Props: Yahoo!Sports.com
Quoteworthy:
“All Fedor’s wins and mystique hasn’t quite made him a top box office draw. In Japan, where Emelianenko has fought most of his career, he never had the mainstream appeal of fighters like Mirko Cro Cop, a spectacular KO artist, Bob Sapp, a freakish American who wasn’t a top fighter but had a huge personality, or Wanderlei Silva, an aggressive exciting fighter who had a legendary series of matches with national hero Kazushi Sakuraba. In the U.S., his last fight on pay-per-view, on April 14, 2007, when he faced natural middleweight contender Matt Lindland for Bodog Fight in Russia, drew a miserable 13,000 buys and essentially set that company on the fast road right out of business. Previously, as the main eventer on a loaded 2006 PRIDE show in Las Vegas, facing Mark Coleman, the show did about 40,000 buys, also considered a huge disappointment.”
As Dave Meltzer points out, Fedor Emelianenko — considered in some circles to be the top mixed martial artist alive — is historically not a money-making machine when it comes to selling pay-per-view (PPV) events. That could be a problem, considering Affliction MMA is opening up its check book for the Russian to compete in the main event of its debut show, “Banned,” against Tim Sylvia at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on July 19. However, the upstart promotion has supplemented the pay-per-view (PPV) card, which is priced at $39.95, with other great match ups. The million dollar question — literally — is will it be enough to be deemed a success. We should know the answer to that question in less than one week. T-minus six days until showtime.
124 Comments »
No it will not. Unfortunately. Afflication dies via Fedor’s armbar (it will make both Tim and Affliction tap out).
And that is exactly why Danna didn’t give his crazy demands.
*give him his crazy demands
I totally agree, I know we all occasionally talk crap about DANA but you have to give the man credit…he is a great business man. Period. He is running the largest MMA org. in the world and doing a great job. Obviously he is going to look at the number of PPV buys before giving millions to Fedor. I also understand why he was willing to make him the #1 paid fighter in the UFC. Cause with the talent that Fedor has he can easily become a superstar with the American audience. Its just he is no where near that level just yet. NO WHERE NEAR IT! When you cant even crack 50,000 PPV buys in TWO events your in trouble! If Affliction is hoping that the guys on their card will carry them on PPV buys their wrong. They need a Tito, Chuck or Forrest type guy that can get you some good numbers…Instead they sign the most hated fighter in the UFC. I really think Affliction bit off two much on this venture.
they got arlovski!
cant diss barnett, rizzo, alecks or lindland either!
also this ignores the fact that mma was bigger in japan and it wasnt fedors fault that he didnt sell ppv’s it was pride! they had him fight chumps! if he is gonna fight randleman, ogawa, goodridge, zulu and the like your not seeing a fight your seeing a quick submission. simple as!
wanderlei sold seats cause he fought guys like rampage(2), sakuraba(3) arona(2), nakamura, yoshida(2), yuki kondo cro cop(2) and mark hunt! wandy is one of the most loved in the world as is cro cop and bob sapp was a freak draw
Aleks and Lindland have no drawing power at all. Not a diss, but it is reality. Barnett and Rizzo are known by the hardcore fans, but will not interest a single casual fan. The big draws are Fedor vs. Sylvia and Arlovski vs. Rothwell. Personally, I can’t wait to see this card, and hope that it does well. However, I have seen hardly any advertisemant for it outside of the internet, and a lot of people I know, who never miss a UFC fight, had no idea this was coming up until I mentioned it to them. I also haven’t seen any of the bars that hold UFC fights advertise that they will be carrying this card. With only 6 days to go, I don’t think it has enough of a hype behind it to be a success. Also, I think the UFC slammed the door on what chance they did have with a free Anderson Silva fight, that does have a lot of hype.
