MMA: Can Fedor-Sylvia Fight Beat UFC?

by Jason Foucha

May 28, 2008

This article has not been edited yet.

A lot of people are looking forward to the Affliction: Banned card that is being held on July 19. When it was scheduled for Dallas, my buddies and I were planning to drive 3.5 hours to see it.

We were saddened to learn that they lost the venue and it has since moved to Cali.

Here is the one problem I see with the card: I think it is at the wrong time.

There's talk of Arlovski joining the card, which would be great. You have Fedor vs. Sylvia. Everyone's dying to see Fedor fight again after dismantling Choi the Giant.

You have got the legendary Pedro Rizzo taking on another legend in Josh Barnett. You have Matt "The Law" Lindland fighting, and you have Babalu fighting Mike Whitehead of TUF2 fame.

You also have "Little Fedor", as I call him, Aleksander fighting on the preliminary card.

This all sounds great. A lot of fans have the mindset of "OMG! I CANT WAIT! IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME!!!"

But there is one thing most casual fans, and some hardcore fans, aren't realizing.

Let me break it down for you:

July 5 - UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin (Light Heavyweight Title)

July 19 - Affliction: Banned

Aug. 9 - UFC 87: Seek and Destroy aka ST PIERRE VS. FITCH (Welterweight Title)

Do you see the problem?

UFC PPV's are $55 apiece, and how many fans have been waiting for this fight between Rampage and Forrest? THERE'S A WHOLE TUF SEASON BUILT AROUND IT. People have been debating the outcome of this for months!

What about UFC 87? How many people love watching St. Pierre fight? A LOT! (Hell, my dad even orders the PPV's to watch this guy fight, and that's about the only time he watches it.)

So in a span of 35 days, the UFC is giving us two can't miss PPV events. Let me do the math for you. 55+55=110. 110 Dollars. These days that's filling up your Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla twice.

So Affliction wants us to pay another large sum (I looked up DirectTV and they did not have the price listed yet for the ppv). My guess is it will be in the $40-$60 range. So we will say another $55 to make it a nice math problem. They are banking on you being willing to spend $55 three times in 35 days.

That, my friends, is $165, just on PPV. For some of you, that's your MMA lesson for a month. For you Corolla and Civic Drivers, say goodbye to three fillups at the pump. For the Truck Drivers and SUV drivers, that's like a half a tank at this point.

Now don't think I've forgotten about the fact that a lot of people go to bars and clubs to watch these events. I hate to tell you, but unless you'll start petitioning now, your bar probably won't carry Affliction, because it does not have the UFC label, and thus its a risk some bars aren't going to want to take.

Will I be watching Affliction? Probably not. I'm a waiter and a student. What's the busiest night for waiters? Saturday night. And I know I'm not going to work only two Saturdays in five weeks. That's losing a lot of money. I'll sacrifice the Affliction card to watch the two PPV's with title fights. Sorry, but that's how it boils down for me.