found a replacement, they didn't feel they had enough time to "promote the fight up to our standards."

What this means for Affliction as a promotion is unknown.

The news broke on Wednesday that Affliction's main event of a long-awaited encounter between Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett may have to wait a little bit longer.

This comes out 10 days before Affliction: Trilogy is slated to take place in Anaheim, California.

Barnett tested positive for an anabolic steroid in a pre-fight drug test issued by the California State Athletic Commission. Due to the positive test the CSAC refused to issue a license to "The Baby Faced Assassian."

My theory on why this fight was the last live fight of the night is this: this is for the hardcore fans, not the people that bought tickets just to say they were there.

The status seekers are gone after the title fights and the true MMA fans are still in the Mandalay Bay watching a great grappling fight.

That makes five straight fights for Jon Fitch that have gone the distance and he's been a winner in four of those.

The native of Ft. Wayne is getting better and better and this is a guy that fought for the welterweight belt last August.

Round 1 goes to Lesnar.

Lesnar made good use of his weight and made Mir carry all 280-something pounds for the whole round.

Mir went for the kneebar again but Lesnar defended it well.

Round 2: Brock should look for more of the same.

Mir needs to establish some strikes.

Second round sees the end come for Mir and Lesnar get the win and the title of Undisputed Champion, then he further decides to show what a disrespectful individual he is.

First he refuses to touch gloves before the start of the fight, no big deal.

I'm not sure what's happened to the welterweight fight between Jon Fitch and Paulo Thiago but we're apparently jumping right into the heavyweight title fight.

George St-Pierre wins that first round based on his 3 takedowns and using more effective strikes from the outside.

Alves scored some with the leg kicks but went away from those.

Alves needs to establish his kicks.

GSP will take him down and wear him out.

Round 2

After two rounds this fight is GSP's to lose.

Alves can't stop his takedowns and can't get the champion off of him until after he's absorbed a ton of punishment.

St-Pierre will do more of the same. Alves will look for a home run KO shot.

Be back after round 3.

Love the fact that Royce Gracie (pronounce the R like an H) is in attendance.

Gracie was the first champion back in the early days of the UFC (UFC I champ and UFC II champ) and he's a member of the UFC Hall of Fame.

Love the action in the first two fights and looking forward to more of the same in the next three.

Looks like it's time for the first of 2 title fights as the welterweight belt will be on the line with Thiago Alves challenging Georges St-Pierre.

Check back after the 1st round on this one.

Say it with me:

USA! USA!! USA!!!

Sorry but this was the fight I wanted to see more than any other tonight and yes I admit it, I was rooting for Dan Henderson like a homer.

Henderson, a world class Greco-Roman wrestler, showed why this game is called mixed martial arts by knocking out Michael "The Count" Bisping with a atmoic bomb where his right fist is.

The end comes at 3:20 of the 2nd round and now Hendo is either near or at the front of the line for a shot at the UFC Middleweight title and a possible rematch with Anderson Silva.