Posts with the tag "Affliction"

I know my wife has noticed it and so have some of you. There seems to be a lot more Mixed Martial Arts these days. I remember back about a year ago when I couldn't get enough MMA, but those days seem long gone. With the UFC, EliteXC, DREAM and Affliction events, you can find fights to watch almost every weekend.

To complicate things, the UFC has been airing shows on the same night as EliteXC and Affliction. They are trying to draw away potential viewers with their own events. Case in point was last weeks UFC Fight night which aired on the same night as the "Banned" Affliction event.

The question is whether this is too much MMA? The quick response is a definitive "no." Fans love the ability to turn on the TV almost any weekend and watch fights?

The problem is that the events are losing the appeal of the big show. They are too often and there isn't enough build up. As the events are watered down and the talent is spread across more promotions, there will be a negative effect on the fans.

The real answer lies in the long term growth of the sport. The explosion of mixed martial arts will draw new fans and encourage competition among promotions. This competition will ultimately lead to better events and most likely fewer promotions. So, yes there is too much MMA right now, but it essential for the sport to evolve into a better product. What do you think?

OK, the head line is a little misleading, but the production of the "Banned" event was horrible. This might have been expected, but Affliction had a blueprint laid out by the UFC and they just couldn't make it work.

Things that didn't go well...

• Time Constraints - The first bout was scrapped due to... time constraints? How do you run out of time when the fights haven't even started?
• Energy & Sound - The event lacked real energy early on. Sound could have been a factor. The crowd noise wasn't piped in while the fighters walked in. The transitions from a fight to fight lacked any buildup.
• Camera Work - We saw some interesting camera work, during one fighter interview, the camera cut to an announcer where we could see he was getting his makeup applied.

I probably wouldn't have noticed the production values as much if there had been better fights. I had to wait until the Andrei Arlovski fight to finally say we had seen a decent fight and the Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia fight just left me with an empty feeling.

Overall, I have to give Affliction some credit for putting this thing together. They had awesome card (on paper) and delivered MMA fights which is what the fans really want. We got to see Fedor fight a legitimate opponent and he showed his awesome power. Now, lets see what Affliction can do for their sequel.

Before I forget, there were some great lines from the announcers. I don't have them all, but my favorite was "that was a 22 on the wow factor." I still can't figure out what the hell that means. Somebody please explain it to me.

The UFC must feel threatened by Affliction. Why else would they scramble to put a show up against the the first ever Affliction event? As my friend said, it's almost like the UFC is turning into Microsoft. He may be right, but we will have to wait and see.

Here is the official Banned preview:

I did find it interesting that they never mention the UFC when describing Tim Sylvia. The video does mention the UFC a couple times with their descriptions of Pat Militich and Andre Arlovski. Seems strange that they would leave it out for one fighter and include it for the other two.

I wish I was able to watch either event this weekend, but I can't. I'm betting that most fans tune in to see Fedor Emelianenko fight Tim Sylvia, but who knows. What will you be watching this weekend?