“Considering the magnitude of this fight, and the partnership between Affliction and Donald Trump, it seemed only fitting that the huge talent pool on the ‘Affliction Banned’ show should be seen by millions in New York’s Times Square. You know it’s a big show when you have a billboard on Broadway.”
– Tom Atencio, Vice President, Affliction, talks about the marquee billboard situated in Times Square in New York City for the upcoming “Banned” pay-per-view (PPV) event that is slated for the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on July 19. It’s a star-studded show that will feature several of the best heavyweight mixed martial artists on the planet, including Fedor Emelianenko, Josh Barnett, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Pedro Rizzo, Ben Rothwell and more.
90 Comments »
about time that this card got some money spent on marketing
All the way down to the Savant Young and Mark Hominick this is honestly the best card ever. The only thing that could ruin it is if Dan Miragliotta was there.
Its a great card but it will not sell enough ppv’s. Hardcore fans will watch it live and record UFN 14.
All other fans will watch UFN 14 and either ignore Affliction or card it on the internet the day after.
I’d like to watch but I can’t find a way to watch it live in the UK. Anybody know??
MoonUK: last I heard it was being offered in the UK on pay per view!
yea i was trying to talk my brother into ordering this card and dvr-ing ufn 14 but he’s all like tim syvia is boring i try to tell him about fedor and the others but i guess thats what makes him a casuall fan but i do know we’ll be watching rampage vs forest. and if i was able to order ppv’s i’d get affliction even though anderson is my all time fave.
Wow…I proved my point without trying. I honestly was trying (Googled it) and could not find a thing about PPV in UK. Bad / NO marketing.
SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET. I’ll try again.
hmmm…maybe i’m special or something but I can’t find a thing on’t internet. Affliction web site says USA, Canada, New Zealand, Austrialia and Africa?? No mention of UK, Russia, Europe or Far east??
I’ve also just call my satellite provider (sky) and the bloke said Affliction what??
the fight network is broadcasting the hour long free show, though im not sure if thats in the uk or just in canada. they also said they are distributing the ppv to the uk. im not entirely sure what that means. i think some british broadcaster has to buy the rights off them. but the fact they made a point of mentioning it makes me think there’s at least some hope it will be on
link to quotes from the fight network
http://www.fightersonlymagazine.co.uk/news/viewarticle.php?id=721
(not an mmamania link. im i allowed to post that??)
Lets be realistic guys. This is a very solid card but it’s not “THE BEST CARD EVER!!!” Sylvia and Arloski have been kinda boring lately. I’m excited to see Fedor fight but who knows how good he will be now compared to his pride days. Look at Cro Cop. I’m pretty sure most of us that read this site will see this event one way or another. But who else is really going to buy this? The average person has no idea who Fedor is.
I disagree for the last UFC pay per view I had some guys come over who were casual fans and they were all asking me if Fedor was a UFC fighter. All I care about regarding the Affliction show is AA and Fedor. And to be honest I’m very excited about Sliva vs Irvin, not alot of people are giving Irvin a chance but I think it;s a solid matchup.
NOKIMONO. if miragliata is reffing fedor/tim, im not buying. if affliction wants to be taken seriously (and it seems they do) they should steer clear of dandy dan. to all others: i think this bill board is very impressive and a good start!
Still no TV commercials though. I’ve seend more advertising on TV for the UFN card, even on the spanish speaking channels. I think they know they will start slow and not sell much PPV and thats why they don’t want to spend much in marketing at the beginning to be able to cover themselves and not go broke. They’ll probably look to get popularity by word of mouth. Lets wish for the best, or at least Fedor can learn that to make it in the US you have to be in the UFC and stop making absurd requests.
yeah but you sepnd it in NY were MMa fighting isn’t even allowed?
Maybe its too little too late?
Agreed
All the “hardcore” MMA fans already know about it and it may be a too little, too late for the casual fans.
I wonder if they planned to market at this stage so they could save money by not having a lengthy marketing campaign or if this is in response to the UFC having an event on the same night.
so by hardcore fans you mean the 5000 or so that go to mma web sites! I know “hardcore” fans who have no idea about this event, but they have seen commercials to the UFC silva/irvin event. This affliction event won’t do 20,000 ppv buys. I’m not wishing it (for those who want to bash me), just an honest, don’t have my blinders on opinion!
your always on here saying that, i don’t think its going to break any records or even close but its going to get more than 20,000 ppv and i will bet you on that.
