What does Affliction Need to Make it to the Top?
There is no questioning the fact that Affliction put on one of the most amazing mixed martial arts cards fans can only dream of. It featured some of the bigest names in the MMA heavyweight division including Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski. While there might have been some great fights it did cost Affliction a fair bit in salaries, which totaled $3.3 Million. No MMA organization would be able to earn a decent amount of profit when they are handing out that much money in just fighter salaries.
So what can they do about it?
I would think that one of the best options would be to expand their divisions. Why stick with the heavyweights when you could be using your own home-grown affliction talent. In the long run Affliction would benefit from growing their own talent, talent which could be coming from various weight divisions. I don’t think Affliction will go to the very low weights like the WEC does but expanding out a few divisions would benefit them well.
The need for the self-founded talent is vital to how long Affliction will survive. They could try and dominate PPV buys and get all the UFC’s top talent on high paying contracts but they need to start by getting a name for themselves first. They have that name in the hardcore MMA fans mind but while the sport of MMA is still growing fast they need to keep putting the shows out their to keep their brand growing.
EliteXC: Nick Diaz Vs. Thomas Denny
The opening round of the fight between Nick Diaz and Thomas Denny was such a brawl. With limited defense from both fighters and each throwing their fair share of huge punches it ended up being one of the best rounds of fighting I have seen in a long time. Diaz did own the last part of round one and in turn he dazed Thomas Denny.
By the time the second round had come Thomas Denny had already taken quite a beating. The second round got underway and Nick Diaz just exploded on Denny. He gave him some huge punches and Denny could not take any more. Denny ended up falling and Diaz gave a little ground ‘n’ pound to finish the fight off just 30 seconds into the second round.
This fight gets my vote for Fight of the Night.
EliteXC: “Unfinished Business” Live Results
We will be providing live round-by-round coverage of EliteXC’s “Unfinished Business” main card fights. There will also be quick results for all the under-card fights. The show is set to go down tomorrow (JULY 26th) from the Stockton Arena in Stockton California. From 9PM EST you will see the live coverage popping up. Earlier in the night be here from about 7:30PM EST for the quick results for the Under-card. Unfortunately we may not be able to provide live coverage of the Showtime segment as I can’t find that channel anywhere.
EliteXC Unfinished Business Quick Results
Robbie Lawler defeats Scott Smith via (T)KO round two
Jake Shields defeats Nick Thompson via submission 1:03 (modified guillotine) round 1
Nick Diaz defeats Thomas Denny 30 seconds into round 2 (T)KO (strikes)
Cristiane “Cris” Cyborg defeats Shayna Baszler by (T)KO (strikes) at 2:48 of Round 2
Antonio Silva defeats Justin Eilers via (T)KO round 2
Wilson Reis defeats Brian Caraway by unanimous decision (30-27 on all 3 judges)
Rafael Feijao defeats Travis Galbraith via (T)KO (Strikes) at Round 1
David Douglas defeats Marlon Mathias by (T)KO (strikes) at 0:12 of Round 1
Anthony Ruiz defeats Jeremy Freitag by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Carl Seumantafa defeats Mike Cook by (T)KO (strikes) at 3:39 of Round 1
Drew Montgomery defeats Brandon Tarn via (T)KO (cut) at 4:22 of Round 3
UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben
The fight has been set… Michael Bisping will be facing off with Chris Leben at UFC 89.
This is the second time the fight has been scheduled but due to Leben having some jail time to take care of in the States the fight had to be canceled.
From the UFC:
“Two of our amazing fighters, Michael Bisping and Chris Leben, have just agreed to fight. Everyone knows about Leben’s striking power, and it’s the strike fest everyone wants. It’s the fight everyone wants to see.”
When the rest of the UFC 89 card breaks we will bring it to you right here on mma-live!
UFC 85: Bedlam Results
Image courtesy of CombatLifestyle
Click the banner above for all the official results to UFC 85: Bedlam from MMA-Live. All the fight and event analysis is coming later tonight. Make sure to come back and check it out. Overall my quick opinion of UFC 85 was really good. Buy it later tonight if you can.
Faber Vs. Pulver: An All Out WAR!
Photo courtesy of Combatlifestyle.com
Well what a fight it was. Both guys gave it their all in this fight and showed some awesome respect for each other throughout. Faber showed fans that he can stand and give some good punches. Pulver also showed he can wrestle on the ground. All though Faber won every round Pulver continued to give it his all. The fight was a constant back and forth between the two Pulver would give some and take some back only minutes later. The only place this fight came close to really finishing was when Faber was smashing the side of Pulver’s head, personally I’m surprised he got up but it’s good to see he was committed. This fight was an all out WAR!! It showed amazing stand up from both fighters and some solid ground work from the two too.
The fighters salaries have also been announced Urijah Faber was paid $44,000 ($22,000 win bonus) and Jens Pulver was paid $33,000.
Now, the usual disclaimer: the figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, which can oftentimes be a substantial portion of a fighter’s income. They also do not include any un-reported “locker room” bonuses that organizations sometime pay. In other words, these are simply base salaries reported to the CSAC and do not represent the total amounts earned by each fighter. MMA JUNKIE
EliteXC: Saturday Night Fights Analysis
Well In my opinion this event was awesome. There were some very good fights and a lot of drama surrounding a few of them. Kimbo Slice kept his unbeaten record as did Gina Carano. Robbie Lawler retained his championship due to a finger slipping in Scott Smith’s eye, the fight was ruled no contest.
It was without a doubt a milestone moment in the MMA world. Without a doubt the fight of the night would have to go to Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith. Although it ended like it did, the action and drama surround it was all amazing.
The event was said to have sold 8,033 tickets but rumors are going about of mass ticket giveaways to make it look good on TV.
EliteXC: Quick Results, Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano come out victorious
The full summaries of every fight will be on in the morning for now here are the quick results to wet your appetite:
-Joe Sampieri def. Mike Groves by TKO (Punches on the ground) at 4:58, R1
-Zach Makovsky def. Andre Soares by unanimous decision at 5:00, R3
-James Jones def. Calvin Kattar by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:49, R1
-Wilson Reis def. Justin Robbins by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:06, R1
-Matt Makowski def. Nick Serra by TKO (fighter can not continue) at 3:57, R2
-Carlton Haselrig def. Carlos Moreno by TKO (unable to continue) at 5:00, R1
-Chris Liguori def. Jim Bova by TKO (doctor’s stoppage due to a cut) at 4:31, R2
-Brett Rogers def. Jon Murphy by KO at 1:01, R1
-Joey Villasenor def. Phil Baroni by TKO at 1:11, R1
-Gina Carano def. Kaitlin Young by TKO (doctor stoppage) at 3:00, R2
-Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith ruled a No Contest (doctor stoppage for thumb to the eye) at 3:26, R3
-Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Furgeson def. James Thompson by TKO at :38, R3