Affliction has Fights, too?!July 23, 2008 Affliction – Part 3: Yes, there were even some fights at this Affliction show! Some of the fights were good, some not as much. I enjoyed seeing Arlovski and Fedor fight because they both demonstrated how dynamic and explosive heavyweight fighters can be. It was also nice to see them get victories over credible opponents. On the other hand seeing Negao and Lindland flop around (and through!) the ring ropes was not so exciting. I also hope to never see Pedro “The Shuffling Rock” Rizzo fight on a main card again, even if it is just to get executed. (By the way, after watching Josh Barnett celebrate like a WWF champion on crack and promoting himself afterwards it became very obvious to me why he and Dana White don’t get along…but that’s another story!) In general though, I had a couple issues surrounding the fight card. First of all, I have to mention that Affliction assembled a ton of big name fighters for its inaugural broadcast. They must have spent a huge amount of money on fighters’ payroll alone. You know what though? Spending more money doesn’t guarantee you a “better” show. Yes, it was neat to see certain fighters who UFC loyalists such as myself haven’t seen fight live (Fedor, Josh Barnett, Matt Lindland, etc.) but what are the odds we’ll see them at an Affliction show again? We don’t know who will be available for the next time out and more importantly who they can afford. The UFC has shown that you don’t need to have a lot of “top-shelf” fighters to put on an entertaining broadcast. The UFC’s Fight Night Live shows on Spike TV have proved that time and time again. Even the UFC’s PPV’s are usually rounded out by lesser known names to go along with the Chuck Lidell’s of the world. Affliction decided to bombard the entire card with well known fighters to grab attention. Well I don’t know if that worked because I haven’t seen the buy rate yet I do know that I only saw a “pretty good” show. That’s really all I have to say about this show. I did enjoy it on the whole but it’s not like I thought “WOW, I gotta catch the next Affliction show!” after it was over. Rather, I’m looking forward to the next UFC offering in August. You see that’s what’s great about the UFC. They spread their name talent around so they can produce their 15 shows a year or whatever ungodly number that is. Sure you might say that the MMA market is oversaturated right now and I might even agree with you. I don’t mind, it just means I get to pick and choose what I see. That is nothing but bad news for Affliction because if they feel they have to stack the deck just to compete with the UFC then they’re going to burn out pretty quickly. When’s the next Affliction show? I don’t even know because they didn’t tell me. That’s not good long-term planning. If Affliction hopes to compete with the UFC then they’re going to have to make it easier for fans to follow THEIR product and THEIR fighters. So, right now I stand before you a true UFC fan but only a modest follower of other MMA promotions and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Return from Affliction Has Fights, too!?! to News & Views
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