An announcement was made on MMARated.com earlier today that the UFC would indeed be counter-programming against the upstart Affliction Pay Per Event. While the idea of counter-programming the smaller MMA organization isn’t completely new to most MMA enthusiasts, the whole idea of throwing together a card and announcing it only one month before the event is atypical of the largest MMA organization. Not to mention that the card could be lacking some steam even after UFC 86 on July 5th.
For example, the main event - Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin at light heavyweight. While Silva is a great middleweight champ, he will be fighting a mid-level contender at a higher weight on SpikeTV in an attempt to compete against big names like Andre Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, and Fedor Emelianenko. When it all comes down to it, I’d quickly pay to watch a high-quality HD broadcast free of commercials and shady main events. It’s easy enough to DVR this UFC event in the event that something crazy happens, like Silva losing at the hands of Irvin, just to say that I saw it.
So for all of you who cried “circus” for the EliteXC Saturday Night Fight’s broadcast better be out in full force on Saturday, July 19th to watch the same kind of mediocre madness unfold. You may not see dancers and rappers, but you’ll see something you saw at the EliteXC show; a plea for mainstream acceptance.
While it is in the best interest of the UFC to counter program, it’s in our best interest to allow the sport to grow. So do the sport of MMA a favor and ignore this little attention circus that Dana White is setting up. Pay for the Affliction card and TiVo or DVR the UFC event to watch later. Because when it all comes down to it, you really don’t want another Vince McMahon running around, do we?
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June 17th, 2008 at 8:24pm
actually after reading this biased anti-ufc garbage, I’m going to definitely not purchase the PPV.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:31pm
Considering that I pay 54.95 for all the UFC PPV’s, I wouldn’t say that I’m anti-UFC, “JJ”.
You can leave a broad comment and call this garbage, but I’ll just ignore it and move on. I don’t care what you think until you back it up with something more than an anonymous comment about how “badass” you are now.
Got anything better? Ya know, maybe something to support your argument?
June 17th, 2008 at 8:59pm
B,
I myself will be watching the Affliction card, but I have heard many fans say that they would rather watch a free show from a proven MMA organization, than to pay 50 dollars from one that is unproven and may or may not be able to deliver.
I want to see Fedor fight another top 10 heavyweight. I want to see just how good he is against top competition.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:48am
JJ, I’m not going to be as kind as my friends.
You’re an idiot.
If you’re not going to buy the card because you don’t want to pay for it, that’s find. But if you’re not going to buy it because someone pointed out that, in fact, it’s a better product than the piece of shit card thrown together at the last minute by Dana and Joe Silva, then you’re just as bad as the dumbasses who voted for Hillary and jumped the Democratic ship to spite the party.
I have no tolerance for either.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:49am
Sure, I’m an Anderson Silva fan. It would really be interesting to see him go up against James Irvin. But just not on July 19th!! I’m definitely paying for Affliction’s banned and find a way to record the Fight Night. I don’t have DVR or Tivo. I really do think that Banned will be the best card on paper for the year, hopefully the actualy fights live up to the expectations. While I do think, Big Tim Sylvia has a chance to win (puncher’s chance, the likelihood of a quick armbar submission is very possible.
I hope Irvin knows that Silva is actually more of a LHW that competes as a MW. It will be really great to see Irvin test his Muy Thai against Silva’s. I really hope Irvin will be able to make the match against Anderson Silva competitive. I wouldn’t mind an actual 3-round competition but watching Silva dominate an opponent hasn’t bored me yet. Hopefully Irvin strikes first and often because Anderson really doesn’t do much in the first minute . . . unless provoked.
^Brandt, why are you calling it Randy Couture’s MMA organization? Is he another investor? I know Trump recently purchased a stake in the company. I hope Affliction hangs around for the years to come as a MMA promoter. However, I won’t buy their over-priced t-shirts.
——————
Extraneous note. Leave Vince McMahon* alone. He created superstars and made millionaires out of many of those entertainment wrestlers. Union, medical benefits, health coverage? I don’t know, maybe there’s something in place to protect them. There are many professional athlete entertainers in combat sports with out proper coverage.