I was watching uSA a lot yesterday, and it was bombarded with Affliction commercials
This event will do just fine, and ESPN is probably going to cover it and give its ratings a boost.
i have been seeing alot of promo 4 this event everywhere i go!
i just got my tickets in the mail 3 days ago.
i scored 3rd row back. i am so happy i finally get to see fedor fight live.
i have yet to see him live and i m hoping to meet him at the weigh ins.
i also cant wait to see aleks-barrnett-rizzo-nog-babalu
cause i have never watched them fight live
tHis event is not counting on Fedor, its counting on household names, and there are filled with them on this card:
Barnett (former UFC champion)
Sylvia (former UFC champion)
Vitor (Former UFC champion)
Babalu (Former UFC star, fan favorite)
Rothwell (This guys has ton of fans, he carried trhe IFL when they were kind of successfull)
Arlovski (Former UFC champion and GOD in the eyes of tons of fans)
Nogueira (TOP 10 LHW FOR SURE, and the twin brother of current UFC Heavyweight champion!…Cant be hard to market him)
Edwin Dewees/Whitehead: Former TUF rejects
Pedro Rizzo (UFC hall of famer)
Lindland (bORING, but a TOP middleweight
Buentello (Fought for a UFC title)
Forget Fedor/Aleks….The rest of the cast is well known to both die hards and the casual fans, and for those that dont know Fedor, I am sure they have heard of him and his aura, and will be curious to see him a Against a Huge former Champ like Sylvia.
ESPN will be all over Fedor’s nuts by the time Satrurday rolls around (FEDOR WAS VOTED AS ESPN”S TOP 25 GREATEST ATHLETES)…giving Afflictiopn a nice little boost in the publicity department.
Latey, I saw Affliction commercials on Spike/USA/tNT. and TBS….they will do just fine, and if they dont earnt a ton of revenue, they wi ll earn Fame and credability that will help make their 2nd show in October a success.
AFFLICTION is here to stay!
John: 5 days away bro. I’m excited as you are see this event. Your right it is not Fedor.. it’s about everyone else on this card. Fedor is just the desert.. The iceing on the cake. I hope Affliction can pull in at least 250,000 pvv sells.
5 days Phil, just 5 days…. I am in school this morning and its all I can think of….I just have this itch! I have to get through this week as quick as possible!
If I didnt have exams all week, I would take sleeping pills and try to sleep my way to Saturday! lol
Just because the guys you mentioned are former UFC champs in no way makes them close to being a house hold name.
Especially those pre TUF days who 90% of mma fans know nothing about. How you conclude that most of these guys are known by casual fans is beyond me.
You are right…..the bad news is,….since randy beat tim……there has been nobody since…..it’s weak..fedor is a shadow of himself
I think a lot of the problem with Fedor’s weak sales is the people who he is facing are not big draws or many don’t see as valid competion. The Bodog fight with Linland, come on, Fedor is a heavyweight and Linland is a middleweight. Then Mark Coleman. Maybe in 1997 that would have been a huge draw when Coleman was smashing everyone in sight.
And now Tim Silvia. Tim didn’t exactly whoa the biggest audience for MMA (The UFC fans) and now he’s supposed to be one of a start up company’s main draws? It just don’t make sense. Plus the marketing for this show stinks. There will be buys yes, The Hardcore fans will buy because that’s what we do, but this event will not be a success as far as revenue, it may only be a sucess as far as fights go but that just ain’t enough. I highly doubt they get more than 25000 buys if that.
i just saw a prettty good promo on tbs on this event. it mainly focused on barnett though and had a good interview with him. i dont think affliction is relying on fedor to be the big star to bring in ppv buys. they are counting on a.a., sylvia, barnett, rothwell and babalu to sell ppvs and help showcase fedors talents. if people buy banned to watch any of the afformentioned fighters, all former ufc fighters, and fedor performs well, then fans will start buying into the fedor hype and i think he has a chance to be a star here. if fedor wins against tim and fights 2 more times maybee against a.a., barnett or randy he could easily become a “household” name. i think affliction will pull of 2 more events wether this 1rst event bombs or not. we have to remember that adrfeneline has abig stake in this as well and it will be interesting to see if they a willing to keep playing 2nd bananna to affliction.
I think all the former UFC fighters will help sell it. Unless the casual fan views them as UFC rejects and just watches the UFC for free instead.
