Comments on: UFC could go for a first round knockout against Affliction (UPDATED)

By: Nate

Nate — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:08:09 +0000

I want most of all MMA to be around. Next, I want another promotion like PrideFC used to be.

Unfortunately, there is only 1 proven MMA business model: UFC.

IFL, M1, etc. tried and now Affliction will go to it. I like M1 and Affliction’s model they seem to be pushing, and I’ll be buying into it. But my buy, and hopes & wishes are only going to help so much. The problem is you need the fickle and hard core fans to be interested.

Even I am having trouble getting information about the Affliction event. The fickle fans are not even going to know about it.

MMA is still growing so much, the communication channels still are not built up for fans. Until I found out about this site, I only really followed news on sherdog and news.google.com. It sucked. And I was looking for news all the time.

Normal sports fans follow ESPN, or get updates from their local sports news channels. Most of those commentators dont discuss MMA yet.

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By: Michaelthebox

Michaelthebox — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:49:08 +0000

Another thing to note is that, at this point, there isn’t a single promotion in the world that has succeeded at drawing away any significant portion of UFC’s casual fanbase. Strikeforce has become very successful by developing their own fanbase, and EliteXC is basically looking to do much the same thing. Affliction is the only organization that cannot survive without taking a huge chunk of the UFC’s fanbase. The economics simply aren’t there for them to live off the hardcores while building their own fanbase. Unless Trump is willing to lose a hundred million.

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By: Michaelthebox

Michaelthebox — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:43:00 +0000

bjjdenver: the difference between Affliction and other incoming MMA organizations is that Affliction is trying to be a top-level organization straight off the bat, with the accompanying costs. All orgs have to work to get the casual fans or build their own hardcore fanbase, but the time frame Affliction has to work with is a great deal shorter due to their insane fighter investments. The UFC can’t do this level of counterprogramming with all competing promotions without losing too much money to make it worthwhile. But it takes time to spread to casual fans, and Affliction is working with a much shorter time frame. One or two counter-shows at the start of their existence may be enough to doom Affliction.

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By: bjjdenver

bjjdenver — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:45:51 +0000

#36,

I am well aware that they will have to draw more than hardcore fans to succeed. However, this initial show, while featuring some big names, is designed to get the attention of mma fans, then spread to more casual fans as the promotion grows.

this is not only a huge problem for them, but for any new promotion. The UFC is basically the only org with their own fanbase large enough to sustain them.

I think the best that Affliction can hope for, is to draw us hardcore fans and a few casual fans that may recognize some names and be curious. Of course, I’m sure they are hoping that fans will gather to watch their card, thus exposing their product to some of the more casual fans.

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By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:14:17 +0000

” How does that work with Chuck fighting for the UFC and Randy at the time?”

At the time it didn’t matter

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By: Cliff H

Cliff H — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:57:54 +0000

Affliction has a great card!!!! It is all ex-champs from the UFC or guys that could be champs. Any of these guys could beat Nogueira on any giving night. UFC needs to have a card like this. The last PPV UFC card sucked!!! There wasn’t even a title fight. When is Nogueira going to fight someone????????

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By: Cliff Heard

Cliff Heard — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:40:19 +0000

Affiction makes Chuck L and Randy C shirts. How does that work with Chuck fighting for the UFC and Randy at the time?

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By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:31:59 +0000

I don’t understand why Affliction didn’t use their resources to re-work their hideous clothing line and start heavily pushing fight gear. Instead it seems like they stepped aside and just gave the “unofficial gar/clothing” line of the UFC over to TapOut.

Turn “Heroes and Demons” into a classy logo and start making board shorts and gloves if you’re going to refurbish your company. Not getting into figthing that nobody can seem to do right besides Zuffa.

I know everyone laugh at their cheesy clothes (including me) but people forget pretty fast and people would have complete forgotten about screaming dragon Halloween shirts soon enough with a little make over and expanded line. They were really onto something and now they have a product nobody believes in.

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By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:12:01 +0000

somebody said something like:

“every battle is decided before it is actually fought”

if the ufc chooses to fight affliction, the battle is already over.

ufc has a nuclear arsenal at their disposal. affliction’s main weapon seems to be a willingness to lose money.

stick to the t-shirt business guys, and maybe smoke a lil less weed.

thanks to affliction for the great card, but they have set a pace i doubt they can sustain.

unless affliction has a “hole card” like a forthcoming network tv deal, they have almost no chance to build a profitable promotion.

i wouldn’t even be surprised if this first card is cancelled.

what’s kind of funny is that i’d bet, in the long run, UFC will sell more UFC t-shirts than affliction. affliction is niche and trendy. you’ll see UFC stuff in Wal Mart and Target, which dwarfs higher end outlets like Nordstrom.