* Yes, I’ll admit I grew up watching the wrestling circus act and occasionally watch some of the WWE programs every other month or two.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:45am
Vee: Good stuff. Sylvia is definitely one of Emelianenko’s toughest opponents as of late, but like Hong Man Choi, he has a terrible ground game and must keep this fight standing.
Silva vs. Irvin could turn out to be an interesting fight, but it’s just odd to announce this fight so late. It’s something we would see from a Japanese promotion like DREAM, not the cautious White-led promotion. Apparently SpikeTV wouldn’t agree to let this air so soon as they were sticking to their original Fight Night specials and didn’t want to change things up. Interesting.
My reference to Couture was way off as I was thinking Xtreme Couture, not Affliction, for some reason. I’ll fix that.
McMahon did some good things, yes, but he’s hated by all who work with him. If White goes out and allows the fighters to create a union and helps the fighters unite to protect themselves, I would definitely give him recognition for that.
P.S. - John Philavapage is the wrestling nerd, he can fill us all in with random facts about McMahon and the WWF/WWE if needed. I know very little about the history of the WWE aside from what he has explained to me.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:51am
Also, the title of this article is harsh…it should be “When Free is Bad…” Oh well.
Also, there are some more matches added to the card.
From Fighters.com
UFC and Fighters.com’s Middleweight Champion “The Spider” Anderson Silva (21-4) is expected to headline against “The Sandman” James Irvin (14-4) in light heavyweight match-up.
Silva will not give up his middleweight title and is expected to return to that weight division.
Fighters.com’s eighth-ranked lightweight Hermes Franca (18-6) versus “The Answer” Frank Edgar (8-1) will also be on the card, up from their scheduled fight in Minneapolis 9 August.
As well, heavyweight “The Truth” Brandon Vera (8-2) and Reese Andy (7-1) will meet in a light heavyweight bout; and Cain Velasquez (3-0) is to face Jake O’Brien (10-1).
June 18th, 2008 at 10:52am
Vee, I agree with you on this one.
I don’t think that Anderson is not a lightheavyweight who fights at middleweight. He’s very suited to fight at 185, and he’s got the skills to fight at 205. We’ll see how big he is against a guy like Irvin, but I think you’ll see the difference.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:45am
Good stuff Brandt.
Fans have an opportunity to see the best Heavyweight in the world, competing in his most significant since fight since 2005 (Mirko).
The UFC has decided to counter program with two of their most popular fighters, in very winnable mathces. James Irvin and Reese Andy are decent fighters, but should not pose any real danger to Anderson Silva or Brandon Vera.
I’ll catch the UFC show later.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:59pm
According to SI.com Silva is walking around at 212lbs.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/josh_gross/06/18/anderson.silva/index.html?eref=T1
“If the UFC asks me to do something, and it’s within my capability to do so, I’m going to do it, I feel like I’m part of the UFC family and the head of the family asked me to fight. I’m in condition to fight, my coaches say I can fight — I’m going to fight. I want to do whatever I can to help make UFC the No. 1 event around the world like it is.”
- A. Silva
“If he loses, hey that’s part of the game. Someone’s going to lose. You got a 50 percent chance of losing. We’re really not looking at it that way. We’re up for the challenge … and we’re hoping that Anderson’s going to walk out with his hand raised. I have faith that he’s capable of doing that.”
- Ed Soares (Silva’s manager)
. . . maybe Dana may reconsider the whole Roy Jones Jr. request? I doubt it.
June 18th, 2008 at 4:54pm
Vee, that’s not big for a lightheavyweight. That’s a medium sized lightheavyweight. Vera isn’t actually a big lightheavyweight either (because, to the best of my knowledge, he’s around 220ish most of the time).
Page is a big lightheavyweight. Goran Reljic is a big lightheavyweight.
Still, we’ll see if he can make his skills work against bigger competition. I think he can, given that he stopped Hendo (and, remember, Page didn’t).