I agree with you Kevin.. I don’t see a lot of PPV buys because an average MMA fan might not want to dish-out $40 bucks on an unsure product. Sure people want to see Fedor fight, but it’s against Tim Sylvia. When was Tim Sylvia ever marketable in the UFC?? Plain and simple Fedor is the piece of the puzzle that is holding this event together. And I’m sure many people will bash me for saying that people don’t want to see Arlovski, Babalu, etc fight. In the end, money talks. Without having a proven brand it will be hard for Affliction to make money. I bet more than half the people who WILL watch the card will do so for free on http://channelsurfing.net anyway.. I’m gonna watch the card, but I ain’t paying for it like I would a UFC PPV.
ok, if it does under 25000, your name changes to roy loves kevin’s comments or roy thinks kevin rules, if it does more I’ll put I’m a jackass for 2 weeks. deal?
JUST A SIDE NOTE…NO ONE IN AMERICA (BESIDES US, KNOWS WHO FEDOR EVEN IS!!!!
i will take that bet,i will put what ever you want just pick one and you put kevin doesn’t know shit for 2 weeks, sounds like a fun bet.
Ahh Kevin, i come in peace!!!
No i completly agree with you. This is a card that rivals anything else the UFC or Pride has ever put together. I can’t think of a more loaded card although ‘Stacked’ was good and BJ vs Sherk. Still in terms of historic fights this is tough to match.
Anyway the fact is that not enough people will pay for the card, i hate to say it but enjoy it while it lasts because they are going to make a huge loss i recon.
With the amount they are paying Fedor, Timmy, AA etc they need serious numbers and just not enough of your average Chuck Liddell/Tito/TUF fans are bothered.
Kevin: u r wrong about aMERICANS NOT KNOWING WHO fEDOR IS. Even all the clueless ESPN guys always mention Fedor as 1 of the best in the business…they may have not seen him fight, but they know of his legend and that curiosity should cause many of them to tune into the fight.
Its all good we shouldn’t be looking for this card to be huge. I bet though the fights will be historic and that will get the ball rolling. This card might not get the coverage it deserves but people would have to know who Fedor and all of the rest of the HW’s are to even care about it, not to mention a promotions first PPV they don’t have a big name going into this. Let Fedor show Sylvia around the ring and people will be crying for Fedor to face Randy. This IMO is a big deal wether people think so or not. All hope lies with Fedor beating Sylvia or what? Now Sylvia the man beaten out of the UFC ring is now champ? Nope that is not even in the agenda cause if that happens there probably won’t be another card for them. I’d say be looking to see Fedor stomp Sylvia and then if Randy isn’t available by that time look for a Fedor Arlovski bout. The only reason I say this is because I think most companies have this same formula, big names plus UFC equals revenue. Fedor beating Sylvia and Arlovski would make a match with Randy the biggest fight the HW division has ever seen.
john: Your right when you say Americans know who Fedor is.. What amazes me is he’s fought top wrestlers, top BJJ, top strikers and hasn’t lost(my friend told me he lost to a guy from Japan a while back, but I haven’t been able to find the video). Most people who hate on Fedor have seen little to none of his fights. The guy is an MMA wizard. I always hear people who write and say that Feor is overated and it reminds me of the people who call BJ Penn overated. These are the same guys who got turned on from TUF 1, and the first time they saw Penn fight was against Matt Hughes the second time. LMAO I’m going off subject but I hope you get my point.
kevins going to lose this bet, i don’t think they will have huge numbers, but 25000 for sure plus all i need is 25001 for him to lose.
hey roy, it’s u.s. buys right!
Out of curiousity, does anyone know what PPV event had the lowest numbers ever, and what those numbers were?
come on 25001 buys
fedors last ppv did like 10000
i think A.A. could sell 25,000 ppv buys by himself alone on the card. he has alot of u.s. fans that have been dying to see him fight again against an agressive opponent, and rothwell fits the bill. call me crazy(i know you will kevin) but i can see this card doing at least 100,000 buys, unless everyone figurs out where to watch it free live. and no im not betting on it. lol!
