Strikeforce recently bought out the assets from ProElite hence getting a number of fighter contracts and the TV deals with Showtime and CBS. The deal looks promising however it is obvious that their level of talent does not reach anywhere close to that of the UFC or Affliction. Realistically Frank Shamrock vs. Nick Diaz would easily be on the undercard for any show that the UFC or Affliction would put on. There hasn't been any talk on Strikeforce doing a cross-promote with Affliction however Strikeforce President Scott Coker has indicated that they are interested in Affliction fighter Jay Hieron and that he will probably end up on one of their cards. Strikeforce has lent Paul Buentello and offered to lend Travis Prangley to Affliction.
In other news Affliction has signed former UFC standout Din Thomas (23-8). The American Top Team fighter has notable victories over Clay Guida, Jens Pulver and Matt Serra. Possible fights with LC Davis, Bao Quach and Mark Hominick look promising. Din Thomas was rumored to have been negotiating with Square Ring Promotions to fight on their March 21st card but nothing was ever signed.
Adrenaline MMA has announced that Tim Sylvia will be making his boxing debut against aged veteren Ray Mercer. Mercer (36-7), an Olympic Gold Medalist from the 88 games and former WBO champion is also known for his famous MMA loss to Kimbo Slice.
Hasim "The Rock" Rahman (45-7 boxing) the former undisputed boxing heavyweight champion best known for knocking out Lennox Lewis will be making his MMA debut this year. According to an interview with SHERDOG, Rahman has called out street brawler Kimbo Slice but is open to bouts with James Thompson, Tank Abbot, Butterbean among others. He is currently in negotiations with numerous MMA promotions.
WAMMA has named Josh Barnett the number 1 contender to Fedor Emelianenko's title. According to sources the fight is under consideration as we speak.
Alistair Overeem (3-2 kickboxing) who recently knocked out K-1 standout Badr Hari has officially signed on to fight K-1 champion and veteran Remy Bonjasky on their 3/28 card.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Roy Jones Jr. to put on Hybrid card.
A lot of hardcore fans (of either sport - boxing or MMA) will dismiss the notion of any such hybrid card - always failing to realize the necessity of good business that fighters and promoters require to make good or even decent money. Hardcore fans are always a bitter minority (usually they're bitter when it comes to things like this) whose satisfaction usually comes second BECAUSE any smart businessman knows that most of the hardcore fans will buy the product anyways - and its up to them as a business to attract new and casual fans by being innovative, adventurous and attractive in some way or another.
UFC President Dana White and Matchmaker Joe Silva know more than anybody else that former WWE celebrity Brock Lesnar (2-1 at the time) was good for business and forcefully shoved him into a main event title fight - Frank Mir and many other hardcore fans baffled at the idea - and THEN, their next 'big PPV' pinned GSP vs. BJ Penn II - a match that not only had nothing to do with weight class rankings, but put number one contenders Kenny Florian and Thiago Alves on the shelf! Why? For good business. Lyoto Machida, an undefeated mastermind has been waiting for a title shot for months but has been put off because he is considered 'boring' ... even after beating Thiago Silva he has to wait to see if Rampage beats Keith Jardine or not because the UFC wants to do a mega bout between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans at UFC 100; again because its better for business. Is it really always about the best fights oh UFC nuthuggers? Nay, the answer is nay!
Come EliteXC. They get a huge TV deal and a chance to show the world the beauty and discipline and training of awesome athletes who practice a wide range of martial arts and instead put Kimbo Slice, a street brawler from YouTube in the main event against cans like James Thompson (2-8) and Ken Shamrock (a 45 year old man who needs to retire). Kimbo loses to Ken's replacement, a UFC reject - oh wait, a The Ultimate Fighter reality series reject, Seth Petruzelli (who likes to color his hair pink and dress like women for fun) and it becomes the cherry on top to a load of other problems and its over for them.
These decisions, as horrible as they may seem to the hardcore fan, were SMART business decisions by professionals who have degrees, experience and knowledge in the market of smart business. Looking back, even though they seem to be 'bad business' decisions, in reality they were not. Every business that wants to make it big HAS to take risks! Pro-Elite put on MMA events for years before they got the CBS deal - but for ratings, they knew they had to push the guy that could get them the ratings that such a massive deal required. If EliteXC put on low ratings CBS would have thrown MMA to the side and never looked back - but ProElite did something that got them ratings they needed and in turn impressed CBS so much that they've always wanted MMA back on their network ever since.
