Some might question the redundancy in giving readers a semi-regular forum to vent in this space -- they’ve got terabytes of room over on the Sherdog.net message boards to pour over the most crippling minutiae of the sport, from Dana White’s follicular troubles to the hypothetical play-by-play of
Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) vs. a Kodiak Grizzly.
To these people, I say: get out of the way of letting readers do the work for me. Letters on Emelianenko, Affliction and faux tough guys to follow.
I truly believe it was not the UFC’s intention to try to “beat” Affliction on July 19. All the UFC was trying to do was mitigate the damage that Affliction could do to its business. By scheduling an event to contest Affliction, the UFC -- which is fighting from a position of advantage -- was making sure Affliction does not make as much money as it could have uncontested. Many people will watch UFC live on cable and read the play-by-plays on Sherdog, saving the . Some Internet-savvy people will even download the Affliction fights off the Internet for free and get the best of both worlds.
While I agree that this single Affliction card beat the UFC head-to-head, I have to ask: what comes next for Affliction? The UFC has already scheduled several PPVs in the future, while Affliction blew its wad all in one PPV. How long before we get another Affliction card? What “household” fighters will be available to fight on the next Affliction card? How long can Affliction stay financially viable with the payroll it is currently rolling with?
My novice prediction is that Affliction won’t break even with its first event, and the UFC will out-draw Affliction by 20-to-1 being on cable as opposed to PPV.
-- Mike Wilson
True enough. The UFC’s biggest trump card -- to contest Affliction’s Trump card, if you’ll grant me the nauseating wordplay -- is its long-term viability as an ongoing sports enterprise. It has events planned well into the end of the year, and that stability contributes greatly to its market dominance. Brand building involves repetitive, almost ritualistic regularity, and if you tune into Spike, “UFC UFC UFC” is the incantation. It works.
Affliction’s comparatively sparse talent roster pushes it into a position of being a bi-monthly or quarterly special attraction. On the plus side, that means its premium-priced efforts are likely going to be more substantial than the UFC’s strategy of inexpensive cards topped by a marquee fight or two.
There is one glaring bit of profound ignorance in the middle of your article, under the header “Ancillary Entertainment.” This is a free country, in fact a good bit of the world is very free, so you’re entitled to your opinions about music and any other form of entertainment, but I have a serious problem with the way you wrote that part of your article. Your disposition against heavy metal threatens to discredit your entire argument.
Ancillary means secondary, or peripheral, right? So, even if you don’t like heavy metal (and you could have said so without the ignorant jabs that you took at Megadeth and, subsequently, metal fans in general) how on earth can you give the nod in “Ancillary Entertainment” to the UFC, which, by your own admission, has none? There is no ancillary entertainment, unless you’re counting pan bys of the crowd and the odd chance to see Michael Clarke Duncan or other Hollywood regulars in attendance.
-- William Roan
And that’s exactly the point -- the UFC (correctly) recognizes that people are tuning in and paying to watch fights, not some bizarre music-sports hybrid. I don’t see Iron Maiden running out into Fenway Park between innings.
If I want to see a concert, I’ll attend one. If you’re in the fight business, be in the fight business, and spare us the preamble.
Kurt Angle quite possibly could have been huge in MMA, if he came over after his Olympic win. Instead, he took the money and went down the WWE path -- no doubt a tough guy, but at this stage, would he even get licensed to fight legitimately anywhere outside Rio Heroes?
The only one on the list you mentioned that you will get heat about is obviously Rickson Gracie (Pictures). Some fanboys die hard, I guess. Don’t get me wrong, massive Gracie fan here, but I am also a realist. While he can no doubt still get it done on the ground, to think he would beat Fedor, or any top 10 guy in any weight class right now, is more than likely going too far.
That said, if the fight happened and Rickson won, I would then expect him to turn water into wine and the loaves into fishes.
-- Andrew Jacobs
I was surprised to see my inbox largely devoid of threats from Gracie admirers. Perhaps even they consider his comments about Emelianenko to be the result of one choke too many.
Angle has had many, many offers over the years to fight MMA, most of them incredibly generous considering his neophyte status. Common sense would indicate that at age 40, and having re-injured his neck for the umpteenth time, he is about as likely to have a real fight as Dolph Lundgren is to win an Academy Award.