KEVIN
That was exactly my point. There is only the hardcore fans which usually make up 5% or less of a sport. So yes I do mean the 5000 or so on this site and on other sites
Punishment: u r exactly right!
This myth about Ameircans not knowing who Fedor is , is just over rated! We all know that ESPN knows nothing about true mma, yet when ever they talk about best mma fighhters in the world they always mention Fedor and Anderson. Hell, Fedor even made their list of 25 greatest Athletes. Maybe people havent seen him fight, but they are fullly aware of his LEGEND and curiousity alone wi help him sell fights against a well known former UFC champ, sylvia.
Arlovski has tons of fans, its really amazing to see how many lloyal fans he has, that stick with him even through all the recent boring performances.
Dont forget, a lot of people know Babalu as well.
Also, about a year ago, the IFL had a nice fan base, and Big Ben was terrorizing the IFL back then….He has more fans then people think!
to say that the casula fans only know Arlovski is very Inaccurate. I think this card will do just fine, and you will all be surprised at the # of people who purchase it!
PUNISHMENT: Fedor’s only loss
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DGJu_v3G93g
I don’t know about this shit… I just cant see them doing enough buys at this point to comp the cost of this card, let alone make a profit..
WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO START SHOWING COMMERCIALS FOR THIS EVENT??? If they had any sort of a marketing brain, they would have been advertising this PPV as a commercial at the very least on ESPN. I don’t think they’d be able to air the commercial on Spike since they have a deal with the UFC, but I’m not sure. How about during the CBS EliteXC broadcast, paying money for a commercial then would have been good too, but not sure if they’d be able to.
When I get home I’m going to put the PPV preview channel on for a few minutes and check if I see anything about this event. I doubt I will…
ViolentMike:
Don’t waste your time looking for the commercial because their is none(not one that I’ve seen anyway). I haven’t seen one commercial for this event and it’s only 19 days away..
I went for a beer last night and the UFC commercial honestly aired 10 times in the hour that I was there. It made me wonder exactly what advertising Affliction is doing. There seems to be no promotion for their 1st event whatsoever.
This will be their first and last show. I’ve been to tons of events, UFC is king and always will be. All other promotions are shit(besides Dream’s lightweight shows)
the most i seemthem doing is 100,00 ppv buys and I think I’m being generous!
I’m truly mixed on this card! I think the main event is something that could go down as one of the best fights ever, and will be a true test for both fighters. While timmy has been fighting top competition (even while injured), Fedor has been “giving back to the japanese” fans and collecting large pay checks fighting cans. I for one have to admit am very sceptical as to the reasons Fedor hasn’t fought top competition in years!
As far as the rest of the card goes, yes there are some big names, bbut is there any doubt to who will win these match ups? Babalu will win, Arlovski will win and Barnett will win. Vitor also will win. The only thing that I am looking forward to is what happens after the main event.
1. If Fedor wins, he’ll fight Randy…but I personally would rather see him fight Arlovski.
2. If timmy wins, he’ll want a rematch with Randy, and quite frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if this fight happens in the UFC. Tim left the UFC on good terms, and it was highly publicized that fedor wanted a “not have to fight tim” clause in his UFC contract. Watch Tim (IF he can pull off a victory), take that wamma belt back to the UFC!
ben has a good chance, he is just like tim who beat aa twice only faster better boxer but with less power
ive seen vids of tim and ben training and tim always makes rothwell look like an amature. ben has a chance, but not nearly as good as you think. he was undefeated in the IFL and barely got past an out of shape,close to rehab ricco. you dont have to remind me that ricco beat a.a., but that was about 5 years ago. i see a.a. winning buy irst rnd ko/tko if rothwell brings it. if rothwell pulls a werdum then a.a. by ud.
Intresting point made Kev..The only way Fedor losses is by a cut. I see Fedor putting a hurting on Tim. Every fight we seem to agree on who the victor will be..but it still intrestingt to see how these fights will paly out. I’m more and more excited that july 19 is right around the corner.
IF…now that is a BIG IF…if Tim does by the grace of GOd win the Wamma belt and want to creep back into the UFC do you think Dana will have that?? A Wamma belt in the UFC ?
