Does the UFC sense tough competition from Affliction?

Question

The UFC is currently making plans to air a live MMA event on Spike TV on July 19th - the same day when Affliction's first MMA event airs on PPV. Does anybody sense that the UFC sees Affliction as a threat?

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=13271

Answer 1

I think with Trump coming on board and the amount of Top Ten HW's Affliction has picked up, I think the UFC is taking them a little bit more seriously than two months ago, especially considering the USA's love affair with HW fighters.  Will Affliction jump past the UFC this year, no way, but with a name already semi-branded and with pockets as deep as Trumps they are some serious competition.  

The big deal would be if Elite XC and Affliction along with Adrenaline and DREAM could figure out some cross promotions to bulk up both of their rosters.  With CBS and Showtime both already covering Elite Events that could make for some competition for the UFC.  I think the main goal for us as MMA fans is to get all of the orgs to work together to bring us the biggest  bouts we can think of with undisputed titles at stake, no more what ifs.

There is no one org that is in position to compete with the UFC, Affliction is already using Adrenaline fighters, Dream is using Elite and Strikeforce fighters.  So if all of these orgs continue to work together and can carry 45-60 fighters instead of 250 that are tied up with UFC they will be able to keep all fighters busy all year long and put together some of the most intriguing matchups available.  I like the UFC and am not anti UFC but I love MMA and want to see it come full circle and I think the oppertunity is there with the brands out there right now.

Answer 2

OF COURSE! With the marketing genius Donald Trump behind them, along with all the heavywieghts and top draw names that Affliction is signing UFC is shitting their pants. I would be! The only bad part is that UFC has fine tuned the MMA promotion and Affliction can basically beat them with deeper pockets and a straight mocking hack style that Trump is known for. I know there is not a UFC card that they can give me for freet hat would keep me off that PPV event. I can always TIVO the Spike event and of course ima be watching the Affliction debut.

Another example of UFC seeing defeat on roads ahead is that Dana White has REFUSED to allow anyone to wear any sponsored gear to the ring that has anything to do with Affliction as well as any other brand that would seem as a competitor.

Answer 3

affliction will probably not be able to have great cards all the time because they have all the stars on this one the next one won't be as good as this and then less people will be paying to watch it. fighters need rest and for them to put all there stars on the first card leaves a long period until they will probably fight next. wasnt smart to do that. lets just wait and see there next card.

Answer 4

Affliction as a promotion would seem a lot more menacing if they... oh, I don't know... got their own website. As it is the fight card section on their clothing website barely registers in the search engines. I hope they have better advertising planned than targeting the handful of hardcore fans talking about their card on the Internet.

Answer 5

i think they feel like Affliction will blow over, just as most of the others have.  I think affliction has great fighters, but they are paying them a ton, and many mainstream fans dont really know about the org

Answer 6

Of course they do. Affliction is featuring the UFC's former top heavyweight against the #1 heavyweight in the world. They aren't really scared (because they can't fight at each event) but they know business. By Affliction putting their best fighters up for show Affliction's next event  will get more views. The UFC wants their fans to stay with the UFC not go off and watch Affliction.

Answer 7

It would appear they do, that's a smart move by Dana White, but still, Affliction's card is just too good to be detoured by UFC's free card.

Answer 8

I dont think so. I think that as the fastest growing sport in America, if not the world, there is plenty of viewership and fans to go around. Of course there is competition between who is the premier organization but I dont see competition as far as one pushing the other out of the market.

As far as not letting his fighters wear Affliction clothing, thats to be expected. He allowed it until Affliction wanted to become a promoter, which is to be expected. You'd have to be an idiot to advertise a competitor during your own events.