Opinion & Analysis
:
Staff Editorials
BENT COLUMN: Random Observations of Affliction: Banned vs. UFC: Silva vs. Irvin By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Contributor
Jul 21, 2008 - 12:55:33 AM
First off, is the Affliction show over yet? Seriously. This show was as long as two Super Bowls complete with pregame banter and an overblown musical performance. Of course, Affliction also had an obnoxious musical presence by way of Megadeth.
That's right. A PPV with Tim Sylvia and Megadeth; of course I had to order this one!
This show with Megadeth and the firing squad main event was the equivalent of burn out teens in high school playing "Symphony of Destruction" while feeding a giant rat to a cobra in the biology teacher's classroom during lunchtime.
Tim Sylvia had no chance whatsoever and even if you did ponder aloud that “maybe he did,” you knew he did not. Folks said that Tim could win in the hopes that if he did pull off the upset that it would seem as if they were some kind of MMA Kreskin. The same folks who said that James Irvin would beat Anderson Silva are in the same boat. You just knew it would not happen. But there’s always a chance, so what the hell? Why not bet on the underdog?
Sylvia vs. Fedor was the MMA equivalent of the Arena League Champion San Jose SaberCats taking on the New England Patriots in a preseason game sponsored by Under Armour.
Except this was "Timmeh" against the baddest man on the planet on a PPV card brought to you by Dana White's "F***ing t-shirt guy".
Before I continue treating the Banned main event as if it is pedestrians on a sidewalk and I am Quinton Jackson, let me admit that the undercard of the PPV was actually pretty solid with some excellent performances by Arlovski, Beltfort, Barnett and Babalu. This show was so stocked with names that I half expected Ken Shamrock to be going against Royce Gracie on the preshow with "Big" John McCarthy to referee the matchup as a nod to the past and to also add even more names to this card of all cards.
As for the UFC, they certainly laid an egg as far as putting on a show that is going to make some folks decide that they will forego new school shoes for Todd and braces for Laura in order to make sure they don't miss a single UFC PPV ever again.
Anderson Silva is a world beater but he was the fantastic icing on a cardboard cake when it comes to this free show on Spike. Silk hat on a pig meet your MMA equivalent of Anderson Silva atop a card of nothing. I don't want to be the one to dog this card but if Affliction took their time to procure name talent; Dana White got drunk and threw darts at pictures of some fighters on a wall and his aim was most certainly not true.
Jesse Taylor had his big chance against CB Dollaway and 'Max Keeble's Big Move' was much more thrilling and would be a better way of spending your time rather than watch this TUF abortion of a match. Is Taylor this bad? Was the knee that devastating? Jesse gave CB his back more times than a female gorilla in heat at the zoo backs up against a Silverback. I will say that the "Peruvian Necktie" is fantastic and was a thing of beauty but it was more or less about time for him to finish Taylor off.
Affliction's first foray into the world of MMA promotion came with an estimated payroll of anywhere from $3 million all the way up to $6 million and to say they are going to suffer a loss is as much of a given as Crystal Pepsi failing to capitalize on the "people who want a clear cola" market. The UFC lost money and Affliction will lose money, so what's the big deal? Well, UFC lost $2 million per show and Affliction topped that one in one night and if they lost the first time out with a stacked card, how well will they do when they offer up a no-name card?
UFC has built a brand name and while it wasn't overnight, it was in quick fashion and was served by being the only game in town for seemingly forever in the eyes of most. Have you heard the old adage of the young bull and the old bull? Well, the young bull sidles up to the old bull and suggests that they "run down the hill and f**k a cow" and the old bull calmly responds with, "why run down and f**k one; let us walk down and f**k them all." Affliction took off down this hill while screaming and decided to throw name after name after name on one show and now, they have to follow it up. UFC on the other hand has walked down the hill and while they have stopped along the way to take some steaming piles, they have continued to move at a pace which both serves their interests as well as serves the fans' as they deliver more often than not.
Montgomery Brewster made more financially solvent decisions in 30 days than Affliction made by having a payroll that is the MMA equivalent of M.C. Hammer's posse in the '90s. Where do you go from here? Hell, the payday for Fedor is reportedly $400k more than the entire payroll of UFC 84! Where do you go from here, is what I ask of Affliction. Because the genie is out of the bottle and he will not go back in that bottle for anything less than what you paid Tim Sylvia to show up and get bulldozed.
Dana White may be an a**hole but he is a savvy a**hole and Mr. A**hole to all who wish to ever ply their trade in a UFC octagon. While many act as if what he pays fighters is more in line with what an 8 yr old gets for sewing soccer balls in Bora Bora, he has made sure that if he loses out on a show that it will not be due to exorbitant payroll expenses. Look, if you are the employee then you want to make all that you can, but if you are owner then you have overhead expenses and you want to be able to open the doors again tomorrow and paying out all of your profits to the talent will not allow you to continue to run your company. All of the writers and bloggers who rail against this seemingly Communist way of doing business in the UFC have more than likely never run a business that actually has employees. I know, I know, you may have your booming DVD trading post but I am talking about having a business that actually has a location other than your mother's basement and employees other than yourself and your mother who takes your packages to the post office.