I guess that makes me a casual fan since I’m planning to watch the free UFC event. To be sure, I’ll be checking mmamania for Afflication fight updates, but I won’t be buying the PPV.
I am a die hard fan, how can you think that? when Dana (The man That made MMA what it is) didn’t keep those guys around it was for a reason, they got sloppy, inconsistant or, had disputes with management. Anyway you look at it the fact is Dana made most of those guys and I’m sure alot of them will be back in the UFC when the smoke settles but, there no way that any other org is going to come close to the UFC.
See the post right above mine for reference to the “casual fan” comment.
that is who I was responding to.
the fact timmy and dana said he was only fighting fedor and coming back would tell me not to use him to market the company LOL, and everyone else from the ufc that’s there really was rejects
belfort (was good at first but like tito just isn’t good anymore),arlovski (was winning boring fights and now is a boxer),babalu (never was any good really),barnett(good fighter, but left the ufc for pride and wasn’t as big in the US anymore) so really they don’t have as much talent as people think there best fighter is barnett really
i will say the free fight is what i will be watching just because those 4 letters
Randy murders, Please list a source for this quote….
“the fact timmy and dana said he was only fighting fedor and coming back”
I’d like to see that listed as “FACT”. Thanks.
http://mmamania.com/2008/03/28/ufc-agrees-to-release-tim-sylvia-from-contract/
he doesn’t specifically state that he left JUST for the fedor fight but it does state
“Sylvia mentioned that the split was amicable and that he intends to return to the Octagon later in his career.”
somewhere i also seen dana confirm it was just to pursue a fight with fedor hence why he was willing to sign with whoever could get the fight since the ufc would no longer negotiate with fedor
heres a quote from tim himself
“I’ve come to a crossroads in my career where I’ve fought all the best guys in the UFC. There’s a handful of guys outside the UFC that I really want to fight and I don’t think the UFC’s going to get some of them. Some of them are a little too high priced for the UFC to get. So I just think this is the best avenue for me right now.”
With multiple promotions in the United States including EliteXC, Strikeforce, the as yet unannounced Affliction/Golden Boy Promotion team and several more in Japan, Sylvia said he intends on fighting “six or seven” times next year.
listed on
http://www.mma-analyst.com/post/Tim-Sylvia-wants-Fedor2c-will-return-to-the-UFC-eventually.aspx
lol i think that’d be good enough sources for you
I hope so coz I dont feel like hearing dough boy Dana White talking trash after the show. The only thing that would be better is if A. Silva eats canvas against Irvin… Unlikely, but he has a better shot than Leben or Franklin had..
I hope so coz I dont feel like hearing dough boy Dana White talking trash after the show. The only thing that would be better is if A. Silva eats canvas against Irvin… Unlikely, but he has a better shot than Leben or Franklin had..
true, on the other hand, it’s misleading as most of those events were one and done as far as the US was concerned. The whole title apparatus of the UFC is geared toward marketing fighters and building them up for future events.
Pride did quite well in Japan before it lost its TV deal, although it’s hard to separate who filled all the seats in those arenas and created the TV ratings as all of their cards were stacked with good fights, as well as local fighters.
Fedor is not good looking, he doesn’t speak english he doesn’t seem to have much of a personality and he has no charisma…. people wanna see Tito Ortiz’s , Andrei Arlovski’s and Randy Couture’s and guys like that because people can connect with them
actually thats not true fedor looks fat and out of shape and americans can relate to that and be like if he can do then i can do it.
Remember his the heavyweight version of karo with Sick judo throws and crazy sambo submissions the diffrence is fedor is hard worker and karo is lazy and less focused on training and more focused with his do you who i am gimmick but deep down his wonderfull humann being and if karo takes advantage out greg jackson and reunites with his old master then… Karo vs fedor would be a possibilty…
I am American, Dan. I cannot relate to being fat and out of shape. However, I CAN relate to proper grammar and punctuation. You should try it sometime. If someone is fat, they can lose weight. Stupid is forever.
I’m with you. As an American who trains Jiu Jitsu and MMA, fat and out of shape don’t connect with me either. But we’re not exactly in the majority. I can imagine how Fedor could be marketed to the typical casual fan.
