Affliction Has Nothing But Potential: Thoughts On Saturday Night’s Programming Throwdown
The jam packed MMA weekend is finally over and I have taken sufficient time to watch and re-watch both Affliction:Banned as well as UFN 14. My initial thoughts are on Affliction’s potential for long term growth, and of course the comparison between “Banned†and Ultimate Fight Night 14. Let’s get right to it.
If they have the dough for another show, I dare say that Affliction may very well become a lasting and solid MMA promotion. Lack of quality fighters, money, marketing and know-how have plagued fallen and floundering promotions in the past, but Affliction may very well succeed where countless others have failed thanks to their bankroll, impressive roster (albeit mostly heavyweights), the recent growth in MMA popularity, and, most notably, an open mind which embraces all facets of the fight and fan community.
Now before I go on some fanboy Affliction rant lets lay down the negatives. Affliction indeed shot themselves in the foot by having an extremely poorly produced debut show. The announcing team- atrocious. The metal band- worst idea…ever. The pacing- the phrases “extremely lousy†and “they obviously had no idea what they were doing†sum up my thoughts pretty well…but.
Affliction has nowhere to go but up and trust when I say that the sky is the limit. Getting back to Affliction embracing the fight community, for starters Affliction acknowledges that they are the new guys in town, they do not act as if they know all there is to know in the world of mixed martial arts promotions, and Tom Atencio does not claim to be a better boss than Dana White. Affliction comes off as an entity simply looking for its own piece of the MMA pie, and doing their very best to get it. They do not seem to feel the same air of animosity and competition that Dana and Co. obviously feel.
Further more, Affliction even went as far as specifically thanking the independent internet media, aka blogs just like the one you are reading right now. That speaks volumes of a promotion, especially when the face of the biggest MMA game around has a history of publicly insulting all things spawned from the internet community, as well as an uber-lame yet strict policy of not credentialing any members of the online media, aka people like myself.
They Had To Reel Them In Somehow
Yes, the Megadeath concert injection as well as the oversized ring were completely gratuitous and downright silly attributes, but hey, Affliction knew that they needed to create some kind of gimmick to put fans in the seats and eyes on the screen. They got creative. They had no access to UFC or PrideFC footage and many of their fighters, though talented, were seldom known to the casual U.S. fan base. But Affliction did their absolute best in focusing on the most cardinal of rules for putting together a fight card which you want people to buy: Have. Great. Fights. That’s all; just have great fighters fighting other great fighters. If nothing else, make me want to see the fights and when I see them, make sure that I remember them.
Sure, the UFC featured Anderson Silva in spectacular fashion once again and that’s great for The Spider, my hats off to ya buddy. But that fight meant little to nothing in the grand scheme of things. James Irvin is hardly even a top 20 LHW so to me, Silva’s punishing victory does very little to help cement his status as the best fighter there is. Affliction, on the other hand, featured arguably the best pound for pound fighter in the world proving that he might still be the best pound for pound in the world. Like it or not, Affliction’s main event (as well as a few of their other bouts) mattered and the UFC’s, while entertaining, really didn’t. It was a fun fight, an unnecessary filler fight to combat a rival promotion, and you could tell.
UFC vs. Affliction- Breaking It Down.
Both main events were simply over too fast for bang-for-buck status but that happens some times. However from a pure entertainment angle, specifically the main cards, Affliction gets the win despite all of the above mentioned production failings. Let’s look some of the bouts on Affliction’s card first:
Fedor Emelianenko def. Tim Sylvia via submission – Round 1, 0:36
Regardless of the fact that Fedor’s victory on Saturday happened too quickly to give fans that firework main event, it still does miles for Fedor’s status and popularity on U.S. soil, as well as negatively effecting Tim Sylvia’s already poor popularity and now reduced HW ranking.
Andrei Arlovski def. Ben Rothwell via KO – Round 3, 1:13
Arlovski is definitely a top five heavyweight who can now be set up for an even bigger fight against Barnett or Emelianenko in the future. Rothwell was probably not the best talent Affliction could have used to face Arlovski, but he had a very strong reputation behind him and it was by no means a squash match. The fight slowed at times but Arlovski came up big and gave fans what they wanted to see, and now they definitely want to see more of Arlovski.