Charlie Sheen in his prime spent less on hookers and cocaine over a 10 year period than Affliction spent in one night on fighter's pay! I don't want to say anything but D.B. Cooper ran off with less money than what Fedor got to pummel Tim Sylvia. I'm sorry but Sylvia vs. Fedor was not Lewis vs. Tyson in that it was a dream match. Tim Sylvia exists only in nightmares on a planet which is inhabited by men with garish facial hair and godawful 'Superman' tattoos. Watching Sylvia fight is an experience similar to Alex in 'A Clockwork Orange' submitting to the 'Ludovico Technique' in that it will turn you off to MMA if you are exposed to it long enough.
Kevin Costner's 'Waterworld' and Guns n' Roses "Chinese Democracy" will prove to be a better way of spending money than what Atencio doled out in pay to the fighters on the Affliction:Banned card. You may argue that UFC fighters fight for peanuts but unless things work out for Affliction, their fighters will be fighting for t-shirts because you just cannot succeed with paying out so much to your talent from the beginning.
I had a blast Saturday night and while the UFC didn't deliver much, it was free and did feature an amazing fighter who at this point is seated with Fedor at the table of badasses, and the show also featured a brutal knockout of Brodie Farber by Rory Markham. So, the sadists got to see someone get hurt and the purists got to see Silva decimate James Irvin in quick and efficient fashion. I did not expect all that much from Fight Night, but I certainly wasn't let down. I did however, expect a lot from Affliction and while I don't feel like I took a loss on ordering the show, I do not really see myself that excited to pony up the money for the next shows unless they can prove to make Fedor vs. Couture come to fruition.
Arlovski, Barnett, Rizzo, Babalu, Sylvia. These are all guys who made their bones in the UFC and going to Affliction after being in the UFC is akin to Johnny Unitas finishing his career with the Chargers, Willie Mays becoming a Met and Brett Favre going anywhere but Green Bay to end his playing days. I love the fact that as a fan of MMA that I now have choices and more weekends filled with fights for my viewing pleasure. Elite XC is back on CBS this Saturday with Smith vs. Lawler II, and then we have WEC's huge show the following weekend; this is the summer to be a fight fan!
This just isn't the time to be a company who wants to compete with the UFC. If you think Fedor made short work of Sylvia, wait until his equivalent decides to run over all of the competition. To go head to head with the UFC is like seeing Rampage in your rearview mirror; you know its coming and your only choice is to brace yourself for the impact. I don't see Affliction going away in the near future but I do see them getting finished off before they can get too strong and dollars and cents will probably have more to do with that than the fight cards that Affliction brings us.
Dollars and cents. Good business sense. This is what will bring down Affliction or perhaps maybe even give them a chance to shine. I am betting on Affliction to fail in much the same way that some folks just knew that Fedor is too much for Sylvia or even any heavyweight in the world. Time will tell but the most telling thing will be what happens when both the UFC and Affliction go head to head on PPV with both shows costing the fans money?
Sure, we all ordered Affliction: Banned and watched UFC Silva vs Irvin for free and I am wagering all of us would have bought Affliction and opted not to buy Silva vs. Irvin had it been a PPV offering. What would you do if Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin for the Light Heavyweight title were to go head to head against an Affliction PPV? Would you buy both? Some of you may but most in this economy are going to limit themselves to one PPV offering and this is where the UFC will thrive. Perhaps the competition will provoke the UFC to up their game and provide more intriguing matchups and more often. If so, then Affliction's days as a fight club will be short and they had better hope that Tim Sylvia can stitch t-shirts better than he can fight if they locked him up to a long-term deal. Either that or perhaps matching Fedor up against a lion may end up to be the only matchup they can provide in hopes of countering the UFC. At any rate it will not be Fedor vs. anyone nor will it be Anderson Silva vs. anyone that determines who wins the battle of the UFC vs. everyone else.
It will be dollars vs. sense and how much of the former that the fans will be willing to throw out due to lack of the latter. If you were told that you could buy a car and get a truck for free, you would take this offer and have two vehicles that could serve your interests. I don't think you would be as hasty in making the decision to take on two vehicles if you had to actually pay for both. You would choose whether to get a car OR a truck and make the choice that serves both your pocket and your desire. Welcome to the true test of UFC vs Affliction, when they both feature PPVs on either the same night or within the same month. In this economy you will be hard pressed to find a fan who will decide to spend $100 on MMA PPVs in one month and if UFC begins to up their game consistently with marquee matchups it will be a no brainer as to which one you will order.
I have a feeling that when the smoke clears we will all be back to ordering UFC PPVs and Affliction meaning overpriced t-shirts but while things may seem the same, they will in fact be different. For if Affliction's mark on the sport can be to prod UFC into providing an even better product then their hard work will not have gone without leaving any thing to remember them by. The ABA failed and ended up merging into the NBA but no one can deny the impact on the game of basketball that the ABA left in its wake. I feel the same thing will happen as far as with the UFC and their competition as it will result in the UFC becoming better by taking that which is positive from their competitors.
As long as this doesn't result in the UFC hiring Megadeth and showcasing Tim Sylvia, I am all for it.
