MMA News: Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy Nelson at EliteXC on CBS October 4

It looks like Andrei Arlovski and Ben Rothwell will not wait for Affliction.  Arlovski was slated to fight Josh Barnett before the Affliction card was postponed.  I guess he could be ready for the January card as well, but Arlovski will take on Roy Nelson at EliteXC: Heat on October 4. 

Sherdog.com reports:

At least two fighters will not sit on the sidelines following the postponement of Affliction’s Oct. 4 “Day of Reckoning” event in Las Vegas.

Former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski (13-5) and IFL kingpin Roy Nelson (13-2) have been offered a heavyweight bout at EliteXC “Heat” Oct. 4 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. The event will be aired live on CBS.

Arlovski’s management team would not comment Wednesday on the proposed bout, while Nelson’s attorney, Rod Donohoo, also refrained from remarks. However, Sherdog.com has learned from separate sources that both fighters have agreed in principle to the match and that contracts have been issued for review.

The last-minute addition will be presented as an Affiction-EliteXC co-promoted fight

This really solidifies this card which has fights with Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock, Gina Carano and Kelly Kobald, Jake Shields and Paul Daley, and Murilo Rua and Benji Radach.

Evaluating Affliction

One of the questions that I keep thinking about is whether or not Affliction in here to stay and whether or not they will compete with the UFC.  No one disagrees that UFC is the standard of MMA right now, but Affliction is making up ground quickly.  It has been a tell tale sign of a slight change that Affliction has signed so many guys lately including many of the stars from the now defunt IFL, which was bought by the parent company of the UFC, Zuffa.  Affliction has signed Champs Roy Nelson and Vladimir Matyushenko.  They have signed lightweight star Chris Horodecki and are rumored to have welterweight champ Jay Hieron.  Affliction is cleaning up the free agents and doing better in that regard than even the UFC as of late.  So, what is there to judge a promotion…

1. Fighter Talent – Fight promotions are fight promotions.  There are other factors that come into play, but primarily if a promotion does not have top level talent they will not stay relevant.

2. Show Quality –  While good fighters is essential, the promotion must put on a good show.  They must entertain fans.  This includes exciting fights, good commentators and a solid show production.  Promotions have to build shows people will come to or buy.

3.  Solid Managment –  Managment is important to a fight promotion, not just anyone can do it.  A promotion may suceed or fail based ont he business savvy of the fight promoter or president.  The PR, fighter pay, contracts, TV deals, etc. all come into play here.

With that said, let’s see how Affliction is doing…

1. Fighter Talent…

There is a lot of hype around Affliction’s fighter talent.  Here is who I can think of off hand that they have and will use on their cards

• Fedor Emelianenko
• Andrei Arlovski
• Josh Barnett
• Tim Sylvia
• Ben Rothwell
• Roy Nelson
• Pedro Rizzo
• Paul Buentello
• Aleksander Emelianenko
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Tito Ortiz
• Vladimir Matyushenko
• Renato “Babalu” Sobral
• Mike Whitehead
• Edwin DeWees
• Vernon White
• Vitor Belfort
• Matt Lindland
• Jay Hieron
• Mike Pyle
• J.J. Ambrose
• Chris Horodecki

I went to HDNet’s Rankings to see how many Affliction Fighters were ranked in the top 100 pound for pound or top in their divisons  here is the results.

(Pound for Pound Rank, Divison Rank)

Fedor Emelianenko (2, 1)

Andrei Arlovski (25, 4)

Josh Barnett (27, 5)

Tim Sylvia (55, 7)

Ben Rothwell (81, 12)

Roy Nelson (84, 13)

Pedro Rizzo (NR, 19)

Paul Buentello (NR, NR)

Aleksander Emelianenko (76, 10)

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (85, 13)

Tito Ortiz (87, 15)

Vladimir Matyushenko (66, 12)

Renato “Babalu” Sobral (92, 16)

Mike Whitehead (NR, NR)

Edwin DeWees (NR, NR)

Vernon White (NR, NR)

Vitor Belfort (NR, NR) – Unfairly I’d admit

Matt Lindland (22, 5)

Jay Hieron (59, 11)

Mike Pyle (NR, NR)

J.J. Ambrose (NR, NR)

Chris Horodecki (NR, NR)

Put this into perspective, out of the top 100 the promotions faires like this in pound for pound top 100 fighters…

• UFC -39
• Affliction – 13
• DREAM -12
• WEC – 10
• EliteXC – 10
• Strikeforce – 5
• World Victory Road – 3

The point is that Affliction’s talent is overrated. 