Josh Barnett def. Pedro Rizzo via KO – Round 2, 1:44
Yes yes, Pedro Rizzo is not nearly the man he was when he defeated Barnett years ago, but this fight did miles for Barnett who is easily the top 2 or 3 heavyweight in the world, yet fairly unknown to American audiences. Now Barnett can build his American brand name which should be easy enough, since he has that likable funny, nerdy persona that fans throughout Japan have eaten up for years. Not to mention his K.O. win displayed a power that many have not seen from Barnett, who traditionally is best know for his ground game.
Vitor Belfort def. Terry Martin via KO – Round 2, 3:12
This match had its soft spots but there are many die hard fans who remember Vitor as “The Phenom†and really ached to see him come back in dominating fashion. While Belfort looked less than impressive early on, he managed to score the knock out that even I must admit was hoping he would deliver. Maybe Vitor won’t be the next king at 185lbs but he’s still got some strong pull to his name, and this victory only helped make that pull stronger.
Matt Lindland def. Fabio Negao via unanimous decision
Matt Lindland did exactly what everyone expected him to do against a lesser known and experienced opponent. But Lindland has solid recognition to his name thanks to his publicized feud with the UFC and even his dabbling into politics. Lindland didn’t prove much by beating up Fabio Negao, but he helped keep his name out there in the fans minds so that if and when Lindland fights for Affliction in the future, they can say “oh that guy, he won last time, he used to be in the UFC and he’s some kind of politician too, I think.†Putting Lindland up next against Vitor Belfort now seems like an obvious move that would add a great middleweight match up to Afflictions predominantly heavyweight features.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Edwin Dewees via TKO – Round 1, 4:06
Total mismatch here and no one ever expected Dewees (who normally fights at middleweight) to have a fraction of a chance at defeating the man known as “little nogâ€, but he was a late replacement for Vernon White in case you forgot. Most importantly, I think people are overlooking the fact that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is an absolute beast at LHW, who has yet to break on the scene much due to his slack fighting schedule and over shadowing twin brother “big nog.†But if Affliction can get the younger Nogueira to compete consistently, then they will have their own LHW star in the making.
Renato “Babalu†Sobral def. Mike Whitehead via unanimous decision
Not the most exciting fight in the world but Sobral is another guy who has recognition from the UFC, and can now be set up to take on “lil nog†in a very well matched LHW bout. Babalu vs. Nogueira is definitely a solid fight that I hope Affliction tries to make happen for their next showcase.
Now lets take a look at the bouts from UFC Ultimate Fight Night 14:
Anderson Silva def. James Irvin via KO – Round 1, 1:01
As I stated above, this bout (like Fedor vs. Sylvia) was over too fast to be considered a great main event, and while I give Silva props for continuing to dominate, the win did absolutely nothing to further his status or ranking. A fun fight and I admittedly watched it quite a few times on my DVR, but a meaningless (and short) fight nonetheless.
Brandon Vera def. Reese Andy via unanimous decision
What a horrible, horrible fight. My most disappointing moment of the evening came when I saw Vera struggling to breathe against the relatively unknown Reese Andy late in the third round. The UFC was kind enough to give Vera an arguable nobody in his 205 pound debut, but Vera did not deliver. Vera won the bout but in poor fashion, as he appeared severely gassed and content to grind out a decision. Maybe Reese Andy is actually way better than some have speculated, but Vera still did not take the fight to him after the first round.
Frank Edgar def. Hermes Franca via unanimous decision
Great fight. This bout could have co-headlined UFN 14 and it probably should have. Edgar surprised me with this victory but a great performance like this is what the UFC needs when trying to combat a stacked line up like Affliction’s.
Cain Velasquez def. Jake O’Brien via TKO – Round 1, 2:02
Also a great fight. It was well paced and delivered a punishing TKO victory, something fans will always eat up. Cain Velasquez needs a quality HW next time for sure.
Kevin Burns def. Anthony Johnson via TKO – Round 3, 3:35
(Sigh) What a horrible ending to an otherwise entertaining fight. Johnson was en route to a victory then got poked in the eye (repeatedly) and toppled due to what appeared to the referee as a knock out punch. This bout just made me angry and I can only hope that Johnson’s loss is overturned to a no contest.