June 18th, 2008 at 5:49pm
Vince McMahon -
Millions made personally: try billions
Stock dividends payed to self: 44 million a year or so
Salary a year as a performer and Chairman: several millions
Number of millionaire wrestlers he’s made (defined as making a million in a year before taxes): His son-in-law HHH, Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and in recent years maybe one or two others like Shawn Michaels
So six or seven tops. add in a handful who make it after taxes over several years and don’t spend it on travel the WWE does NOT pay for: another 3-4. So being nice we’ll say 10-12 millionaires, half of which barely get along with him after the fact.
Number of those in industry who lost jobs thanks to Vince: hundreds to thousands
Number of those dead attributable to his reign in wrestling and the conditions under which he will make you a valued member of his roster (wink wink): over 40 since 1984.
Thanks Vince
Oh yeah, I wanna see both shows. Go Fighters. Boo suits!
June 18th, 2008 at 7:13pm
I’d never heard of this site before, and now I regret having ever discovered it. This article (like the one above it) is one of the most absurd, one-sided pieces of crap journalism ever written. I can read this sort of shit from the assortment of anti-UFC trolls on the Underground Forum. I was hoping for an intelligent alternative. Obviously, I’ll keep on looking.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:39pm
Thonolan, why don’t you stop your crying and read my latest article, The Mobster and Boxer, to see that it’s not anti-UFC site. In my newest article, I basically say that Lorenzo’s move is a good one for the UFC as long as he continues to stay legit. It’s not breaking news that his family has been involved in organized crime for more than half a decade, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt because he has done a ton of charity work.
Anyways, this isn’t the Kevin Iole shrine so get used to criticism and stop thinking that your opinion is the only one. If you want to respond intelligently, everyone will be glad to debate. If you want to act like this is a forum, go back to Sherdog.
What’s funny is that I even say that it’s in the interest of the UFC to counter-program. Maybe you’re used to being a troll on the UG to even read that far into this article?
June 19th, 2008 at 12:43pm
There sure are some anti-UFC thoughts out here. I think it’s the same people that root against the Yankee’s, Patriots and Notre Dame football. They don’t have a dog in the fight but they certainly want the one that’s winning to lose. I am a HUGE MMA mark but I think the Tim/Fedor fight is the only one that will and should be interesting. I think if any of the other fights on the card are interesting it won’t be because the underdog stepped up, it will be that the “name” fighters Affliction has acquired aren’t the same dominant fighters we like to remember. Barnett should easily submit an out of shape Rizzo, Rothwell is a 2nd tier fighter and if Arloski doesn’t take him out in the 1st, he’ll need to look no further for a reason of why the UFC let him go. Whitehead vs. Babalu? If Babalu doesn’t choke him out in less then 2 minuets, him and Arloski can open the same camp for ability with no urgency. I have no problems with other promotions having PPV’s but I don’t think any of them will be able to stack a card top to bottom like the UFC currently can. I’ll be interested to see what the next Affliction PPV will look like after their heavyweight heavy roster is needing a break. You can’t sell an entire PPV on the 08 Tito Ortiz like you could back in the day.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:20pm
It’s not anti-UFC, but instead coming from the mindset that a monopoly is not good for MMA. And even if everyone else gave up with trying to promote another organization, we certainly won’t see an benefits from a natural monopoly in this case when the ideas behind running a MMA organization are mostly subjective. A natural monopoly works for a cable company (sharing cable lines) or for organizations sharing a physical medium, not a sport.
And just to counter your first thought - if you insist that I am anti-UFC because I just want a dog in the fight, I could just say that you a bandwagon jumper because you like the best team. It’s a useless argument.
June 21st, 2008 at 7:07am
Edited: Keep the comments relevant.