• They are right about the level of DREAM talent wise
• They are no where near the talent level of the UFC
• 10 of the Affliction guys that appeared on the rankings list have fought in the UFC before.  Some have been sucessful.  There are several former UFC champs (Sylvia, Barnett, Rizzo, Ortiz and Arlovski), however most of them did no better than fair in the UFC (see Matyushenko, Hieron, et. al)
• Most of the top Affliction guys are in the second half of their careers and are past their prime.  They still have fight left in them, don’t get me wrong, but not for the long haul
• What happens if two or three of those gusy get injured?  Affliction is hanging their hat on Fedor, Barnett, Arlovski and Ortiz.  They cannot keep putting everyone on every card, they will run out of match-ups.
• To their credit, they can put on good fights.  The talent isn’t bad.  Their guys can fight exciting fighter, but they have exciting fights at tough man competitions. They need to sign younger talent and more talent.

Show Quality…

• I cannot judge them solely on their sole show.  Affliction needs to improve their show quality as far as commentating, interviews and production is concerned
• Also, I thought with the exception of the last 3 fights the card wasn’t what it was billed to be
• They are nowhere near the UFC level as far as enjoyability to watch

Solid Managment:

• The UFC with Dana White and the Fertitas is still the managment standard.  I have problems with the UFC and Dana White’s managing style.  I don’t like his constant expletives, I don’t like the way he trashes other promotions, I don’t like the stubborness he exhibits with signing guys like Lindland and Barnett, and even Fedor.  However, Dana is crafty.  Atencio is no Dana White.  Watch his video below where he can’t remember Josh Barnett’s name and he is the main event for the second show. 
• Affliction does have the deep pocketed Donald Trump behind them which helps.  Trump is a business guiness, but he doesn’t neccessarily know MMA.  The money helps thought he same way it helped having Lorezon and Frank in the UFC early days when they lost tons of money.

Here is the point folks…Affliction is a solid upstart company.  They may be around for a while, but before we jump ont he bandwagon and label them peers to the UFC and competitors to the UFC let them get through a few shows first.  Let’s see how much money they lose after 3 events.  Let’s see how many fights they can do after 3 card.  They could compete, but as for now it is the UFC and then everyone else.  Zuffa is sitting pretty in the MMA world.  They are the big leagues, everything else is just the minors.  Affliction, EliteXC and DREAM are in the same boat and in a year from now at least one of them will be non-existent.

MMA News: Fedor vs. Arlovski on October 11

It looks like Affliction’s next card will be held on October 11th in Las Vegas.  Affliction reps said that the winners of the “Banned” card would be used at their next event.  Some of the match ups seem to be coming to fruition.  It looks like a fight between heavyweights Andrei Arlovski and Fedor Emelianenko is likely.  Fedor is widely considered the best heavyweight in the world and the best pound for pound fighter in the world.  He held the PRIDE heavyweight title and is coming off of a dominant win over heavyweight great Tim Sylvia in just 36 seconds.  Andrei Arlovski, the Belarussian is also coming off of a win against Ben Rothwell at Affliction: Banned.  Arlovski is a former UFC champion and a consensus top 5 heavyweight.  This willbe an even bigger test for Fedor.  I like the fight between the Russian and Belarussian, however I think the Fedor fight should have gone to Josh Barnett first. 

    Also, it seem that on that card a bout between Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort is coming.  Babalu wants to fight Tito Ortiz, and that would be a good fight, but I hope Antonio Rogerio Nogueira gets his pick first at who he wants.  He is Affliction’s best light heavyweight, not Babalu, and not even Tito if he signs.

Affliction: Banned Fighter Salaries

The pay of the fighters is the disclosed amount to the CSAC.  The fighters likely were paid more than that when you include other bonuses and sponsor’s pay. 

A few thoughts on the pay of the Affliction fighters…

·         The pay was very, very high in contrast to even UFC fighters.  For example, Matt Lindlad took home $100,000 more than Anderson Silva did for his fight on the same night. 