CB Dollaway def. Jesse Taylor via submission – Round 1, 3:58
Definitely an exciting bout and I have to give huge respect to Dollaway for pulling off that Peruvian Necktie submission. But, as good as CB Dollaway is, he likely has a short future in the UFC. The only reason he can hang around for a little while is because the MW division is so in need, but in general I don’t feel that CB can hang with the UFC’s finest. Dollaway showed excellent resilience in addition to that ultra slick submission, but does pulling off a fancy sub on a TUF cast-off really mean anything in the grand UFC landscape? I don’t think so.
The Bottom Line
The UFC can continue to do what they do and fans will still follow. They do not need to put together spontaneous, underwhelming cards to combat rival programming. To me, this sort of counter-programming business is nothing more than a desperate, childish attempt to make sure that you are still the most popular kid in school, and it’s ridiculous. For the UFC, I’d say just stick to putting together solid PPV’s and we will all watch with awe just like we always have.
Promotions like Affliction may or may not become the real deal in terms of future success, but just because they have the potential to do so does not mean that the UFC should worry themselves sick with pointless Fight Night’s and endless “t-shirt guy†insults. Trust me Dana, more MMA is still a good thing even for the UFC. Affliction has to work on many, many issues in order to succeed in similar fashion as the UFC but this past weekend, by simply using the biggest names they could find, Affliction won the Saturday Night Throwdown between “Banned†and UFN 14. Of course the UFC’s show was, as expected, much better produced and organized, but Affliction had the better fights and if they can keep doing that, they will continue to earn at least my pay-per-view dollar.
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I couldn’t agree more. The affliction card itself was fantastic, and most of the fights lived up to the hype. However, I found myself bored or flipping channels between fights which I rarely will do with UFC PPVs.
Megadeth? Really? Don’t get me wrong, I was a fan about 10-15 years ago, but if you are going to spend all of this money on this promotion and fighters, couldn’t you have dipped a little deeper in your pockets for say…better announcers? Aweful. Big John was the greatest ref of all time…true. Does that make him qualified to announce? Knowledgable? Yes. But at times I wanted to shoot myself in the hand to take away from the pain of having to hear him speak.
So, great card Affliction. But there was so much more that could have been done. Hopefully next time.
Good post.
It’s no the UFC’s fault that Vera disappointed though. He had the potential to have a solid fight, but simply did not deliver. Sometimes you just get unlucky…
In terms of the Silva fight, I’m not sure that it meant nothing though. Most people probably assumed he would win the fight, but such an easy victory helps his image a lot, proving that even moving up a weight class isn’t a huge obstacle.
All in all, i appreciated both promotions greatly.
How can you say Silva winning meant nothing, but Fedor winning did? Evebody knew that Tim Sylvia was gonna get his azz handed to him. And by the looks of this forum , about half the people thought Irvin had a decent chance at winning.
I think it’s the other way around. Fedor is dominating a weak division, while Silva is too at 185, but atleast he is stepping up to find some decent competition. Sandman might not be a top tier LHW, but i’m sure we will see Silva fight some better guys at 205 in the future.
Why didn’t the ref disqualify Kevin Burns? He clearly kept throw the jab with an open palm to blind the fighter. That disqualification was a gimme, but did not happen.
when the ref waves the fight off thats it there are no re dos or even coaches challenge so they cant over turn it cause the ref missed it. so we have to go with our refs are trained well and the fight is in their hands
JustJoe ,
Eric Shapiro is right when he said that silva’s win does nothing for him…i mean ya it was another addition to his highlight reel….and fedor beating sylvia is alot different sylvia is the #2 heavyweight in the world and fedor dismantled him like he was nothing….and pletty of people thought sylvia had a chance..heck i think sylvia would have won had he used his left jab instead of trying to clinch with fedor…anyways silva win is nothing why?…because james irvin is not even a top 15 lhw and no im not biased because irvin’s one of my fav. fighters….anyways i really dont think anderson can hang with anyone in the top of the lhw…the fact that people are rumoring already that he could face forrest for the title in december is just plain bull crap…and if you dont believ me read the ufn musing on ufc.com they talk about andersons next logical fight being against forrest and thats a ufc.com column writer saying that….but in my oppinion if anderson gets a shot at forrest’s title i will quit watching the ufc forever …one win over james irvin is not even close to earning a title shot!