If it came down to it, what could you do against anyone of the people you mentioned, like old Rickson Gracie (Pictures), or Emin Boztepe, or even Will Smith? I mean, when’s the last time you put down the pen and stepped away from your award-winning writings and hopped in the cage? See, in my humble opinion, everyone involved in reporting, commentating on, or producing anything to do with fighting should at least be able to fight themselves. Otherwise, it’s like someone teaching swim lessons who's never been in a pool. Can you swim?
-- Cedric "Spider Man" Marks
I’m not so sure that acquiring scars is mandatory for observing or commenting on the fight business. Juanito Ibarra led
Quinton Jackson (Pictures) to a light heavyweight championship -- and has not one pro bout to his name. Rudimar Fedrigo has produced a parade of champions -- no pro fight record.
Should Roger Ebert be capable of directing a film before critiquing one?
Having bashed nearly everyone who considers themselves to be tough, except for Chuck Norris and Mr. T, do you think there are any actors or athletes that could make the jump from life to MMA? Tony Jaa or Donny Yen maybe? Jaa seems to b a fairly competent Muay Thai fighter and looks incredibly athletic. Yen, on the other hand (if you watch “Flash Point”), appears to understand some of the basics to submissions and their defense, although it is very over-the-top. Let me know what you think if you have some time.
-- Matt Ettinger
This conversation makes me feel very, very nerdy, and I needed no help in that department.
Athleticism and some kind of cognizance of practical-use fighting techniques would seem to be the price of admission for any actor foolish enough to want to get punched in the face for the hell of it. I guess I’d put Jason Statham on that short list. Or maybe his movies have done that good a job convincing me he’s a tough character.
Like you, I find Rickson Gracie (Pictures) to be fascinating. I had the unexpected pleasure of meeting Samuel Braga (135-pound Brazilian jiu-jitsu champ) this past weekend in Knoxville, Tenn., at a convention I was attending. I also study BJJ and talk naturally drifted to Rickson.
Sam knows many world champs who have trained and tested themselves against Rickson, and he claims that none of them can do anything on the ground against Gracie. As in, they can’t even move if Rickson won’t let them; his technique and understanding of BJJ and the human body is just at another level.
Whether it’s true or not, who knows? But I hope it is, because I want to believe in Rickson. The rational side of me knows that Fedor could KO him with one punch, but damn it, the little kid inside would be rooting for Rickson to do something miraculous.
He also said that Rickson will finish his career against Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) but, really, what’s the point? Poor Saku …
-- Keith Champagne
Rickson is one of the most enigmatic characters in the history of the sport. The testimony of people who have trained with him is difficult to ignore, but there’s far more to today’s MMA than a mastery of jiu-jitsu. You have to get it to the ground first, and I’m fairly certain Rickson’s clinch-to-takedown game would be negated by most any competent middleweight.
That said, he has little to lose in taking one last fight for a lot of zeroes. If he wins, even against an aging Sakuraba, his reputation will swell. If he loses -- hey, the guy’s 50 years old.
[The UFC’s merchandising deal with Jakks] is a horrible move; I hope it bombs. I think MMA has been fighting for legitimacy and slowly gaining ground as being publicly seen as a real sport. This will only make MMA look juvenile and parallel it with professional
wrestling.
I think that soon the general public will not be able to distinguish the two. I know that wrestling is fake and MMA is a true athletic competition, but if the UFC wants to be seen as a legitimate sport, it should have contracted with Starting Line Up. Jakks is synonymous with dumb pro wrestling toys. Boo UFC!
-- Allen Dukes
Starting Line-Up folded in 2001. Jakks’ prior efforts may not be to your liking -- I’m not sure how many variations on Captain Lou Albano the world needs, myself -- but it knows how to take a sports franchise and spin gold from it. Revenue was at nearly a billion dollars in 2007.
Nice [Affliction vs. UFC] article. I was surprised you didn’t bring up the format, cage vs. ring. I was quite disappointed to learn that Affliction will be in the ring. Advantage: UFC.
-- Fredrickson James
I understand the UFC’s commitment to the Octagon -- it’s a trademark of its business -- but it’s also the biggest eyesore in sports. Nothing says “poor man’s boxing” like a giant cage.
The ring has its own issues, as we saw with
Renato Sobral (Pictures) falling out of it twice against
Mike Whitehead (Pictures) on July 19. I’d like to see someone develop a ring with a rigid fence surrounding the bottom third to prevent grapplers from sliding out onto the apron -- maybe a stiff rope around the center to prevent stand-up spills.
MMA is still very much a work in progress.
For comments, e-mail jrossen@sherdog.com.
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