Early on, Affliction revealed that its debut event had sold out rather abruptly. Word then leaked indicating that story may have been a bit fabricated. Now, it is whispered that Affliction may have purchased 25 percent of this tickets themselves. So did the organization really make any money?

Fighter payouts climbed as high as $3 million and Affliction claimed to bring in a total of $2.1 million at the gate. But how much of that $2.1 million came out of its own pocket?

The pay-per-view numbers will probably dictate whether or not the clothing company was able to keep its head above water. However, Affliction did what was necessary in order to put on a stellar debut event. And not all organizations, regardless of the genre, make a profit during their grand opening. Some may take a hit in the pocketbook before they can start planning weekly excursions to exotic locations. The folks over at Bloodyelbow.com take a deeper look into Affliction’s debut numbers.

So what did we learn after this weekend? One lesson is that Affliction is quite a formidable foe for the UFC. All in all, Affliction’s fight card was a better all-round event than UFC Fight Night 14. Perhaps Dana White should now be a little bit worried. Granted, mma does look better inside of a cage than in a ring. Nonetheless, the better fights did take place inside a ring on Saturday evening.

Celebrities crowded into the arena to watch Affliction: Banned, the crowd seemed more raucous and even the fighters had more notoriety than the UFC fighters who participated in UFC Fight Night 14. Also, the mere presence of Donald Trump should send a tremor of fear down White’s spine. And need we remind you, Megadeth was on hand to perform. How can anyone expect to compete with that?

Notwithstanding the appearance of the leftover metal band from the eighties, Affliction did a stupendous job of hanging in with the elite mma organization during its first ever event. Sherdog has more on the promising young rookie better known as Affliction.

Round one of the Affliction vs. UFC clash is in the books. Affliction fared well going up against a less than stellar UFC Fight Night Card. But right now, it is not a question of which organization emerged victorious this past Saturday night. Now, it is a question of whether or not Affliction can keep up with the UFC?

Early indicators point toward the heavyweight division being the most dominant one in Affliction. While heavyweights are always a novel draw, the organization must fill out the other divisions to balance everything out.

That could be done and Affliction shouldn’t expect to build an equivalent to the UFC overnight. It takes time and like every organization that progresses, it must experience some growing pains. However, it seems to be a good start for Affliction. Other organizations have popped up, but none have ever really been able to give the UFC a run for its money.

Affliction has proven it is capable of inflicting some pain on its competition. Bloodyelbow.com offers another take on the matter.

Josh Barnett helped out the Affliction card when he knocked out Pedro Rizzo less than halfway into the second round last night. The fight was moving at a slow pace until Barnett caught Rizzo on the chin and ended the bout with one shot. In the aftermath of the fight, Barnett talked about the contest and explained why the crowd threw out a few boos here and there.

This Saturday night, mma fans will be presented with a choice. The y can payto watch Affliction’s debut event or tune in for a free night of UFC action. Now, in this day and age, it is possible to watch both. DVR’s have now surpassed some forms of human intelligence and could record one or even both events. Yet, if presented with the choice of watching Affliction or the UFC, which one would you choose?

The UFC has substantiated itself as the elite mma organization. Time and time again, it puts on stellar performances as viewers are always guaranteed to get their money’s worth. Affliction, on the other hand, is a new organization making it’s debut. But that doesn’t mean it’s fight card doesn’t have its fill of proven fighters. Moreover, many of the fighters on the Affliction card have UFC experience. Stiill, if the UFC is the elite mma organization, why are those fighters no longer employed by Dana White and company? (more…)

Since his last UFC victory, which came almost one year ago, Renato “Babalu” Sobral has seen his career slip on a downward slide. He was unwelcome back to the UFC after choking out David Heath at UFC 74. But it wasn’t the choking out part that the UFC minded, it was the part where Babalu refused to release the anaconda choke even after Heath had submitted.

The end result rendered Heath unconscious and drew a fine as well as an unpleasant reception from the mma community. Since that time, Sobral has had only one fight while a couple of others were last minute cancellations.

Nevertheless, Sobral will finally get his chance to make good on all the negative publicity that has followed him over the past year. This Saturday, he will take on Mike Whitehead at Affliction: Banned. The fight presents an interesting twist in that Sobral, a submission artist, has not won a bout with the use of strikes in over eight years. Whitehead, on the other hand, has never been submitted. Yahoo Sports dives deeper into the world of Babulu.

So Affliction has brought in Fedor Emelianenko, Donald Trump and even Megadeth to try to help generate interest in its debut event. Now the Megadeth part may not be fair. After all, who could resist paying good money to see a heavy metal band of leftovers from the 80’s?

In light of all the fanfare surrounding Affliction’s Banned, it seems as though a decent number of fans are willing to pay the fare it costs to watch the clothing line’s debut event. In a recent poll conducted my mmajunkie.com 58 percent of responding fans said they will purchase the action on pay-per-view.

Assuming that a good portion of those fans are not just die-hard Megadeth fanatics, it shows that Affliction is making some pretty good headway in its first ever event. It is quite certain that the UFC isn’t helping out matters as it will air a free night of fighting opposite Affliction’s banned.

So 58 percent isn’t so bad considering the circumstances. However, how that event pans out could determine whether those numbers increase or decrease in the future, notwithstanding another encore performance from Megadeth.

Next weekend’s main events in both the UFC and Affliction both feature a couple of big name fighters who will enter their respective fights both as the favorite. Most experts, fans and even fighters have already predicted that pair as being the ones whose hands will be raised in victory at the end of the fight. But if history has proved anything, it is that no fighter can ever be underestimated. Just ask Quinton Jackson.

Although Forrest Griffin wasn’t considered a slouch by any means, most people did not give him a legitimate chance at taking the light heavyweight tittle away from Jackson. It was left up to Griffin to make believers out of all those naysayers. This upcoming weekend, two more fighters will have that same chance. (more…)

Affliction’s Banned is less than a week away and experts are already starting to offer their take on how they see the upcoming card unfolding. While some may make a good point or two, Mmarated.com’s Lauren Real may be the most pleasant to watch as she shares her thoughts on next Saturday night’s event. She also makes some good points as well. Here’s a glimpse at how Heal sees Affliction’s debut event shaping up.

One of the most feared and successful heavyweights of the last decade has only known defeat once in his professional career. Fedor Emelianenko currently owns a 27-1 professional record with his only loss coming way back in the year 2000. On July 19th, he’ll try to extend his 24 fight win streak as he squares off against former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

Fedor will immediately give up an eight inch height advantage when steps into the cage as part of the main of event of Affliction’s debut card. Sylvia is also no pushover by any stretch of the imagination. Sylvia will take a 24-4 record into the fight and while that record is quite impressive, it still seems as though Sylvia has something to prove.

Sylvia dropped two of his last three fights although those defeats were at the hands of some top notch opponents in Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. In order to get back on top, Sylvia will have to top the best heavyweight in the sport. 411mania.com goes into greater detail about the possibility of a Fedor loss.