I am going too break down this fight really easy for all of you.
Tim will not be able to stop the takedown, or the left hand diving hook of Fedor.
It will all start with that Nasty left hook, it will land, Fedor will Clinch, Twist his world class hips, take Tim down. Has anyone ever seen how NASTY and BRUTAL Fedor’s ground n pound is? Well Add ELBOWS to that….NUFF SAID!!
Tim walks away with a terribly battered face, his tail between his legs, all the way back to the UFC!
not disagreeing john, it’s the what if. Of course dana would take the wamma belt into the ufc, it would just be a huge FU to the whole purpose of that belt!
absolutely! I agree that there is nothing that Dana wants more than Tim bringing that wama belt back to the UFC, but I am not too worried about that. Tim should be worried about being cut, no one has ever witnessed Fedor’s brutal ground n pound with elbows included…Tim will get to be the 1st to taste Fedor’s elbows in his mouth, and it will not taste good.
I honestly have no concerns about this fight, not 1. Fedor will be able to take tim down at will so tim wont be able to hit him long enough to cut him open.
I actually see Fedor getting the better of the stand up as well. Tim was frightened of being taken down by randy that he allowed Randy to look like a K-1 level striker against Tim.
Tim will be even more scared of going to the ground with Fedor because Fedor can do much more damage that Randy could ever do and because Fedor submissions are far more threatening to Tim than Randy’s were. Also Fedor is much better standing than Couture.
I cant see Tim winning at all, and I see Tim walking away from this fight looking like Ken Shamrock after he fought Ortiz the 1st time. its gonna be real Ugly! Bet tHat!
“Tim will get to be the 1st to taste Fedor’s elbows in his mouth, and it will not taste good.”
LOL, I love it.
Rampage on Jim Rome toomorrow!
thats ashamed because its a damn good card
hey Mania, how bout a Grammar Check or Spell Check tool on your site. this is getting ridiculous.
lol!! i agree! I have one built into my mac, so at least I know if i misspelled something
Kevin, dont get all anal like that Tool! U r better than that!
The vast majority of people that see that billboard will have no idea what the hell it is.
hey John and VM, how are you guys liking my “morning conversations?” I’m trying to pick one topic that may not be talked about much, and throw it out there. And John, I recommended you to mania as a dream/japanese writer, you seem to have a love and good grasp on the japanese fighters as well as fans!
Thank you! I do love Japanese MMa, my only problem is I cant watch it live, I dont have HDNet, so I have to watch the Japanese events, the next morning on the internet
The morning conversation was great on Monday, I was on this site this past weekend (my girl was down the shore), and I will admit I have never seen so many idiotic comments on this site…Happy you came on monday an tore them a new one!
Kev, I’ve been loving the morning update on Nick Diaz and the rest of the Cesar Gracie Clan!
Hey John maybe Mania will provide you with HDNet so you can give us guys live coverage
I wont complain!
It’s because john is really poor.lol
I love it. It’s about time. I would like to see billboards coming and going ffrom the city *midtown tunnel, holland, 59th street bridge. I want to see TV commercials now that I have cable set up.
How many of you guys are going to order this show?
Personally i am going to watch ufn 14 who is offering the best pound for pound fighter for free along with a bunch of up and coming talent while affliction is filled with a bunch of former ufc fighters.
The only way I’ll be watching it live is if the bar down the road from me is showing it, otherwise I’ll be watching UFN. I can’t afford to dish out 45 bucks for every mma card that comes around, expecially when it’s a start up.
This event will not only be very entertaining, but it will also prove to be very profitable for me. I expect to win somewhere between $1000 – $2000 just off this event. IMO these fights are easy to pick. So Hell yeah, i will order this event of a life time, enjoy the fights will watching my dough STACK!!
Oh yeah good idea this to put a billboard on broadway where people go to see plays lol oh and in a city that won’t sanction mma and people there still call it human cock fighting. And put yourself in the shoes of most of the people who will see this sign, what do you think they’ll think it could be? Theres no clear indication what it is, the sign is boring with a load of guys heads on, its not memorable, people will forget all about it 3 seconds after seeing it, they’ll probably think its boxing, and boxing with no body they’ve heard of lol so they won’t have any interest in it.
