It is hard to believe Fedor could sustain any type of injury during the brief amount of time he was in the ring against Tim Sylvia. Reports have indicated that Fedor’s suspension is due to a recurring hand injury. Did he really hit Sylvia that hard?

Despite what reports are leaked, it’s a pretty safe bet that Fedor will be cleared to fight before the October 11th event. It’s hard to imagine Affliction not being able to get around this minor pothole. That being said, Sylvia’s status for October 11th also remains in question. But does anyone really care?

It turns out that Sylvia supposedly has an injured left elbow. Affliction can afford to allow Sylvia to take some time off however. After his disappointing loss to Fedor, Sylvia isn’t a parciluarly huge draw.

Another lingering question that keeps popping up is if the event will actually take place in Las Vegas? It’s obvious that Affliction wants to set up camp right in the UFC’s backyard, although it is not quite necessary at this time. As long as it continues to put on one quality show after another, the venues will gradually become more grandiose. Where this event takes place shouldn’t be as big a concern as who fights on the card.

That leads us to the new million dollar question. Will Tito Ortiz take on Renato Sobral on October 11th? All indications up to this point favor such a fight taking place, but nothing is etched in stone. Nevertheless, Affliction should do whatever it can to seal the deal on an Ortiz vs. Sobral showdown. Even if it has to shell out a few extra bucks, Affliction needs to establish a continual pattern of quality events.

That means getting Fedor in the ring no matter what and also locking up Ortiz for the event. Yet, it can afford to leave Sylvia at home for this event. In fact, that might be one of the best idea altogether. And even if Affliction is forced to push the date back a few weeks, it should do what it has to in order to put its best quality on display. Anything less could ultimately suspend the organization from putting up a worthy fight against the UFC.

A panel of experts over at 411mania.com seem to feel that Griffin is the consensus choice as fighter of the month. Griffin’s win shook the mma world and quickly reconfigured the top of the light heavyweight division.

Some other fighters who enjoyed an excellent July were Andrei Arlovksi, Jake Shields and Joachim Hansen. Arlovski’s win over Ben Rothwell has set him up for a shot at Fedor while Shields continued to establish his place among the welterweight elite. Hansen seized hold of the DREAM lightweight championship by avenging a previous loss to Shinya Aoki.

While quite a few fighters enjoyed a stellar July, it’s still hard to deny Griffin as being the fighter of the month.

It has been reported that Taylor has been released by the UFC. What was once a promising career has now turned in to a search for new employment. Sure, Taylor will probably be able to pick up some fights in lesser known organizations. However, those fights will not take place on the grand stage on which the UFC presents its exhibitions.

Nevertheless, Taylor has no one to blame but himself. A prime opportunity was placed before him and he did everything in his power to mess that up. And now, it may be too late for him to attempt to clean up that mess. It looks as though the last second has ticked off Taylor’s fifteen minutes of fame in the UFC.

Robbie Lawler: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus)
Not too shabby for about eight minutes of work
Scott Smith: $14,000
Even though he was an underdog, he should have made more as part of the main event

Nick Diaz: $60,000 (no win bonus)
Giving his home town a treat was bonus enough for Diaz
Thomas Denny: $8,500
At least he can afford to buy a lot more hair dye

Jake Shields: $45,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
The best fighter on the card should have seen some more coin
Nick Thompson: $25,000
Too much moolah for the lame performance he put on

Cristiane Cyborg: $6,000 ($3,000 win bonus)
Grossly underpaid, she provided one of the best fights of the night
Shayna Baszler: $8,000
She can now buy enough protein to bulk up and hang with the top women

Antonio Silva: $200,000 ($100,000 win bonus)
He wasn’t even on the main fight card, and exactly who did he beat?
Justin Eilers: $20,000
Oh, that’s the guy Silva beat. Now he can go back to washing cars.

Rafael Feijao: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
Maybe now he can afford to have Anderson Silva and Antonio Nogueira in his corner
Travis Galbraith: $5,000
Don’t quit your day job Trav

Wilson Reis: $5,000 ($2,500 win bonus)
His paydays will increase in the future
Bryan Caraway: $2,000
Fought with a bum knee, short on pay but heavy on heart