Affliction PPV was worth it, however the production value was pretty bad. The announcers were boring. I’d like to see Affliction hire Bas Rutten as an announcer. Since they have PRIDE fighters, it would make sense to have a PRIDE announcer. I’d like to see them put together a Grand Prix for the next WAMMA title for 205 or 185 weight class. They should always co-promote their events, like they did with M1, in order to get more great fighters.
Anderson’s fight I thought was very impressive. So I don’t think it was meaningless. But Fedor’s was without a shadow of a doubt the more important. I think Fedor is the best in the world. The only fight hes ever lost was due to a cut. Anderson lost to Daiju Takase whos good but not top-tier. Fedor also went back and avenged that loss. Anderson fought the Sandman who is no joke. Plus, because he won the fight in impressive fashion, next time he fights at LHW they’ll put him against a tougher fighter. Affliction’s production and Megadeth and Announce team were horrible, but it was their 1st show so you had to figure there would be some downsides, but the fights, which is what matters to true fans in the scheme of things, were fantastic and didn’t disappoint. All the fights pretty much went the way I thought they would. Except for Fedor-Sylvia I thought Fedor would win but I didn’t think he would dominate. I mean Tim Sylvia, I think, is a legit top 5 fighter in HW and a 2-3 time UFC Champion, and Fedor ran through him like well I dont have a good analogy but, nonetheless WOW!!!! Vera looked horrible, Im a fan and Andy wasn’t that good. If Wandy or Chuck were in that ring or even Thiago or Lyoto or Houston were in that ring that fight wouldn’t have made it past midway in the 2nd at least. Its going to be interesting to see what Anderson can do in the LHW. Though I don’t think hes completely dominated the MW yet. Hes changed the landscape yes but no domination. I mean theres still Cote, Okami, Martin Kampman, and if I sit down to think probably a few others as well. But man is it not a great time to be a MMA fan. Its been a great time for a couple of years now so. Whatever happens its the fans who benefit by these and other (EliteXC on Saturday Night, WEC a week late, and the always entertaining World Combat League) promotions. Happy Watching.
Oh yeah I forgot. The Anthony Johnson fight was the worst screwjob I have ever seen in any type of sports. Besides steroids of course. I would go so far as to disqualify Kevin Burns and give the fight to Johnson, but if nothing else at least and No-Contest is in order. Kevin Burns was warned repeatedly about the open hand strikes. I understand he had to because of the broken hand or whatever, but in any case thats no excuse. Did you see his eye at the end of the fight. It the UFC or whoever deals with this doesn’t overturn the decision, they lose serious respect points which Im sure doesn’t matter but, Wow HE GOT F****D.
Good article…..I agree a lot. I still feel a big part of the bank/payroll comes from The Donald and other investors who are doing nothing other than trying to make a quick buck. That is the only real problem I see Affliction having long term….Playing with big money from people who do not care about the future of MMA….only money. Fighters may want to fight for Affliction because the fighter pay being higher but on the other hand, the UFC/Zuffa is a billion dollar corporartion/industry/whatever the f you call it. The UFC could easily match and UP the fighter salary if that were ever the case. Fighters should be paid more but at the same time, I see Affliction tainting MMA with money. Tito was in attendance and to me that is a sign he will be fighting for Affliction very soon. Tito has the type of personality to get “big bucks” and soon think he is bigger than the sport. That is a big worry I have with Affliction. Guys with personlaities like Tito making “big/HUGE money.” It’s f-d up every other major sport.
Hopefully, Affliction will have worked out the kinks and will have a better quality production next time around. I am excited for possible upcoming bouts; Fedor vs. Couture, Barnett vs. Arolovski, Lindland vs. Belfort or Sobral, etc. There are plenty of fantastic non-ufc fighterss out there. Guys from elite (ie. Robbie Lawler, Jake Shields, KJ Noons, Drew Fickett, Nick Diaz, Ninja Rua,) and guys from Strikeforce, WVR, and DREAM (Josh Thomson, Hayato Sakurai, Gomi, Monson, Melendez, Aoki,etc.) have non-exclusive or short-term contracts and could probably fight at Affliction. Also, with Donald Trump footing the bill, they could attract fighters from the UFC with bigger purses. Affliction is definitely going places.