·         Fedor was grossly underpaid in comparison to other fighters.  I thought he was making more than $1 million for this fight.  Perhaps he is. 

·         Tim Sylvia is very overpaid

·         Some fighters by this scale were still overpaid

·         Some fighters by this scale were still underpaid.  I am shocked Nogueira only made $50,000, the same amount as Mike Whitehead. 

·         I don’t know what UFC fighters come away with, but the biggest competition Affliction will give the UFC is fighter pay

·         It will be hard for them to cover this financially.  God thing they have Trump. 

 

Tim Sylvia: $800,000

Andrei Arlovski: $750,000 (includes $250,000 win bonus)

Fedor Emelianenko: $300,000 (no win bonus)
Josh Barnett: $300,000 (no win bonus)

Matt Lindland: $300,000 (includes $75,000 win bonus)

Ben Rothell: $250,000

Vitor Belfort: $140,000 (includes $70,000 win bonus)

Renato “Babalu” Sobral: $90,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)

Paul Buentello: $80,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
Pedro Rizzo: $70,000

Mike Whitehead: $50,000

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: $50,000 (no win bonus)

Terry Martin: $30,000

Gary Goodridge: $25,000

Fabio Nascimento: $20,00O
Mike Pyle: $20,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)

Edwin Dewees: $15,000

Mark Hominick: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Savant Young: $7,000

Justin Levens: $6000
JJ Ambrose: $5,000

Ray Lizama: $3,000

Total Payout

A disclosed total of $3,332,100 was paid out to the fighters.

Live Gate:

Paid attendance: 11,242
Complimentary attendance: 3,590
Total attendance: 14,832

Gross receipt from ticket sales (live gate): $2,085,510

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia Fight Video

Here it is. The Fedor vs. Tim Sylvia fight video from Affliction: Banned. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it. Fedor is impressive. If you didn’t catch the fight on pay per view, catch it here.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Fedor Emelianenjo vs. Tim Sylvia Figh…“, posted with vodpod

 

My Thoughts on Affliction: Banned

Let me share the negatives first:

• The fights went as expected.  Out of the 9 fights that I predicted I got 9 right.  There were not any upsets
• The announcers were sub par to say the least
• I did not like that fights were cancelled last second like the Aleksander Emelianenko fight, it seemed to show some disorder
• I thought the fights were slow paced, but the last 3 fights were good as was the Nogueira fight and the Belfort fight.

The Good:

• Fedor.  Let the debate begin as to who the number one pound for pound fighter is.  Only two names are in the discussion (Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko).  In my opinion, both guys helped plead their cases for that title last night.  Fedor crushed Silva.  I didn’t expect that bad of a beating.  I picked Fedor, but I thought it would last more than one minute.  Fedor beat Sylvia easier than he beat Hong Man Choi.  He punched him and dropped him.  He did what Randy could not do and that is finish the fight with Sylvia.  Fedor was the highlight of the show
• Josh Barnett looked great.  I know many people want to see Fedor vs. Couture next, and Randy was even brought into the ring to hype that fight, but Josh Barnett may be deserving of that fight.  The next card may feature Barnett vs. Arlovski and Couture vs. Fedor with the winners squaring off on the third card. 
• Arlovski looked imrpessive as well.  He looked better than he had previously in the last few fights in the UFC.  His boxing looked crisp and good.
• Vitor Belfort is back.  He looked great at 185.  I’d love to see Lindland vs. Belfort at 185.  Affliction has said they will likely use the winners of these fights on their next card, that fight is very possible.
• Congrats to Paul Buentello, Babalu, Matt Lindland, and Mike Pyle who also won as expected. 
• Apparently they sold out with over 13,000 people in attendance.  The crowd was loud at times.

