OK, so it's Saturday night, and you're waiting patiently for the biggest PPV event in the history of MMA to come on for the night. You can barely hold back your excitement and you are so hyped up that you feel like punching granny just to prepare for the main event of the evening coming up later on. So there's only one question to ask left.
What PPV event are you watching: Affliction or UFC?
Chances are that you are probably watching a UFC event card, as it appears on PPV way more than any Affliction event. Also, with the wide array of talent the UFC has in each and every division, that increases the likelihood of this.
But put the pure numbers and facts behind you and look at the rosters and matchups. Are you still convinced that the best fight out there is comprised of purely UFC fighters?
For the longest time, UFC President Dana White has always made the case that the UFC has the best fighters in the world, and that no other promotion would ever come close to his level of talent. However, it appears as though Affliction's talent pool will continue to rise with former UFC fighters, and possibly even more so now that EliteXC is no more.
Regardless, if there's a Superfight out there, chances are the host is the UFC. Would you prefer to watch Andrei Arlovski vs. Fedor Emelianenko or Anderson Silva vs. Chuck Liddell? What about Josh Barnett vs. Arlovski or Emelianenko compared to Anderson Silva vs. Randy Couture or GSP?
Let's take the two bouts at hand for each promotion: Fedor vs. Arlovski and Penn vs. St. Pierre. Which is the more intriguing fight? What are you more excited to watch as a fight fan? Would you pay more for the Affliction bout, or the UFC bout? Hmmm, all good questions to ponder.
The unfortunate thing for Affliction is the hard fact that any bout worth watching in the Affliction organization comes through Fedor Emelianenko. What if he loses? Then what? Does the organization crumble like EliteXC? Could the same be said for the UFC if Anderson Silva were to lose? Again, more questions to ponder.
So my hope for this article wasn't so much as to declare one or the other a winner as far as Superfights go, as many fans really want to see Silva vs. Fedor in an inter-promotional fight. But since that most likely won't occur anytime soon, then I just want to throw out there the question to see other fans' views.
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about 1 month ago
First of all Affliction and the UFC can't really be compared. I'm glad Affliction exists, I just wish they did a better job promoting their fights and had more consistency. Affliction has held one PPV and its numbers were abysmal, and it cost as much as three UFC events to put on (based on fighter pay). If the UFC did 150k PPV buys for an event they would probably get out of the business.
The most interesting thing is that lately the UFC has cut some pretty good fighters with a little bit of name recognition and if Affliction can pick these guys up they can greatly improve their brand. Werdum, Sokoudjou, Cain Velasquez, and a few others have all recently been dropped. Great names to add to a roster.
from about 1 month ago
I didn't think Velasquez was officially dropped- was that confirmed?
from about 1 month ago
I think it was only because his contract issues went beyond the video game licensing stuff. He was pushing to have his contract rewritten and we all know how the UFC deals with that (rolls eyes).
about 1 month ago
Werdum and Affliction have already spoken, and he won't be going there.
"According to a report by Franklin McNeil of ESPN.com and the Newark Star-Ledger, the camp for Fabricio Werdum approached Affliction Entertainment in an attempt to place the former PRIDE and UFC heavyweight with the organization.
McNeil revealed the news during this week’s edition of MMA Live, which can be viewed on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.
McNeil stated that both sides talked about Werdum joining the promotion and possibly competing on its upcoming “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view event scheduled for Jan. 24 but that Affliction felt that the numbers discussed were “off the charts.”