As a hardcore fan of MMA for years now - I see where Affliction has been failing. They promoted super great fights and in my opinion, the best possible fights outside of the UFC. The problem was that they couldn't really get new and casual fans interested because the guys on their card were only known to hardcore fans. Instead they get guys like Oscar De La Hoya and Donald Trump for attention. Cool.
All I am saying is that fans need to chill out .... people are trying to do business, they're trying to get attention, they're trying new and innovative things to get fans interested in their product.
NORMALLY, not a lot of boxing fans would be interested in Roy Jones Jr. vs. Omar Sheika ... why because Jones Jr. got his butt kicked by Calzaghe in a fight that should have been both of their last - according to hardcore fans. Calzaghe officially announced his retirement, and Roy instead announces a bout against a well-known veteran of the sport who has had some pretty big fights (all of which he lost - he had 4 title fights, including one against Calzaghe, and lost them all) currently holding a record of 27-8.
So how to possibly promote this fight? It's not going to anywhere near what Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao did - or even Evander Holyfield vs. Nikolai Valuev or Bernard Hopkins vs. Kelly Pavlik (the last couple of boxing events that I can recall)... its not going to make revenue anywhere close to those cards ... YET, Roy Jones Jr. - who is 40 years old, was once one of the biggest draws in boxing, he was considered p4p one of the best fighters in the world, and one will wonder if he has anything left in him. It's not as bad as Mark Coleman or Randy Couture or Ken Shamrock still wanting to fight - but it's not the fight of the year by far.
In come Bobby Lashley and Seth Petruzelli. Lashley was not as popular as Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle were in the pro-wrestling world, but he was in the midst of being pushed as the next big thing for sure. Having been tested as the "United States" and "ECW" "champion", Lashley was put in two major main events that garnered huge PPV buys ... one against WWE "champion" John Cena for the "title" and the other at Wrestlemania with Donald Trump in his corner against Vince McMahon's chosen "wrestler" ... anyways, Lashley is seriously one of the biggest prospects at heavyweight in MMA today. He is a great athlete with amateur wrestling credentials and a 1-0 MMA record from when he beat a guy in an underground promotion at 41 seconds in the first round via ground and pound. But the point is, he has eyes watching him.
Likewise Seth Petruzelli was considered the savior of MMA by hardcore fans for beating the overpaid, overrated street brawler from the internet Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson. He has a 10-4 record and is a legit contender against former WEC champion Doug Marshall (9-3). He brings in eyes for being the guy that beat the undefeated Kimbo in front of 7 million fans on CBS + 14,000 fans at the arena + the millions around the world that have seen it on YouTube ever since. His popularity exceeds Sean Gannon's - the one controversial street fight Kimbo lost.
And finally, the hardcore MMA fan that knows the potential of a great MMA fight between Roy Nelson and Jeff Monson. Monson just beat Ricco Rodriguez in December and is on a 3 fight win streak, Nelson, the former IFL HW champ lost in front of millions on CBS against Andrei Arlovski but showed awesome ground control during the fight and went on record saying that he thinks he could beat AA if they fought again. It should be a great fight, and is probably one of the better fights that could be made outside of the UFC.
In the end - all of the MMA websites, Boxing websites and WWE / Pro-Wrestling News websites will be updating their fans about the event and it should garner a revenue far better then expected. Good business folks!
In conclusion, I'd hope that Affliction would reach out to Roy Jones Jr. and co-promote this event with him. I think it would be good for business and it would give more momentum to Affliction. Affliction can help promote and produce the show and maybe even put together an additional bout on the card.
UFC President Dana White and Matchmaker Joe Silva know more than anybody else that former WWE celebrity Brock Lesnar (2-1 at the time) was good for business and forcefully shoved him into a main event title fight - Frank Mir and many other hardcore fans baffled at the idea - and THEN, their next 'big PPV' pinned GSP vs. BJ Penn II - a match that not only had nothing to do with weight class rankings, but put number one contenders Kenny Florian and Thiago Alves on the shelf! Why? For good business. Lyoto Machida, an undefeated mastermind has been waiting for a title shot for months but has been put off because he is considered 'boring' ... even after beating Thiago Silva he has to wait to see if Rampage beats Keith Jardine or not because the UFC wants to do a mega bout between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans at UFC 100; again because its better for business. Is it really always about the best fights oh UFC nuthuggers? Nay, the answer is nay!