If Affliction is going to use winners of this card to set up match ups for the next card the card could look like this:

• Fedor Emelianenko vs. Randy Couture
• Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski
• Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
• Tim Sylvia vs. Ben Rothwell
• Paul Buentello vs. Aleksander Emelianenko

My Affliction: Banned Predictions

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia

I believe this to be an interesting fight.  I also think that Fedor’s last fight with Hong Man Choi was a great prep course for Tim Sylvia.  The biggest problem Fedor will have with Tim Sylvia is his size.  Sylvia is 6’9″  He is huge.  Fedor will want to take this fight down to the ground, and I imagine that he will do it.  Tim has no ground game at all.  I don’t know how long it will take Fedor to get the fight down, but once he gets it down the fight won’t last long.  I pick Fedor Emelianenko to win this fight in round 2. 

Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell

I know many people like Ben Rothwell, and that many rank him highly among the heavyweights, but I honestly do not know how good he is.  I do know how good Arlovski can be.  He hasn’t looked great lately, but he is by far the most talented guy Rothwell has fought.  I think Arlovski will win by TKO in round 3.

Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo

Barnett is looking for redemption.  In my opinion, Rizzo is not in his prime any more.  Barnett is very talented and very experienced.  I do not see Rizzo beating Barnett again.  I think that Josh Barnett wins this fight by unanimous decision.

Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao

This is a mis-match.  Lindland is one of the best 185ers in the world.  Fabio is unknown.  Lindland may have been too busy lately with politics to train the right way for this fight, but I don’t think it will matter here.  Lindland will win this fight by submission in round 1.

Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead

Mike Whitehead was a UFC flop.  Babalu is very good.  Babalu will submit Whitehead in round 2.

Paul Buentello vs. Aleksander Emelianenko

Don’t overlook this Emelianenko.  He is a good fighter in his own right.  Aleks wins by decision.

Vitor Belfort vs. Terry Martin

Vitor at 185?  Believe it.  He has been an up and down guy and so has Terry Martin.  Terry Martin is not bad, but Belfort is very good.  I think belfort will KO Martin in round 1. 

Edwin Dewees vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Don’t overlook this Nogueira.  He is not a bad fighter in his own right.  This is a huge mismatch.  Nog is btter than DeWees.  Edwin hasn’t had proper time to prepare.  Nogueira will win this fight easily. 

Ray Lazama vs. Justin Levens

J.J. Ambrose vs. Mike Pyle

Mark Hominick vs. Savant Young

UFC News: Jesse Taylor vs. C.B. Dolloway at UFC Fight Night 14

The UFC has quickly put together a good card to compete with Affliction.  All last week it was rumored that Jesse Taylor would be given another chance and would fight The Ultimate Fighter 7 runner-up C.B. Dolloway on this card.  Even yours truly posted regarding this rumor (here). It looks like the fight will happen.  We all remember Jesse Taylor as the one kicked off the Ultimate Fighter after he had earned a spot in the finale or as the pants peeing drunk.  However, Jesse Taylor seems to have it together.  He has quit drinking, and he has said and done all the right things. Jesse Taylor could have cried and made a big deal out of it, but he owned up to his actions, and I respect that.  I still think removing him was the best way to handle what took place, but I am glad to see him get another chance.  This from Dana White on Yahoo! Sports:

I’ve faced a lot of challenges since we’ve had the UFC, but I have a kid (Taylor) who pissed his pants on television and now I have to turn him into a star…. Without a doubt, the kid deserves another chance. He made himself look like a fool, and he’s aware of that, but everyone deserves another opportunity and we’re going to give it to him. He acted like a moron. He’s embarrassed by it, which he should be, but what he did doesn’t amount to enough to ban him forever. Come on. He was just young and stupid, but at least he seems to have learned from what he did.”

Taylor will have his hands full against C.B. Dolloway.  This will be a tough match, and is very important for both fighters.  C.B. lost in the finale to Amir, and needs a win in the UFC.  If Jesse gets on top he could just lay there and ground and pound C.B.  Jesse is a big fella.  This should be a interesting fight anyways and I hope it makes it on the televised portion.

Here is the card as we know it today:

Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin

Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy

Hermes Franca vs. Frank Edgar

Cain Velasquez vs. Jake O’Brien

Jesse Taylor vs. C.B. Dolloway

Rory Markham vs. Brodie Farber

Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns

Brad Blackburn vs. James Giboo

Nate Loughran vs. Johnny Rees

Shannon Gugherty vs. Dale Hartt

I imagine that the battle for the fifth spot on the televised card will fall between Burns vs. Johnson, Marham vs. Farber and Taylor vs. Dolloway.  I would have to say the edge goes to Dolloway/taylor because of how familar many SPIKE viewers will be of the two fighters because of TUF.  I’d also like to see the other two fights.  Markham is aggresive, so if he finishes quickly he may get aired as is Anthony Johnson.  I’d also like to see them pick up the Tim Credeur vs. Cale Yarbrough fight that got cancelled at the TUF 7 Finale due to Credeur’s adderall.

