MMANews is reporting that California State Athletic Commission Official Bill Douglas was a guest recently on the Figure Four Daily radio show that airs on The Wrestling Observer, where he stated:

“The one thing that I can absolutely say is that he (Aleksander Emelianenko) was not and will not be cleared to fight in California.” the official told FFD Radio “He is officially licensed denied and that will stand for all of the United States of America”.

Alex Emelianenko was scheduled to fight Paul Buentello at Affliction: Banned, but was not medically cleared to fight and had to withdraw at the last minute. Since then, Aleks has denied rumors that he tested positive for Hepatitis-B.

Just saw this photo posted on the Sherdog forums (props to user Diet Coke for the photo find – the photo was awesome, I had to post it here). Also, don’t forget we have our own MMA forum here that nobody uses. Sign up and post something, damnit.

Since the Affliction mega-card was announced a few months ago featuring a cast of big names, headlined by Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia, the UFC has tried to battle against Affliction by putting on a free event of SpikeTV featuring a main event bout with Anderson Silva going against James Irvin.

Former UFC referee Big John McCarthy is even part of the announce team for the Affliction: Banned event, and is quoted as saying the Affliction event will be “the best heavyweight card ever put together” according to a promotional flier put out by Affliction. On the same flier, they even quote Dana White and other UFC personalities (photo below – thanks to MMAmadness.com).

So to counter Dana White and his spur-of-the-moment FREE show to steal viewers from Affliction, they’ve announced that FSN will show two Affliction fights for free also, at 8pm EST July 19th. Viewers will get to see Aleksander Emelianenko fight Paul Buentello, and Vitor Belfort fight Terry Martin, for free on FSN.

What will you be watching on July 19th?