McNeil concluded the report by stating that there are no plans for Werdum and Affliction to talk in the future and that “Werdum will not be competing for Affliction."
from about 1 month ago
Do you see Werdum landing in Dream? Good luck if he goes there and is expecting money. Supposedly they are up to 6 months late paying their fighters.
from about 1 month ago
I'd love to know what Werdum is asking for that is so insane. He is a top notch fighter but he needs to re-prove himself before anyone major organization will sign him to a long term lucrative deal.
from about 1 month ago
Yeah I am curious as well. You would have thought they would snatched Werdum up. Affliction is already overextended from a fighter payroll standpoint so maybe they thought adding Werdum to "Day of Reckoning" wouldn't have been worth it from a PPV perspective. I think Barnett vs Werdum would have been intriguing, what about you? Although they are probably going to get more bang for their buck if it ends up being Brett Rogers.
from about 1 month ago
Barnett-Werdum would be worth watching although I'm not sure how well Werdum would do standing with him. Brett Rogers will be an interesting addition to the card but has it been reported that he's cleared the contract hurdles with ProElite yet?
If Rogers got free I would have expected others such as Shields to be free as well.
from about 1 month ago
Yeah, I am not for sure on the Brett's contract. I know everyone had a different deal. Scott Smith was able to fight (not sure why) at Strikeforce and Eddie Alvarez had a clause in his that allowed him to move on when Elite XC couldn't produce a fight for him. Not sure what will allow Rogers to compete.
about 1 month ago
Afflictions main events are on a par with UFC but the undercards clearly go to the UFC. The UFC has the most depth and 7 seasons of TUF have fill the undercards with names many fans at least can remember and generate interest.
from about 1 month ago
On the main card, outside of Fedor vs. Arlovski, which fights are you really interested in?
Barnett vs TBA (if its Brett Roger then it gets alot more interesting)
Belfort vs TBA (It was supposed to be Gegard Mousasi but that got scrapped)
Linland vs Sobral could be really good. Also, I am surprised that they have Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladamir Matyushenko
You are right about the under card- its almost pointless outside of trying to build up fighter names.
from about 1 month ago
Josh Barnett vs Aleksander Emelianenko 2 is the word doing the rounds.
from about 1 month ago
Yeah, I did just hear about that. It is interesting that Barnett wasn't available to fight Fedor but has no problem fighting his little, well not so little, brother.
from about 1 month ago
Doesn't Aleks have a lifetime ban from the CA athletic commission because of hepatitis?
about 1 month ago
Loved the article... because it exactly matches thoughts I've had recently. Emelianenko vs Arlovski and Penn vs GSP II are the two fights that I am anticipating more than any other fights in the history of my MMA fandom. It's really hard to choose. Also, I'm glad you pointed out how good these affliction cards really are... despite all the things wrong with the Affliction, the cards that they put on (although much less frequent than UFC ones) are high quality. I'm definitely buying the Affliction 2 PPV.
I think I'd say Arlovski vs Fedor... btw. Because Arlovski seems to be the guy with the perfect skill set, if there is one, to beat Fedor. He has the speed and striking to match Fedor, as well as top notch take down defense. That is for now anyway. A year or two from now it might be Lesnar.
Or Carwin/Velasquez, for that matter...
from about 1 month ago
Arlovski got taken down by Roy Nelson at that Elite XC event didn't he?
from about 1 month ago
Not really. Arlovski was the one pushing the takedown and controlling the clinch, but Roy Nelson just ended up on top (good move by Nelson, but not a real takedown). Watch the fight again. P.S. Nelson is extremely underrated.
from about 1 month ago
Just watched it again. Nelson started the fight by pushing Arlovski agaisnt the cage and the two fighters locked up. Arlovski pushed Nelson off the cage, tripped him, but on the way down Nelson got a good reverse and landed in Arlovski's half guard. I would say that Nelson's move to reverse constitutes a takedown (not a double leg obviously; more of a judo throw of sorts). But thats all semantics- we shall see how good Arlovski's take down defense is and if he has the perfect skill set to beat Fedor real soon!
from about 1 month ago
Yes, probably constitutes a takedown, but I think it's important to distinguish the way the takedown happened. It wasn't like Nelson did it traditionally, using superior control of the clinch/strength. It was more using Arlovski's own strength/momentum against him.
from about 1 month ago
I can agree with that- as long as you are giving Nelson some credit for the takedown. Using someone's own strength/momentum agaisnt them is an "underrated" skill. Also, Nelson used the clinch to get Arlovski agaisnt the cage while Arlovski used the clinch to get himself off the cage...so Id say that exchange was a draw.