As far as stupid goes, I’ll have to disagree with you on that one. In about 8 years, I went from from stupid, worthless loser to dual undergrad degree, a J.D., and (1 class to go) an LL.M. in international taxation. There’s hope for folks like Dan. Education can open up the poorest of minds.
And I didn’t even get to Karo vs. Fedor comment. How far did you make it in school?
lmao….stop it …your killing me…..
karo vs fedor?? dan what on earth are you smoking? please share some with the rest of us
He must have his hands on some Diaz level shit.
I think it will draw a good ppv! The big hype with Randy Couture will help alot! I for one am very interested to see how Fedor handles Tim compared to Randy and Tim. Plus,It has som really good other fighters.Arlovski,Sobral,ect! I plan on renting it and I’m looking forward to it! I dont want to miss the Silva fight as he tries out the light heavyweight waters at UFC Fight Night.I’ll Record that.
No question Affliction will have trouble selling a PPV on the same night the UFC is giving it up for free.
The UFC is doing everything they can to keep the little guys, namely fledgling Promotions down, (bullying) in the hopes that they just go away.
The competeting Promotions are bad for the way the UFC has done business up to now. They don’t want to change their business model structure as it is very profitable.
Pay as little as possible for the fighters on exclusive contracts, so they can keep as much percentage of profit as they can.
The Fertitta’s didn’t get as wealthy as they are by rewarding anyone for their efforts any more then necessary.
Clearly the UFC is intent on making the MMA business as hard as they legally can on any Promotion trying to get a slice of the pie.
If we as fans don’t now support these competing MMA Organizations, they most certainly will quickly disapear and we’ll be back watching the same old UFC. That is, only fighters willing to sign their short careers away (exclusive contracts)for less & less money.
Remember we don’t get to see the best fighters in MMA compete against each other in the UFC, only those under contract to the UFC. Some of the best MMA fighters in the world have never crossed the threshold of the octagon.
Competion IS good for MMA, but it will quickly disapear if we don’t, as the consumers of the product they offer watch MMA fights and buy from their advertisers, and we must buy their PPV’s.
Continuing your support for the UFC is good, but support the competing shows too. It can only make the sport better for fans & fighters alike, as Promotions are forced to put on better shows & compensate their fighters more equitably.
I’ve got nothing against the UFC, they did bring MMA to the sports mainstream.
We have to thank the UFC for that. But future growth of the sport really depends on expansion of competing MMA Promotions.
I’ll be buying the “BANNED” PPV & taping the UFC/Spike show.
I will also be tuned to EliteXC from Stocton.
I urge any REAL fan of MMA to do the same.
I’ll support the upcomming shows when I get the quality production that I pay for.
Mark Hominick is probably the only guy on the card that will have gas left in a third round. oh yeah he’s on the free prelims. I quess I dont have to buy this event after all.
And has far as your best in the world haven’t cross the octongon theory, if they haven’t crossed it they can’t claim to be best in the world. UFC is the BIG LEAGUE and the others are just farm teams.
yup
Nicely put.
I’m going to buy the banned show.
But I don’t begrudge UFC for competing with another organization.
Also, we can call it fledgling organizations, and make it sound as if it’s 3 girls running a lemonade stand and Dana’s kicking it over, but the reality is that this is a multi-million dollar company, with millionaire/billionaire investors who are throwing fights to further their clothing company.
now THAT was an analogy.
LOL! Great post! Dana kicking over the lemonade stand is quality content! LMAO
I am getting really tired and bored of this “any REAL fan of MMA will buy Affliction and reject UFC”.
Why?
This is the true statement
Any REAL fan of MMA should watch the event that they believe will be more enjoyable.
If it was the choice between paying $40 for Fedor vs Tim- two fighters who I dont particulary like, Tim because he is boring, Fedor because I havnt connected with him as a fan: or $40 for an Anderson Silva stepping up in weight class fight. I would choose the Silva fight, because he is my favourite fighter. So who am I going to choose now Silva is FREE?