How is this wrong by the UFC? We all know that Affliction is only a big name because they got the UFCs help by all their fighters wearing Affliction T-Shirts. Then once they used the UFC and got what they wanted they decide to start up their own org and throw all their money in to attract the fighters and hopefully steal as many as they can.It was a dirty move by Affliction in the first place. Now the UFC puts their own show on the same day and some stupid people think its wrong. I will most definitely watch the UFC and there is nothing wrong with the 2 main fights.Both Silva and Vera and moving to a different weight class (LHW) and this is always risky, Irvin is the best striker Silva will have faced in the UFC and Silva WILL NOT have the KO power he had at MW. The only good fight on the Affliction card is Fedor vs Sylvia and I know exactly how it will go. The same way as Fedor vs Schilt, a big tall striker. Fedor will lay on big Tim for 3 rounds and grind out a rubbish desicion,meanwhile Silva and Irvin will be tearing it up big time in a amazing stand up brawl and people will be on the edge of their seat when they see the dangers Silva faces at LHW,though he will take the win after a very hard fought fight.
June 21st, 2008 at 7:09am
Edited: Keep the comments relevant.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:11am
UFC over hypes most of its fights i get bored of watching some of them.. AS a tru MMA fan ima Buy the Affliction card hey its 39 dollars that’s less then the UFC events and its in a RING so NO running away
go FEDOR!
July 11th, 2008 at 6:46am
Tokeherb,
Spoken like true token Pride nuthugger….
The Affliction card should be a good one, but only because Fedor will finally fight a top ten performer… Timmy truly has fought against better competition and if this fight stays standing it could work better for Tim.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:45am
Wow…Willis you don’t hold anything back do ya?
July 16th, 2008 at 6:20am
Affliction is the way to go. the UFC is just sour that someone else has a better card with much much better fighters. Look, Heavyweight is still the highest level of the sport and if you think otherwise, you need to get some perspective. Let Anderson silva fight Fedor and then we’ll know..
Stop pretending that the flyweights are great. The UFC is now mainly comprised of tiny weeny lil flyweights as opposed to the real heavyweights at affliction.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:33am
Well it does seem that the UFC has lost a big chunk of their old heavyweight roster, but they still have many of the top 10 light heavyweights, middleweights, and welterweights.
There aren’t any flyweights in the UFC though…perhaps you’re thinking of the UFC lightweight division, one of the most exciting divisions in all of MMA?
July 20th, 2008 at 8:00am
I don’t know about the rest of you but I don’t have extra money laying around these days to give “THE TRUMP” or any other pay per view event.Almost every MMA fight I’v seen has been exciting.And Dana White has put this sport on the map…and putting a free fight on the same night as a ppv fight was on was good …Affliction and it’s backers are just pissed that they didn’t think of it first …hopefully this will lead to more free fights….and make no mistake there is so much talent out there now…..I’m sure there will be enough money to go around boys…so play nice and don’t f.u. the best real sport out there with drama….
July 20th, 2008 at 8:33am
You are correct when you say that White put the sport on the map, but that doesn’t justify buying only UFC PPV events. Capitalism is about providing competition and competing products are what continue to drive more innovation and higher quality.
I can say that IBM built the first computers so you shouldn’t buy a Apple even if they have a higher quality product. That doesn’t make any sense, does it?
Putting a free UFC event on the same night did little to stop people from buying the Affliction PPV, but I can guarantee that it will garner more interest for Affliction when their headlines are mixed in with UFC headlines in the major print and online publications.
July 20th, 2008 at 8:51am
Everyone I know watch the free show…and not just because it was free….I like most others wanted to see silva work….at the same time I was getting updates on the computer on the ppv for free…I agree that competition is a must …I would love to see free fights all the time no matter who’s putting them on.. I don’t ever do ppv for anything…so it was very cool to be able to see that live….
July 20th, 2008 at 8:57am
Well you’ll be seeing a lot more MMA if CBS Saturday Night Fights does well on July 26th. Don’t forget about the WEC on Versus and Strikeforce on Showtime.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:01am
Forget the WEC …how could you do that faber is so ……well so everything the first time I seen him fight I was like WOW….and then I seen him stand with pulver ….very,very impressed