This past weekend Affliction made it's MMA promotional debut with "Banned", a card featuring some the most talented heavyweight fighters in the sport, and they did so successfully. Facing many challenges such as it being their first promotion, having a few fighters not well known to US fans, and most importantly a free UFC fight card at the same time, Affliction managed to garner a live gate of $2.1M and in-person attendance of 14,832. Not bad for their first show, right?
No, not bad at all. But could they expect anything less given the high dollars they were paying this all-star line up of fighters? As reported by MMAJunkie, the payroll for their first promotion topped a whopping $3.3M! Not only that, but they had two other things in their favor:
1. They had Fedor Emelianenko in a title fight. First, Fedor is considered to be one of, if not the best pound for pound fighters on the planet, and certainly the top heavyweight in the world. Second, not many in the US really know Fedor or have seen him fight but have only heard of his triumphs, so they had the element of mystery on their side.
2. They had Tim Syliva as the sacrificial lamb for Fedor. This was great in a number of ways, first and foremost being that the majority of MMA fans can't stand Sylvia and would gladly pay to see him get his ass handed to him (which everyone suspected would happen, and in the end did happen), and second he is a legitimate opponent for Fedor (or at the very least the most legitimate opponent Fedor has had in 2 years). Even for those fans with an extreme disliking for Sylvia, they must admit it presented exciting possibilities given Tim's experience, size and skill.
Along with Fedor VS Sylvia, they had a host of other talented fighters to make up the rest of the card like Vitor Belfort, Andre Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Matt Lindland and Ben Rothwell. This was a great card, and the production was not bad for their first time out of the gate. The lighting was a little awkward, the announcers could use some polishing, and I don't exactly care to see Megadeath perform at an MMA event but again not bad for their first show.
The question that remains to be answered is, can they do it again? We may soon find out as there are rumors of another Affliction show coming this November. I believe the key to continued success will be the same as the key to the UFC's success, the number of talented fighters they can get under contract. At the end of the day, MMA fans pay to watch great fights. Most of us can put up with sub-par commentating if we get to watch a fighter like Fedor, or two great fighters battle it out. However, I don't believe Affliction will have continued success if they have the same stable of heavyweights play a game of round-robin and just fight each other. They'll need to infuse their organization with other talented fighters at other weight classes and offer MMA fans a variety of high quality fighters. They also need to find and develop some talent they can call their own, and not just rely on disgruntled former UFC fighters. MMA fans want to hear about and see "the next big thing". With the salaries Afflicition seems willing to pay fighters, they shouldn't have much trouble attracting them but they also may have set a very high bar for themselves with this first promotion.
All in all, I would say Affliction "Banned" was a success, and I'll never complain about more MMA. So here's to hoping that Affliction can continue to threaten the UFC and push them to become better, as well as becoming better themselves, because at the end of the day that just means more MMA for us!!!!