“You know it’s a big show when you have a billboard on Broadway.” Ok yeah lets see how many ppv buys you get, most people don’t know who fedor is and hate tim sylvia so i don’t think you’ll be making a profit.
The main event is good yes, the rest of the card is ok a little overhyped because all the fights are lobsided.
I think this is the best card of the year so far in all MMA – mostly because it is Fedor’s first test in a while. He has caught a lot of sh!t lately, but only a year or so ago everyone agreed he was the best fighter in all MMA – people even said he was the best P4P fighter as a heavyweight. If he wins in convincing fashion – I personally think at some point he will win via arm bar – he is right back at the tip of mma fans tounges (without the venom spit hopefully). Also, VITOR! Man I hope this guy can get past the rough couple years he has had. This fight should go a long way to determining where he is. Kevin, you and I disagree a lot on here but you are probably right that this will not sell well – mainly because of late marketing and the bs move the UFC pulled.
Why is it a BS move on the UFC’s part? Its business! Its the same thing any other Org. would try to do to the UFC if givin the chance.
This is actually a pretty good card for a 1st event put on by Affliction… however, it is totally under marketed as of now. I imagine the PPV’s will be extremely low. Fans will be watching the FREE UFC.
I will be buying this PPV and DVRing Spike show.
I’m starting to think, maybe its just so Affliction can get there product out there? Maybe Affliction is using MMA to sell more of there product. So in the long run there MMA just helps the sell of there clothing line. And who cares if there MMA goes bad, there product will be more known. Look at Titos punishment athletics, it wouldnt be nowhere near what it is if it wasnt for the UFC.
the billboard in NYC and any commercial they have should say nothing more than “it features fedor, the man who absolutely dominated the ufc heavyweight champ that dana white is so proud of, not once, but twice!!!” a casual ufc/mma fan couldn’t ignore that remark
I understand that it is a business move, and a really good one to, I just think it is a bs move. The UFC had nothing planned at all, saw the hype, and is putting what I think is now their # 1 draw in a virtually meaningless fight. Again, I understand its business, but Dana would stutter worse than the guy on Billy Madison when asked to explain business ethics. I just think it would be sad if putting Anderson up against an at best top 15 lhw backfires and Silva loses some of the unbeatable aura that is around him now. Im not loyal to the UFC, I am loyal to MMA. Obviously the UFC is the best product, but I loved having Pride provide two class orgs to chose from. Affliction looked as if they could fill that void, Dream possibly – but the Zuffa org is going to try to pull a Microsoft style monopoly and I personally think it is bs. I think from an MMA fans perspective it helps to have those two powerful orgs because it allows more acces to top notch fighters (INSERT CURSE WORDS TO TUF DELAYING CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTS HERE) I understand many of you won’t agree, but my thinking is long term, not just based on the 19th show.
actually jim no one but us will have an understanding of the gravity of this event. we are the most knowledgable mma fans in the universe after all.
oh yeah
WAR GRIFFIN!!!
Can we stop with the “WAR” shit already? I’m sure many of the posters on our forum are high school kids, but this “WAR” garbage is ridiculous. I’d like to shoot the bastard who coined that irritating puke.
Sooper, the fighter you’re posting “WAR” for will never see your post, it certainly won’t help him win (especially Forrest), and it annoys the hell out of us. Do you need another reason?
Bodog’s right down the hall, kid. Maybe you’d find more acceptance from those boobs. Cheers.
someone mentioned that Jim Rome started it, so please, feel free to shoot him. Maybe that’s a little harsh. Just slap his overbearing @ss around a little. WAR SkeletonKey!
WAR BOOBIES!
fedor by armbar 1:45 of round 1.
For all you Timmy bashers and all you Fedor nut lickers, which is most of you, I hope Timmy beats the hell outa Fedor. As usual nobody gives ole Timmy any credit. Fedor willnot be able take him down and Tim is going to use his reach and and get the decision. Boring or not, that is how I think it’s gonna go down
I can’t wait for this card to suck balls. Then all you “hardcore fans” can make excuses for all these boring ass fighters. NO WAY that Fedor takes Tim down. Tim via 2nd round ko. Fedor, despite what you Dana Haters may think, hasn’t had a tough opponent in YEARS. F Coleman. Sorry Donald. Looks like this make more money quick investment isn’t going to pan out. Hopefully this sucks so bad dollars wise to push Fedor to the UFC. Where he gets exposed. Chuck vs Fedor. Randy who? F aa, burnout-burnett, Big Tim, Rothwell, Bubba Loo and especially, Mega Death. Mega Death will be the theme for this garbage. Anderson for Free all the way. F dvring that. Silva via 1st round ko.
efisher: business ethics? Affliction threw ethics to the wind first.