Why dont people stop trying to be idiotic dictators of MMA news websites and forums and just say “Watch the event that you personally want to watch”.
Any statements about “competition” are silly. The competition need to prove that they are competition and should be able to outwork and outmanouver the UFC by themselves without needing fans to fight the UFC for them.
I, as an MMA fan, am going to try to find a bar where both will be on! Hopefully I won’t get whiplash while swivelling my head from side to side trying to catch BOTH events at once.:)
i’m gonna support my wallet and go wit the freeby
I get free PPV’s, so price and money doesn’t really matter for me. But either way, Affliction will come first for me, because they will most likely replay the UFN right after it ends anyway. I’m not really too pumped about Anderson moving up to fight Irvine, would much rather see the mucho stacked Affliction card. UFC card is shit.
Doesn anyone know if it will be offered in HD?
Yes, it is being offered in HD, but that is all it is being offered on through my cable company on Saturday night.
I predicted earlier that Affliction would surprise everyone with a record audience. However, after spending 40 minutes with my cable company trying to order the PPV, I take that prediction back.
UFC events are always on HD PPV and regular PPV simultaneously. But on my company, Charter Cable, it is only on HD Saturday July 19. You cannot get regular PPV until Sunday July 20. So if you don’t get HD (at least in my area) you can’t even watch the PPV until Sunday. I spoke with several people and was so frustrated I thought of switching to Satellite TV. But I think the problem is that Affliction did not schedule it on both regular PPV and HD PPV Saturday night.
That is the secaond marketing “faux pas” they have done. Not enough Advertisement and no ease of accesability = BIG STINK in the profits department. I predict they are done after this show.
Trump will be out I guarantee it.
guarantee may be much, call it a prediction.
I think being Russian is a main problem. Americans don’t like Russians in general and vice versa…
so untrue and so uninformed…….we hate all foriegners equally . lol!
This is the year 2008. “Spies Like Us” was in the ’80s. Americans could give lesser of a crap that Fedor is Russian. Spider Silva is Brazilian, and he’s popular. GSP is Canadian, and he’s popular. I dare say Arlovski was more popular than Big Timmy. The Russian tennis girls are popular (i.e. - Kournikova, Sharapova). Your incorrect assumption has lead you to a correct conclusion, which causes your confusion.
Oh yeah? Well, turn on ur TV and listen to the news. There are so much hate toward Russia from FoxNews or CNN. Even McCain said if becomes president he’ll kick Russia out from the great 8th. Sorry dude, but Cold War is not over, yet.
how many american fighters do you like zheka? ive never seen you post about any fighter except fedor.
To me not being American is huge in his not being real popular over here. If Anderson Silva was American, and even halfway engaging, the guy would be in another stratosphere in terms of general popularity.. Look at how popular Rich Franklin is, and Silva blew him out twice. if it was an American doing the stuff he does, he would be even more of a franchise than he already is. The advert bucks alone he would be making would be huge….
I disagree. It’s the American way to embrace foreigners. Look how popular Wandy is for example. I think the big thing is not speaking English. If Anderson would learn English his stock would rise exponentially.
I agree with this. I think that people don’t like it so much when you have to sit through a translator to here the story. It makes it less compelling.
As for Fedor, I know he is what he is, but in all honesty, he has never really been marketed either. Not that i have noticed anyway. You hear he is fighting and that is it, not a lot of promotion or public appearances and the likes. So the casual fan does not get the oppurtunity to understand who he is and what he has accomplished so he becomes just another fighter.
I think what the UFC is doing right now is wrong… if they really cared about the sport and not so much about being the best and only “good” organization which they are anyways cause they’ve got the best fighters, but they don’t have to put down the other orgs.. cause when the UFC falls apart the sport will die cause there are no other at that level
The UFC doesn’t care for the sport as much as they do for their bussiness, and how can you blame them. This is f***ing bussiness not some comunity league. They are, of course, trying to knock down people who is traying to ride the bandwagon they invested on.
this isnt gym class, its Competitive business they don’t share the market.
If the UFC were to fall, where do you think all the best fighters will go? To other orgs. Thus another will rise. And so it shall be.