Come EliteXC. They get a huge TV deal and a chance to show the world the beauty and discipline and training of awesome athletes who practice a wide range of martial arts and instead put Kimbo Slice, a street brawler from YouTube in the main event against cans like James Thompson (2-8) and Ken Shamrock (a 45 year old man who needs to retire). Kimbo loses to Ken's replacement, a UFC reject - oh wait, a The Ultimate Fighter reality series reject, Seth Petruzelli (who likes to color his hair pink and dress like women for fun) and it becomes the cherry on top to a load of other problems and its over for them.
These decisions, as horrible as they may seem to the hardcore fan, were SMART business decisions by professionals who have degrees, experience and knowledge in the market of smart business. Looking back, even though they seem to be 'bad business' decisions, in reality they were not. Every business that wants to make it big HAS to take risks! Pro-Elite put on MMA events for years before they got the CBS deal - but for ratings, they knew they had to push the guy that could get them the ratings that such a massive deal required. If EliteXC put on low ratings CBS would have thrown MMA to the side and never looked back - but ProElite did something that got them ratings they needed and in turn impressed CBS so much that they've always wanted MMA back on their network ever since.
As a hardcore fan of MMA for years now - I see where Affliction has been failing. They promoted super great fights and in my opinion, the best possible fights outside of the UFC. The problem was that they couldn't really get new and casual fans interested because the guys on their card were only known to hardcore fans. Instead they get guys like Oscar De La Hoya and Donald Trump for attention. Cool.
All I am saying is that fans need to chill out .... people are trying to do business, they're trying to get attention, they're trying new and innovative things to get fans interested in their product.
NORMALLY, not a lot of boxing fans would be interested in Roy Jones Jr. vs. Omar Sheika ... why because Jones Jr. got his butt kicked by Calzaghe in a fight that should have been both of their last - according to hardcore fans. Calzaghe officially announced his retirement, and Roy instead announces a bout against a well-known veteran of the sport who has had some pretty big fights (all of which he lost - he had 4 title fights, including one against Calzaghe, and lost them all) currently holding a record of 27-8.
So how to possibly promote this fight? It's not going to anywhere near what Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao did - or even Evander Holyfield vs. Nikolai Valuev or Bernard Hopkins vs. Kelly Pavlik (the last couple of boxing events that I can recall)... its not going to make revenue anywhere close to those cards ... YET, Roy Jones Jr. - who is 40 years old, was once one of the biggest draws in boxing, he was considered p4p one of the best fighters in the world, and one will wonder if he has anything left in him. It's not as bad as Mark Coleman or Randy Couture or Ken Shamrock still wanting to fight - but it's not the fight of the year by far.
In come Bobby Lashley and Seth Petruzelli. Lashley was not as popular as Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle were in the pro-wrestling world, but he was in the midst of being pushed as the next big thing for sure. Having been tested as the "United States" and "ECW" "champion", Lashley was put in two major main events that garnered huge PPV buys ... one against WWE "champion" John Cena for the "title" and the other at Wrestlemania with Donald Trump in his corner against Vince McMahon's chosen "wrestler" ... anyways, Lashley is seriously one of the biggest prospects at heavyweight in MMA today. He is a great athlete with amateur wrestling credentials and a 1-0 MMA record from when he beat a guy in an underground promotion at 41 seconds in the first round via ground and pound. But the point is, he has eyes watching him.
Likewise Seth Petruzelli was considered the savior of MMA by hardcore fans for beating the overpaid, overrated street brawler from the internet Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson. He has a 10-4 record and is a legit contender against former WEC champion Doug Marshall (9-3). He brings in eyes for being the guy that beat the undefeated Kimbo in front of 7 million fans on CBS + 14,000 fans at the arena + the millions around the world that have seen it on YouTube ever since. His popularity exceeds Sean Gannon's - the one controversial street fight Kimbo lost.
And finally, the hardcore MMA fan that knows the potential of a great MMA fight between Roy Nelson and Jeff Monson. Monson just beat Ricco Rodriguez in December and is on a 3 fight win streak, Nelson, the former IFL HW champ lost in front of millions on CBS against Andrei Arlovski but showed awesome ground control during the fight and went on record saying that he thinks he could beat AA if they fought again. It should be a great fight, and is probably one of the better fights that could be made outside of the UFC.
In the end - all of the MMA websites, Boxing websites and WWE / Pro-Wrestling News websites will be updating their fans about the event and it should garner a revenue far better then expected. Good business folks!
In conclusion, I'd hope that Affliction would reach out to Roy Jones Jr. and co-promote this event with him. I think it would be good for business and it would give more momentum to Affliction. Affliction can help promote and produce the show and maybe even put together an additional bout on the card.
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