People are clueless if they think this is the best card ever. You have one fight that pits two top ten guys. One Fight!
Barnett Vs Rizzo is ok at best. Barnett a top tier talent definitely to top 20 p4p Vs Rizzo cmon ok at best!
Lindland Vs scrub. He is not a complete can but not even top 30
Arlovsky Vs Rothwell although very good and Im just as excited about this as any fight on the card again, Rothwell is not top 10 but he is close.
Sobral Vs Whitehead. ahh if Whitehead was in the UFC people would be saying LOL I thought the UFC was supposed to be the best fighters, Whitehead is junk.
The undercard is as good as any ever! Im very excited about Belfort at 185 Vs Martin!
UFC in May was just as good accross the board, maybe better.
And this stuff still isn’t legal in New York. So whoop-dee-doo.
I’m not going to bash Tim, but Fedor will be able to take him down pretty much at will. Tim IS a good fighter, but once on the ground, (which will be quick) look for a devastating arm bar. Probably in the second round because the first they will test the waters. Just a bad matchup for Tim.
minotauro nogueiro is the only heavyweight the ufc has that is as good as fedor, arlovski, barnett, aleks e., and yes include timmy. since randy isn’t in the ufc anymore the only hw the ufc has that could beat ole tim was minotauro and maybe, just maybe mir, but mir couldn’t beat arlovski or barnett, not too even mention fedor.
Fedor vs. #1 ufc hw
barnett vs. #2 ufc hw
arlovski vs. #3 ufc hw
timmy vs. #4 ufc hw
alexander e. vs. #5 ufc hw
the ufc would go 0-5
Affliction won’t make it. They already had their have minutes of fame with those cheesy-ass shirts(which if yiu still wear by the way, you deserve to be punched in the face. UFC is king and always will be.
I’m not sure why my posts are always negative shit, but it’s probably because of irrelevant and redundant posts like this. I’m all for people expressing their opinions, but with the exception of a few of you loyal posters on here who have extremely insightful things to say, I get the feeling I’m surrounded by freakin’ mullet-wearing trailer boys. Missing teeth. Lazy eyes. That kinda stuff.
By the way, Josh: 9435 S. 180th LN, Goodyear, AZ 85338
Come punch me in the face, tough guy.
skeletonkey must be some sort of world beating tough guy or something. damn, probably a kimbo slice of sorts. the baddest ass dude in goodyear, AZ. watch out goodyear, nobody mess with skeletonkey, he’s tough!!
It is very difficult to catch Fedor, Nogueira couldn’t do it 3 times. Randy Couture might have a 5% chance if he can get him cut or maybe go thru 5 rounds of torturing(needs tremendous stamina from 32yo and a 46 yo) and get a decision like Rampage vs Griffin. Or the Russian Mafia suddenly kidnapped Fedor’s wife and daughter and threaten him to take a fall becas the odds is going to be high and there is money to be made??
Other than that, I think “The Natural” needs to be a bit supernatural and perform some sort of miracle for the victory.
Even if Fedor was victorious, I think some people would still deny by saying the age difference and other excuses. Truth is, He is the best I have seen and people should look at the fighter not where he is from or whether he got some fat padding on him or not. The guy is so tough even other pro fighters attend his master class around Europe to learn MMA and Sambo. Thats commitment and love for the sport for yah. One more thing Fedor dominates his weight class in any organization he is in, so other HW will move weight class or go to other organization to get a championship belt on their waist. They know they got no chance of the belt if Fedor is there. Now he just signed with Affliction in the US and everyone wants to fight the best but after a while, you’ll see. THe Maniac got it bad and soon many HW fighters will feel the same like Tim Silvia. Shameful to lost 6 months of training in just 36 seconds.