MMA will never die.
gsp is canadian. i dont see him losing any popularity because of this. andrei arloovski is rusian or belarussian and is very poular in the u.s. and his english is not so good. i know im not speaking for everybody, but i think what americans like most is winners, regardless of their race or nationality. at least i know i do.
This American likes fighters who get out there and work their asses off…from Wanderlei to Forrest… Leben, Anderson Silva..etc,etc… the list goes on. You don’t always have to win to get the cheers, or respect.
We all love any fighter who goes out and works hard… Regardless of nationality… from Forrest to Wanderlei.. Leben to A. Silva… Thats what the sport is all about. Those slugs who gas in the first round can go to Elite xc, besides Carano, she gets a hallpass.
I am French Canadian that is why my favorite fighters are GSP and Cote, it is natural to cheer for someone like yourself. I think Russians are cheering for Fedor. But if it came down to betting money I have to be more careful not to let my emotions factor into my decision, or not bet on the fight. In the end two guys are fighting and I remember the fight kalib fight few months ago I was cheering for him in the begining but at the end I wanted to see Nate to knock him out. I guess if I can change, and you can change maybe we can all change.LOL
I am italian and I couldn’t care less about alessio sakara..
question is will the fans who already shelled out 45 bucks for ufc 86 go back in their pockets and spend another 40 bucks on times like this. i was going to but a free spike tv is better than spending another 40 bucks. besides it will hit dvd n like 4 or 5 months and i can buy it for 20 bucks
go to a buffalo wild wings or hooters and watch it free
it will probably be on t.v. within a couple months to sell their next event. I am guesing fight network in Canada and I forget who is showing it in the US. …IF the first one is a success.
I agree Silva is great, but my point is, if he spoke English, and were American, you cant deny that he would dwarf the likes of Rampage in terms of a household name. And the money he could make pitching things like aftershave, or whatever would be huge. I am not saying he is not appreciated due to his country of origin, I am saying from a business point of view, he would be huge in terms of the ’superstar’ status. GSp is white and speaks decent English. Not even a worthy comparison..
As for shelling another 40 bucks. aFter that last UFC card, i am in no mood to be hoodwinked again..
Rawbert. Did you put Lebens name in with wanderlei and A. Silva??? Thats a stretch no matter how you slice it..
People keep ignoring the fact that at the end of the day Affliction’s name carries a lot of draw with it and is an incredibly visible brand. Fedor is the garnish on top for the show. They have a stacked card and are marketing every one of them.
More importantly, they are appealing to the MMA fans in the best possible way. Bodog just threw money at everything assuming gold would emerge. That was not the case. They put on a ridiculous fight and it cost them. Affliction has done all the right things…. the pride show and bodog didn’t
go find the rocker you fell off of.
lol
I don’t think anybody has touched of Vitor Belfort at 185 at this card.
I think Vitor will be scary at 185
Damn, John sure is silent on this one!!!!!!! Where are you to defend your boi John?
LOL, I was thinking the same thing.
I dont understand why everyone thinks Fedor is the bick draw. Am I the only one who cant wait to see Andrey or ben in action?
Yes, I am looking forward to those fights. But, as far as I am concerned, Fedor vs. Silva is the biggest and most exciting fight of the year. If Fedor loses, all of a sudden, he loses his mystique and Affliction has big problems. If he wins, think of the anticipation waiting for Couture’s legal troubles to end so he can join Affliction and fight Fedor, too.
affliction will bury ufc
LMFAO!, did they sign David Copperfield?
I dont care how much money you have. If your devisions arent stacked,your going nowhere.
Yea, I’m curious to see where this goes, I know Barnett would fight every month if they wanted him to cause he’s just a tough bastard but how many quality cards like this can we expect..
What would be worse for who?
Fedor loses on Affliction
A. Silva get KO’d by Irvin on UFC
??
How is silva getting knocked out by irving bad? he’s fighting a well established ufc fighter and in a higher weight category? Fedor loses, every one knows that the UFC actually has the “creme de la creme” HW division.
Yep, Fedor losing is way worse.