Some awesome comments by Mr. Shapiro. I believe that Affliction stands a very good chance with the financial backing of Mr. Donald Trump. Believe me that Donald Trump is not the idiot that some people believe he is. When Trump smells a buck he is in there quickly and I believe it is investors like this that will bolster Affliction and give the Fertitta’s a run for their money.
Just one other comment, if anyone thought that the Fedor vs. Sylvia fight would go pass the first round then they don’t know Mixed Martial Arts. Sylvia is a big ackward mess compared to Fedor’s precision fighting. Dana White knew this and that is why he did not want to sign Fedor – no heavyweight can give Fedor a run at this point in his career – but I will enjoy seeing his competition getting run over!
What’s with all the whining about the announcers and the production being bad? I thought they were just fine. It beats listening to Joe Rogan say “phenomanal”, “sick jui jitsu”, and “looks like he’s going for an omaplata” about thousand times. Has anybody ever won with an omaplata in UFC history? I don’t think so. And what’s eveyone’s problem with Megedeth? They’re a hard, technical band and this is a hard, technical sport. As if they’re worse than any of the bands featured on the UFC. Better than that Linkin Park, Limp Biscuit crap. I’m not a big Megadeth fan but I didn’t think it was inappropriate. But if I have to listen to “Into Pieces!” or that gladiator music one more time I’m gonna blow my brains out. Change it up. People keep saying the UFC has such a better production. Aside from the Silva fight and BJ Penn waxing Sean Sherk, their last few shows have really sucked, and their format is just getting old. And do they have to take 15 minutes to promo ever fight and every fighter and interview everyone after each fight? That’s so annoying and just a waste of time. Just get to the fights already and stick to interviewing the main events. Thank God for Affliction and for a little variety! I liked that they had good fights and kept them moving.
Affliction sucked… it bored me to sleep. i am glad that i streamed it live for free ateast, (like most ppl that i know did)…
Affliction was really worth the money 40 dooler 10 fights cant see the down side plus free ufc now if Affliction can put together more ppv and ufc keeps putting on free i can have 2 fight shows in one night what and age we live in!!!
lol M3 i think you mean dollar buddy but yeah i totally AGREE 2 shows in one night we all got spoiled
I agree – the card for the UFC Night was abysmally bad – for a promotions company that relies heavily on fan knowledge through it’s tv properties the fights were almost as if a bunch of unknowns had been thrown together at the last minute – sure many are known to the mma community, but spike and the UFC reach beyond hardcore daily mma fans.
it was bad and I was only interested in the first and last bouts.
would have liked to see affliction as at least most of their cards had someone in the ring with whom I was familiar.
2 cents from someone who has been watching UFC from back in 80’s….when it was truly brutal…just fyi.
I like the current rules but that “fight” night was anything but.
tim sylvia is nobody and i don’t care what anyone else says about it. he has proven to be dominant against weaker fighters only (with the exception of arlovski). he doesn’t belong up there with the likes of couture, nogueira, and fedor. i bet he would’ve lost to guys like kongo, verdum, gonzaga, and even LESNAR too! he sucks.
Eric,
Great article and I couldn’t agree more with what you said.
Those of you thinking Trump being involved is going to make this promotion ‘corrupt’ need to do your homework. Trump being involved means this promotion HAS A CHANCE whereas it may not have before.
Now if DON KING was involved THEN maybe you can talk about corruption. Otherwise, do your homework on ‘The Donald’ and realize he is one of the better businessmen in the WORLD.
While I enjoyed the Affliction card, what happens after Lindland and Belfort fight, and Fedor and AA/Barnett, and Babalu and Lil Nog or possibly Oritz. I have little interest in seeing Sylvia v. Rothwell or anyone else on the card fight again in a main card bout. Without a large stable of fighters, including some up and comers, Affliction will soon be out of quality fights and these top fighters will be fighting no names again. I don’t see Affliction willing or able to continue to lay out the type of cash necessary to bring in the numebr of big names to fight on one card the way they did this time, especially if they do not make a profit. If they cannot make a profit with the names on this card, they are even less likely to do so when there are no more big fights.
I agree, Affliction can only go up from here.
It’s also worth considering, that if Elite-XC draws more good ratings this weekend than its only a matter of time before Affliction has a TV deal with NBC or one of their cable channels.