Josh Barnett Previews Affliction

Josh Barnett talks Affliction and his fight with Pedro Rizzo coming up on July 19th.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Josh Barnett Previews Affliction“, posted with vodpod

 

UFC News: Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin at July 19th Event

It looks like the UFC July 19th event is shaping up, and if this airs on SPIKE, wow!  The UFC Light Heavyweight was stacked before, but today the divison got way more stacked.  It looks like it will add two more top ten guys in Brandon Vera, who is dropping down following consecutive losses to Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum respectively.  Additionaley, middleweight champ and top pound for pound fighter Anderson Silva is making the jump up.  Both fighters will fight at the July 19th event.  Brandon Vera’a opponent is not yet known, but Anderson Silva appears to be fighting James Irvin.  I have already figured Vera and Silva into my new rankings (Silva at #4 and Vera at #8).  Those rankings come based on their body of work in other divisons and may be slighlty low based on having no fights in the divison.  Silva will fight James Irvin who is also a top 15 guy. MMArated.com reports:

The UFC will be airing a live event on Spike TV with a main event featuring a light heavyweight battle between Anderson Silva and James Irvin. The fight will mark Silva’s UFC debut at 205 lbs. We’ve also learned that a proposed rematch between Dan Henderson and Wanderlei Silva was also considered but eventually nixed due to the fact that the event is less than five weeks away. At this time no other matchups have been confirmed, however, recent reports have indicated that Cain Velasquez and Brandon Vera are two of the other fighters that have been approached about competing on the card.  Regardless of what happens in the Silva-Irvin bout, Silva (21-4) will not relinquish his middleweight title and will be defending it again sometime in the near future. His most recent title defense came against the aforementioned Henderson at UFC 82 in Columbus, OH

I guess Silva will still defend his belt in October against Yushin Okami, unless he vacates it and allows Okami to fight the winner of Cote/Almeida.  Wow!  Also, could you imagine if Dan Henderson fought Wanderlei on this card.  That would destroy Affliction and the might heavyweight divison would be crazy.  Dana White is a brilliant busisness man.  We will wait to hear on Vera and Velasquez’s opponents.  Stay tunes…more coming.  Tomorrow at noon the big announcement will be made, so check back, I will keep updated. 

UPDATE: It is also rumored that Frank Edgar vs. Hermes Franca will be moved up to this card. As well as Antony Johnson who recently sent TUF 6 runner up Tommy Speer packing from the UFC against Kevin Burns, who submitted Roan Carneiro at UFC 85. The card is reported to be called UFC Fight Night 14 according to MMAJunkie.  The Septmber fight night will be called UFC Fight Night 15. 

It is also being reported that the UFC re-signed Jake O’Briend, who was recently dropped following his loss to Andrei Arlovski and he will step in and fight Cain Velasquez.  This could be a good fight and is a big help to the hurting heavyweight divison.  That was the one firing I did not understand.

UFC Fight Night 14 Full Card:

Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin

Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy

Frank Edgar vs. Hermes Franca

Cain Velasquez vs. Jake O’Brien

Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns

UFC News: UFC Will Have An Event July 19

As reported earlier, the UFC will host an event on July 19, the day that Affliction hosts their inagural card.  The event will air live (and free) on SPIKE.  This event going through will really hurt Affliction who needs a big start to do well and gain momentum.  MMAMania reports:

The UFC will indeed go forward with a Spike TV event on July 19 despite some recent reports that claimed it wasn’t going to materialize. We first passed along the news over the weekend that several fighters had been approached about participating in the event, which is less than five weeks away. It is widely believed that the decision to stage an event on such short notice is to counter the Affliction: “Banned” debut event on pay-per-view (PPV) that same evening. As we mentioned in our previous report, promising heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez is expected to compete on the July 19 card against a soon to be announced opponent. Brandon Vera — who we can confidently report is making the drop to light heavyweight — has been asked to headline the event. There was some valid speculation that he would take on Wanderlei Silva; however, it appears that “The Axe Murderer” will not accept the bout because he does not have enough time to prepare. The hunt for someone to challenge “The Truth” is still ongoing.

