Wheels in motion for UFC event on July 19
June 16, 2008 by Sam Caplan
FiveOuncesOfPain.com has spoken with a well-placed source speaking on the condition of anonymity who has confirmed that plans for a July 19 UFC special on Spike TV are “heating up.”
Sherdog.com first reported earlier in the day the possibility that the UFC and Spike TV would counter-program Affliction’s inaugural event on pay-per-view. According to the Sherdog report, the main event of the UFC special could feature an intriguing light heavyweight bout between Brandon Vera and Wanderlei Silva.
Neither the UFC or Spike TV has yet to officially comment on the reports.
oh man, if Wanderlei fights.. I have to watch, he is one of my fav fighters. I guess I’ll have to go to a bar or something to be able to watch both events. NO way am I missing the Affliction event, it is one of the best cards since the days of PRIDE FC.
Dave Meltzer reported on yahoo, that Silva turned it down. It was not enough time to prepare. An event seems not likely but not ruled out.
Any news that the event will be called UFC 86.5: Fuck Affliction?
lol
The UFC is about making money…not about the love of MMA. They see this as competition, not about sport.
Thank god Wandy turned it down. What a terrible idea that was. Just awful. I love Silva to death, and that is NOT the fight he needs right now.
DocWagner: if the UFC isn’t about the love of MMA. . . who cares? They’ve still shown more ability and willingness to match up top fighters than any promotion in history.
It just doesn’t make sense to feel threatened by Affliction. This has to be the worst promoted/marketed big card in history.
To me, if the UFC card is for real, it’s not a move made out of weakness (fear), but rather out of strength. As others have noted, the Affliction card doesn’t appear to be well marketed and despite having some serious talent, it also has some holes.
1. No one outside of weirdos like us that visit blogs and forums all day long know who Fedor is.
2. Casual fans know who Timmy is, and they don’t like him.
3. Rothwell. See number 1.
4. Andre, the best draw on the card, hasn’t fought on TV in over a year and that fight was boring.
Plus its littered with nostalgia guys like Belfort, Vernon White, and Rizzo(!?!) and others that are either unkown in the US or just not exciting to watch - Lil Nog and Lindland respectively.
What about all that is a formula for big PPV buys? Not much. A competing card from the UFC would be a foot on the throat moment of death.
IMO, if they wanted to impact the ppv sales of Affliction, UFC should put on a solid ppv card.
This would make many fans that are going to order Banned, choose either one or the other. It would eliminate the people like me, that will order Affliction and DVR the UFC.
Sam, I have one inside source myself, who shoots about 75% correct, and he says that the Wandy vs Vera fight was tossed around and scratched. Apparently Wandy thinks it would be to fast for him to get ready. There are talks for…..get ready for this……Franklin vs Henderson? I can’t see them doing it on short notice myself, but apparently it has been proposed to the two fighters. Again, just rumor.
I kind of like the title “UFC 86.5: Operation Infliction of Destruction” That way they don’t even mention the name of their competitor, but everyone will know the meaning….lol.
Considering the price of gasoline right now, quite a few of the less committed fans will simply watch the free show and put the 40 bucks in their gas tank. Then they will go online and find the fights and watch them for free.
I know this seems cheap, but to everyone who says that the UFC is all about making money, then Affliction must NOT care about making money (only the sport of MMA), so they shouldn’t worry about PPV numbers, right?
That wily Dana White…always calculating.
Anyways, that Wanderlei v. Brandon fight seemed kinda senseless and below Wanderlei, tbh.
Nick that would be awesome.
WTF with Brandon Vera?
Why can’t they do Evans vs Wandy? Wandy took no damage in his last fight and Evans should be ready since he was preparing for 85.
Dana must have been too busy with his ‘Huge’ announcements the last couple weeks and only came up with this now?? The Affliction events was announced months ago and the UFC should have countered right away. Now they don’t even have any fighters lined up. Most guys will only have 2-3 weeks to train given the short notice.
Dana could pretty much have Bonner main eventing and it still would deflect more then enough attention back to the UFC…. they don’t need the big guns to draw the attention.
Heard from an inside source that the Hermes Franca vs. Frank Edgar fight has been moved to July 19th.
why is dana being a bitch yeah it’s competition but it’s also one of the biggest events this year and last year the whole event is staked and the main event is bananas fuck the money if your really a mma fan and you love the sport you need show like this dana white does not care about the sport he is all 4 the ufc (fuck mma) the Affliction “Banned” Fedor vs. Sylvia is going to be hot i hope it does good
Evans is fighting Liddell at the Atlanta show. What, Shogun won’t be ready by then?
ROLFCOPTER at everyone complaining about this.
It’s business, ladies… get over it.
BTW, Franklin/Henderson and Edgar/Franca would be gnaaaaaaarly.
Newport,
are you from newport if so i am we should roll some jiu jits
#18 …dude Dana is f’ing president of the UFC ..of course thats what he cares about…..wake up ….and #10 …novel idea but why make people pay when you can give it to them for FREE….affliction will be lucky to do 100k in buys .Second tier stars are not …and read this correctly are not going to sell ppvs. Say what you want the affliction card has talent but no sizzle…Timmy, and AA where both booed during there most recent fights. Chuck my friends has never been booed ..when you want a good fight go to the UFC ..FREE FIGHTS ROCK
i wonder about the live gate for this event. it’s prices are similar to UFC. will CASUAL fans (the majority of ticket buyers who don’t know fedor, lindland etc are) be willing to pay these prices for a non-ufc event? it seems like a wierd thing to market at such a high price. t-shirt company putting on fights.
anyone have the scoop on ticket sales so far?
so if silva isnt in to fight vera, and vera “confirmed” to have moved down to 205, i wonder who he WILL fight? irvin maybe? i wouldnt mind seeing him fight thiago silva, honestly.
Anyone hope that Rothwells over rated ass gets knocked the fuck out?