The scheduled location for Affliction’s inaugural MMA event on July 19 no longer appears to be Dallas. Sources close to the negotiations between Affliction and HDNet have reported that the proposed deal for the venue and broadcasting rights has fallen through.
The event was supposed to take place at the American Airlines Centre. The arena and HDNet, an HDTV cable network, is owned by billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban who also owns the basketball team the Dallas Mavericks.
Cuban was in talks with Affliction, a company that makes shirts currently worn by many pro fighters and who had planned on starting its own MMA promotion.
The deal was that the preliminary fights would be broadcast on HDNet in order to boost sales for the pay-per-view to be shown directly after.
The main event is slated to be a contest between former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia and former PRIDE FC heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, who is considered to be one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in the world, if not the absolute best.
Sylvia is rumored to earn $800,000 for the fight with a win bonus of $200,000. Fedor will earn between $1.5 and $2 million dollars. Middleweight fighter Matt Lindland is also scheduled to be on the card.
The rumored bankroll for the card is around $5-6 million. These details raise questions as to how long Affliction can survive as a promotion with a limited roster and huge payouts, which will almost certainly net them an early financial loss.
This is not the first time that Affliction has faltered when negotiating with other companies over broadcasting rights.
According to earlier reports, Affliction was in talks with Oscar De Le Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions as a potential partner. The goal was later to secure a deal with HBO, a premium cable provider, but that deal was abandoned also.
Famed UFC personality and champion Randy Couture, who has been sponsored by Affliction, stated on a radio program Saturday night that the event might be held at The Pond in Anaheim, Calif. He broke the news while on “Rear Naked Radio” on 105.3 FM in Dallas.
In related news, rival promotion EliteXC has banned its fighters from wearing Affliction clothing at its events, following in the footsteps of the UFC, which did the exact same thing a short while ago.
These two organizations understandably do not want to promote a competing organization on their own turf. Some fighters have complained, saying that Affliction constituted 50 percent of their sponsorship money.
If Affliction cannot get a broadcasting deal in the next two months then their card may be solely on pay-per-view. They have not had an official press release regarding the unveiling of their new promotion.
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5 months ago
I just hope they get this straightened out, I want to see Fedor and Sylvia to see where Fedor is at. He hasnt exactly been fighting top competition lately and I want to see him in with a legit top ten heavyweight.
from 3 months ago
sylvia is not a legit top ten heavyweight. he is a legit top ten overweight.
5 months ago
This is to say the Sylvia is a top ten heavyweight and he isnt. Sylvia is not main event material and never was in the eyes of many MMA enthusiasts. Emelianenko is the fight that we all want to see and its Randy Couture that we want to see fight him. You can almost guess how that fight will turn out but Sylvia isnt top dog and should be fighting lesser opponents.
5 months ago
Well, Tim Sylvia is a two-time UFC heavyweight champion, the only person besides Couture to hold the belt more than once. He has wins over Ricco Rodriguez, Arlovski (x2), Monson, Vera, Rothwell, McGee, Sims, Telligman, Assuerio Silva, and "Cabbage" Correira.
To say that he is not main event material or a top ten heavyweight is a little ignorant to say the least, and most fans would agree with me. He also had a back injury in the Couture fight and was decisively beating Noguiera before he got caught in that guillotine.
People have been clamoring for Fedor to fight a ranked heavyweight, and Sylvia is not top competition? Sylvia will be Fedor's hardest fight since he beat Cro Cop back in summer 2005. And Sylvia is more well known to casual UFC fans than Fedor here in North America.
The two big questions are how many ppv's will this card sell and whether or not Affliction will survive as a promotion based on their limited roster and huge payouts.
5 months ago
I agree with Jad. Sylvia is still a top 10 heavyweight in the world and was for the majority of his career. He's been in plenty of main events and was as recently as february 2008 against big nog in the UFC.
He has always been one of those guys that mma fans love to hate. josh koscheck is another guy that comes to mind.
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