In addition to Vera, Velesquez and others, there are a handful of fights already slated for other events that will be shuffled and added to this card. We’ll pass those along to you as soon as possible.

    In order for this to work and work well the UFC has to put together a good card.  The opponent for Brandon Vera will be huge.  I would like to see some top 10-15 level guy in there, but I don’t know who it would be.  If I was to be a betting man I would guess it could be someone like Thiago Silva, Luiz Cane, Houston Alexander, Antonio Mendes, or Matt Hamill.  My pick would be on Houston Alexander who is rumored to be fighting in September against Eric Schafer.  A win over Alexander would greatly establish Vera in light heavyweight.  I think Vera will be a great light heavyweight.  He will be bigger and stronger than most.  At heavyweight he was undersized.  He is coming off of back to back losses, albeit against two top tens in the world in Sylvia and Werdum, but at light heavyweight he can challenge anyone.  A good move for Vera which will pay off like Bisping’s drop to middleweight. A good second and third fight is vital.  They must get 5 good fights.  I expect them to move some UFC 87 fights up to this card.  Cain Velasquez could be a great 4th or 5th fight.  I’d like to see Velasquex in there against a guy like Antoni Hardonk.  Could we also see that Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin bout?  I will keep everyone updated about the event.

UFC News: UFC Planning a July 19 Event

It is being reported by Sherdog that the UFC is working on an event for July 19.  The purpose is to draw some of the viewers away from Affliction’s inagural card.  Affliction is a new fight promotion that has the backing of people like Donald Trump and has fighters like Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC Hevayweight champ Tim Sylvia.  The UFC wants to have an event to take away some of the viewers from this card and not allow Affliction to get any momentum. Certainly if the UFC develops a quality card it will hurt Affliction’s viewers as many casual MMA fans are unaware of Affliction and many will tune into the UFC card.   This doesn’t leave much time to plan a quality event.

July 19 could become a crowded night for mixed martial arts. The UFC is currently planning an event that Saturday night to be televised live on Spike TV, Sherdog.com has learned from multiple industry sources.
The proposed event would take place the same evening that popular clothing line entrepreneurs Affliction will make their foray into the pay-per-view market with “Banned,” its first MMA event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Zuffa’s impromptu event, which is being pulled together on five weeks’ notice, is tentatively scheduled to be held in Las Vegas.
Studied strikers Wanderlei Silva and Brandon Vera have been approached to clash in a light heavyweight main event, though other combinations of one or both of these fighters are also being considered.

       I have several thoughts on this.  First, it is a brilliant business move.  Some people will be outraged at it, but Affliction is a competitor that has put together a awesome card.  The UFC has to slighlty fear Affliction and worry about what success they could, especially coming off of EliteXC’s success on CBS.  The idea is to squash some momentum and take away some viewers.  The UFC tried this during EliteXC on CBS.  They aired a Chuck Liddell documentary during the EliteXC event, but it wasn’t too successful.  If you get three or four good fights on here it could really take away from Affliction: Banned.  This a a strategic move.   Second, I do not know about the idea of pairing Brandon Vera and Wanderleir Silva.  It seems like a bad match for Wanderlei.  he would be giving up a lot of size.  I have a feeling Vera will drop down into the crowded divison and would instantly be in the top ten talk.  However, I have to imagine the UFC would want Vera and Silva to do well.  I’d like to see both guys at light heavyweight.  However, if the fight pans out and Wanderlei wins, I believe he gets a title shot.  Let’s see what can be worked out.  However, if it is going to make a dent in Affliction’s viewers they need more than two good fights.  The one obstacle is time, and the UFC has a pay per view event two weeks earlier featuring the title fight of Rampage Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin.  From what I understand, this is a long shot.  This could be Dana’s Wednesday announcement.  However, there is a lot of work to do to make this work and work efftively. 