Also, to start the 2nd round...I forgot how Nelson tagged Arlovski with a left hook. Andre better defend better agaisnt Fedor or he will end up in a rear naked choke like Sylvia did. To Arlovski's credit he took that fight on one week's notice and your right- Nelson is "underrated."
from about 1 month ago
That's a yepper from me on all points.
from about 1 month ago
More than any other fights in the history of your MMA fandom?
That speaks volumes doesnt it?
from about 1 month ago
I'd say so. There's a chance of forgetting something. But I can't recall being excited for any fight as much as I am for these two.
about 1 month ago
Yeah, gotta say that it's going to be some good fights here coming up, but I think lots of people are swaying a bit off of where I'd like this discussion to go...not regarding the entire organizations, as I personally think that the UFC is the class of MMA, and nothing is too close, but I mean one fight for one fight....Affliction's best fight possible vs UFC's best fight possible...which are you watching...Robert was like the only one to answer it...I want to see if Affliction has the best fight, or UFC...or heck, if you have a better fight out there in another organization, please mention it...but try to stick to that, and not past fights, or undercard fights. Thanks.
about 1 month ago
Ha, good job putting us back on track Nick. This is a really tough decision. I am glad to see Fedor facing a tough challenge with Arlovski. Its a legitimate fight between two top 5 heavyweights. Also, I have mixed feelings on the "superfight" between GSP-Penn, in terms of compromising the integrity of the LW and WW divisions, etc.
That being said I think the GSP-Penn fight is much more intriguing, will be more competitive and will change the landscape of MMA more. It is probably the most anticipated fight that can be put together right now which would only be topped by GSP-Silva, if GSP wins. Although if GSP wins he better fight Alves before he fights Silva!
about 1 month ago
Heavyweight division is the flagship division of combat sports.
It's the S-class of the Mercedes-Benz line. It's the Purple Label of the Ralph Lauren clothing. It's the F1 of car racing. It's the USA of countries.
This is because inherently a heavyweight will usually beat a non-heavyweight of similar class (skill level)
Fedor and AA would both easily beat GSP or BJ Penn. This is why weight classes exist.
So a top HW fight is always bigger than a top little guys fight in terms of prestige and $$$
No matter how big of superstars Roy jones or Floyd are, they can never be Ali or Tyson. And this obviously offends people under 200lbs and 6'0, and I'm fully prepared to be crucified for this post, but it's reality of life.
Fedor VS Arlovski > GSP VS Penn
Size... it matters :(
from about 1 month ago
Well Anthony, I hear ya, and I don't hear ya at the same time....I do agree about how they do tend to get a bit more coverage and maybe even money, but I gotta disagree about it not having prestige and money and everything else that a HW fight has. I personally think that the most exciting fights happen at 155, but only b/c of pace and scrappy-ness...if that's a word. I'm definitely not crucifying you for it, but I think that some respect has got to go out to the lighter guys from LHW all the way down to 145...not too keen below that myself. Thanks for the reply though.
from about 1 month ago
mos def Nick, little guys deserve same respect, and their fights are very exciting due to speed (physics, less mass to move), and more technique (they are able to perform more complex moves due to gravity not working against them as much as it does against bigger guys).
What I was referring to is, you know when 2 great players play each other in any game or sport like tennis, chess, poker etc, you'll hear this expression: "This is a heavyweight clash"
Obviously size doesn't matter in a card game, but the expression above underlines the status and skill level of the players and the significance of their encounter.
When we think free-style wrestling, we think Karelin, thou there are several BETTER smaller wrestlers. When we think boxing we think Ali and Tyson, not Oscar and Floyd, even thou they just fought!
The clash between Fedor and AA is for the title of the world's best fighter. The clash between GSP and BJ is for the world's best fighter under 170lbs.
Big difference.
about 1 month ago
I'll take Affliction over the UFC. But only because they don't have Joe Rogan! LOL
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