Atencio took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with Rod Moyer of FightLine.com. In part one of the interview below, he talks about what a day in his life is like, his feud with the UFC, Bobby Lashley possibly coming into Afflication and much more. In part two of the interview - which will be up tomorrow - Atencio talks about the big Trilogy event, his thoughts on UFC 100 and Brock Lesnar's post-fight antics, having a show without Fedor and more.

FightLine.com: What is a day in the life Tom Atencio all about?

Tom Atencio: You know, [I] get to work about 8:30 in the morning, check my email, talk to everybody, get to work early in the morning, talk to everybody, I handle all the celebrities and different promotions. Like today, David Wells came by - the pitcher - and we talked for a couple hours. Stuff like that you know, getting ready for the fight, making sure ticket sales are doing well, making sure that all our promotional stuff's going out. You know, just doing the push. Push hard for the next event.

FightLine.com: Tell us about Affliction: how long has it been around, how long have you been working with Affliction, etc.

Atencio: Affliction's been around for 4 years, and I've been around since day one. We started out as a tattoo and clothing brand. I started sponsoring friends that I fought with, I trained with, and that I grew up with, and [we] just started to blow up in the MMA industry.

FightLine.com: Now, was the game plan always to transition to MMA or was the game plan just to build the clothing business, and when different opportunities came up, you just took advantage of them?

Atencio: The game plan was to be a fashion brand, and we still are. We support a lot of musicians, and that's how it's always been since day one. We did, we do really well in the MMA industry. That was our goal to do very well in the sports industry, and we do. I think with MMA, because we got in the early stages, we were able to tie ourselves well into that brand.