Affliction News: Fedor vs. Sylvia for Heavyweight Title

It seems that the Fedor vs. Sylvia fight will be for a Heavyweight title.  Most belts outside the UFC mean very little, but this would be prominent because Affliction is stacked at Heavyweight.  Perhaps this would also be for the top heavyweight spot.  I don’t know if a win makes Sylvia the best heavyweight, in fact I think it makes Randy Couture the best heavyweight, but Sylvia is up there win or lose.  Also the Affliction: Banned card is shaping up nicely.  Recently a middleweight bout has been added between Vitor Belfot and Terry Martin. 

Here Are my Affliction Rankings by divison:

Heavyweight:

1. Fedor Emelianenko

2. Tim Sylvia

3. Josh Barnett

4. Andrei Arlovski

5. Ben Rothwell

6. Aleksander Emelianenko

7. Pedro Rizzo

8. Paul Buentello

Light Heavyweight

1. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

2. Renato “Babalu” Sobral

3. Mike Whitehead

4. Vernon White

Middleweight

1. Matt Lindland

2. Vitor Belfort

3. Terry Martin

4. Fabio Negao

Welterweight

1. Mike Pyle

2. J.J. Ambrose

Interview With Andrei Arlovski

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Interview With Andrei Arlovski“, posted with vodpod

 

 

Donald Trump and Affliction

It has been learned that multi millionaire Donald Trump has some involvment with the upstart MMA promotion Affliction.  Affliction will host a huge show on July 19th featuring many great fighters.  MMARated reports:

at tomorrow’s Affliction press conference in Manhattan, Donald Trump will be announcing that former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski, has officially signed with the upstart promotion. The Executive Vice President of The Trump Organization and the Special Counsel to Donald J. Trump, Michael D. Cohen, confirmed the news with MMARated.com.

It has long been rumored that Arlovski would be facing Ben Rothwell on the inaugural Affliction card but Mr. Cohen would not officially comment on when “The Pit Bull” would be making his debut. We should, however, find out more tomorrow.

Trump will also announce that he has become an equity partner in the Affliction promotion. When asked what percentage of the organization he now owns, Mr. Cohen would only say “a significant amount.”

Finally, when asked if Trump’s relationship with Tito Ortiz would help bring the former UFC light heavyweight champion to Affliction, Cohen said:

“Everything that Donald Trump does is the biggest and the best and the “Afflcition: Banned” show will be just that.

Due to the status of the Trump mark, and Donald Trump as a mogul business man, Mr. Trump has received dozens of phone calls from fighters who are interested in joining the Affliction family.”

Obviously, the point is that Donald Trump has deep pockets.  That will obviously help Affliction.  Many fighting promotions get off to a bad start, but not Affliction.  It seems that financially Trump will be willing to invest in them.  Also, is addition to the money Trump has the know how to run a busisness and run it well.  He will be a bonus for Affliction.  The upstart promotion is also expected to officially announce what I reported several days ago, that Andrei Arlovski was signed to a deal and would take on Ben Rothwell.  Affliction has many good fighters and a good card set up.  Their divisons look like this:

Heavyweight:

1. Fedor Emelianenko

2. Tim Sylvia

3. Josh Barnett

4. Andrei Arlovski

5. Ben Rothwell

6. Aleksander Emelianenko

7. Pedro Rizzo

8. Paul Buentello

Light HeavyWeight

1. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

2. Renato “Babalu” Sobral

3. (Possibly Tito Ortiz)

4. Mike Whitehead

5. Vernon White

Obviously, following that they do not have much competiton in the other weight classes.  Also, we may wonder how many possible match-ups can they have with 8 Heavyweights.  They do have some solid big guys, they have 6 top ten type fighters in the world.  I expect that they sign more fighters as time goes on.  The age and mileage on the guys they have is a worry for me, but the July 19th fights ought to be good and we ought to see not only good Affliction match-ups, but also good inter-promotional match-ups.  Affliction could make the Couture vs. Fedor fight happen.  Affliction could utilize other guys as well from organizations willing to work with others like EliteXC, Strikeforce, DREAM, and IFL.  With the Donald on their side Affliction instantly became a competitor with the UFC in the likeness of PRIDE.  They will attract fighters on the promise of better pay and better treatment as well as flexibility to work with other promotions.  I don’t look for Affliction to flop quickly.