Jay Hieron (Pictures)’s month of anxiety ended with a phone call Friday afternoon.

The International Fight League’s weary welterweight champion finally got word that a three-fight, non-exclusive one-year deal with Affliction Entertainment had been finalized, and it came not a moment too soon.

“Just going through it and not knowing where I would end up was frustrating,” said Hieron, who waded through offers from the UFC, EliteXC and Strikeforce before deciding on the youngest, but highest paying promotion in the group. “It felt good knowing that I could go to any of those organizations and fight for them, but I was ready to fight in August and then the IFL went out of business.”

Since June 2006, Hieron (15-4) churned out seven victories in the now-defunct IFL promotion to become one of its bigger stars. That culminated last December, when Hieron scored his highest profile victory to date with a first-round TKO of the versatile Delson Heleno (Pictures) (13-5) to clinch the IFL crown. Hieron, a former Junior National college wrestling champion, defended his title last April with a first-round TKO stoppage over Mark Miller (Pictures) (8-3).

However, the IFL’s financial woes caught up with the promotion just a month past its second anniversary, after a series of alterations failed to capture the public’s fancy in time.

“I thought they were catching on at first, especially when they had the team concept and the teams representing the cities they were training out of,” said Hieron, who credits the IFL with building his name.

Hieron believes fans took the greatest interest in the short-lived league when five-member teams, like his Los Angeles Anacondas squad, vied for championship rings. But when revenue did not rise to meet operation costs, the IFL tweaked its product away from its original format.

“What I think they just kept doing is having too many changes. When fans would start getting into the IFL, they’d be so lost. You can’t change too many things when you got the fans right there,” said Hieron.

Hieron joins Xtreme Couture teammates Mike Pyle (Pictures), Chris Horodecki (Pictures) and Jay White (Pictures), who have all secured slots for Affliction’s sophomore effort “Day of Reckoning” on Oct. 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Hieron’s opponent has not been confirmed yet.

The 32-year-old’s deal with Affliction is not entirely exclusive –- with their permission he can accept single fights from other organizations when not being utilized on an Affliction card, as long as he’s within 60 days of the event.

“One thing that was great for me with the IFL was I was real active. I fought five times last year,” said Hieron. “Of course, I want to keep on competing if I’m healthy. If they [Affliction] only have three events in a year, it gives me the option to stay active with the green light from them, of course. It’s things like this in the contract that make me that much more comfortable with where I’m at.”