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By: jgrose23

jgrose23 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:04:17 +0000

Just a question I’ve been thinking about. Where does Affliction go after this PPV?? It seems they are “blowing their load” really quickly (pardon the phrasing). It seems they are spending A LOT of money on fighter salary for this event. Won’t the fighters (even guys not on this card) be expecting the same type of money from here on out from Affliction??
Plus, what/who do they have for a second show?? Do they put Fedor on every card?? This show seems very short-sighted.

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By: Scott B

Scott B — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:59:07 +0000

Wandy and Vera is a good fight…. But is it as immense as Dana has said his announcement would be?? I’m going to wait until Tuesday to make any real comments.

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By: matt

matt — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:47:31 +0000

Affliction thinks they will get 250k PPVs based on the amount of tshirts sold.

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By: Michaelthebox

Michaelthebox — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:43:38 +0000

bjjdenver: Affliction can’t survive without the casual fans, and they have to get a LOT of them REAL SOON. Not only will the UFC running counterprogramming damage Affliction’s buy rate for this show, it will damage it for future shows as well. Affliction may lose an insane amount of money for this show, and I doubt they can go more than three shows without showing serious improvement.

Make no mistake, this is a huge problem for them.

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By: woooburn

woooburn — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:14:36 +0000

i wouldnt at all be surprised to see a recap show run at the same time, featuring…

liddell vs babalu 2
sylvia vs mir
terrell vs lindland
irvin vs martin
liddell vs belfort
rizzo vs barnett

i’m sure the ufc is already trying to argue that the fighters on the affliction card couldn’t cut it in the ufc, so they might as well airs fights they lost.

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By: jgrose23

jgrose23 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:03:31 +0000

Isn’t this what everyone has been crowing about?? Competition is good for MMA?? Affliction’s card seems to be competition for the UFC and it looks like they may be answering with a free card. Why are people slamming the UFC for this???

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By: matt

matt — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:52:49 +0000

Affliction is expecting 250-300k worth of PPV buys. Did they look at PPVs that Tim Sylvia fought on and thought he was the reason for those buys?

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By: Rich S.

Rich S. — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:49:05 +0000

whoa whoa whoa..
i’m not saying Vera can’t beat Wandy..
but..
he just came off of consecutive losses to the two toughest guys he’s fought in his career..
they SERIOUSLY need to give Vera a can or something just to get him back on the “W” side..
Vera’s pretty marketable and they could go far with him, so the last thing they need to do is give him a possibility of 3 losses in a row..

with that fight aside..
they just shouldn’t do this anyway..
just let Affliciton get their fame..
and keep putting on regularly scheduled shows, UFC, ok? you don’t have to dominate the world.. we know you’re good..

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By: bjjdenver

bjjdenver — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:48:04 +0000

If the UFC wants to give me free mma, then Hell yeah!!

But if they think this will put a big chink in the Affliction armor, they may be wrong. I’m sure they will get viewers, because UFC fans will tune in, and most of us mma fans will find a way to record it (DVR for the win!).

The thing is, Affliction 1 isn’t going to be a huge draw for the casual fans, it is more for the hardcore fans. i doubt if many hardcore fans are going to skip Affliction just for a free UFC card they can watch afterwards.

A couple of things:

-I don’t think the Vera/Silva fight would be at 205, it would more likely be at HW, with perhaps an agreement that Vera comes in under 220 or something. It isn’t like Silva walks around at 205. Both guys had relatively simple fights without much drain or injury, so this could easily happen.

-As for the Banned card, Fedor/Sylvia is a big matchup that many fans find intriguing. As for the rest of the card, they are showcasing fighters we all want to see, but not in the best matchups. I’m sure they are saving those potential barn-burners for future shows.

-Affliction is expecting to lose money on this show, and I see NO way they break even or close in their initial outing. Personally, I will be watching with a group of friends that are unfamiliar with their foray into promoting, and that is one way I expect them to build their base.

I have absolutely no problem with UFC doing this or just about any other tactic they can to dominate the landscape.

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By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:42:23 +0000

I agree with matt. #28

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By: joe

joe — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:38:12 +0000

remember when cards were seasonal? now we have 2 cards on the same day! man, is this the silver age of mma or what, great time to be a fan

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