By mid-afternoon yesterday Affliction's MMA promotion was on the coroner table. After a few more hours Tom Atencio came out to say that Affliction is just fine and will continuing promoting fight. Interesting point on this, in a post-fight interview, Tom Atencio said that is was always their plan to do three shows and re-evaluate from there, take what you will out of that.

Despite the internet rumor-storm, (I was out and about, poor time to decide to go out into a snowstorm), there was some news regarding the pay-per-view numbers. MMAConvert has two reports one putting the range of PPV buys at 80,000-100,000. The other, via Golden Boy, puts the buys between the 175,000-200,000 mark. Pretty broad range regardless.

In all the rumor mongoring over whether Oscar de la Hoya was paid a $5 million dollar attendance fee there has been equal confusion over the live gate number for Affliction's sophomore show.

Accoridng to Yahoo's Kevin Iole, the paid attendance was 8,946 for a gate of $1,512,750 . However Affliction reported their paid attendance was 12,355. At the same time Tom Atencio said immediately after the card that the paid gate was 13,228. Whatever the actual number are, and I am inclined to believe Kevin Iole, Affliction's pay roll for the card was $3.3 million so they are in the red regardless of what the gate was. Making the need for strong pay-per-view showing all the more important. 

For those that thought Fedor looked apprehensive in his fight against Andre Arlovski, this is what his trainer, Vladimir Voronov, had to say,

"He's obviously got unbelievable potential, but he had some distractions getting ready for this fight," Voronov said through an interpreter. "The movie. The commercials. If Fedor wants to keep winning, and winning well, he needs to train professionally. Right now he won with his old tricks."

"The fact that Fedor won, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy about. But he won this fight because of the training before this fight. The experience he had before this fight. The trainers did everything we could to get him ready. But for title fights, we can't train the way we trained for this one."

Fedor's next likely opponent would be Josh Barnett, Voronov seems less than enthused with the possibility of facing "The Baby-Faced Assassin",

"Barnett is a thinking fighter," explained the man who's known Fedor for 20 years. "I think Barnett is much more dangerous than Arlovski. If Arlovski is a master in chess, then Barnett is a grandmaster."    

The specter of Barnett forced Voronov to take a breath. It means a serious training camp, he said, more than the month they took for Arlovski.    

If that was a poor performance by Fedor then I am extremely interested (excited) to see what Fedor could look like at his best.

- Was there ever any doubt that Fedor would win? After all, Fedor defeated Tim Sylvia, the man who beat Arlovski twice and stole his girlfriend, in less than a minute. In fact the power Fedor demonstrated way back in July of 2008 was repeated last night when Fedor knocked out Arlovski. Sorry Belarus, but Russia wins again.

- Why was Tito Ortiz pronouncing Fedor's name, fé-a-dor?

- Freddie Roach was both right and wrong. Arlovski's stand up did look incredibly sharp, his hand speed was tremendous. Initially it looked like Fedor was bothered by the quick jabs in Arlovski's arsenal. Yet the fact that Arlovski was knocked out in such a violent fashion nullifies Roach's previous comments.

- Call me sentimental but it is nice to see Big John refereeing again

- Gilbert Yvel didn't bite off an ear or do something crazy and that's probably why he lost to Josh Barnett. Oh well, now Michael can finally get excited to see the Barnett Fedor fight.

- I love the Junkie's play-by-play because it features reports on how full the Honda Center was. You know when someone is blogging about how many people are you event, there might be some issues with your promotion's viability,

- Was Keith Jardine sent to Affliction by Dana White to counter promote, DX style?

- Can Sokoudjou please stop losing via submission? Seriously go to a Jiu-Jitsu class! I am sick and tired of being at the bar talking this fighter up and he keeps losing. I WISH I KNEW HOW TO QUIT YOU, SOKOUDJUO! On behalf of Heath Ledger I will accept the academy award.

- Don't worry Tito they aren't saying "boooo", they are shouting "boooo".

- Apparently Matt Lindland did not take his recent electoral defeat very well, considering he was knocked out in 30 seconds. If this isn't a bad omen for the Republican party I don't know what is.

- Holy shit Affliction actually sold a lot of tickets. Well strike that, we won't know for several days what the live gate actually was, but it looks like Fedor can be a U.S. draw if he is in big enough matches.

- Jay Hieron knocking out Jason High was like a nice palate cleansing course after a rich meal.

Instead of a preview outlining the history of fighters and which particular skill set I think they will use, I decided to rehash the major storylines going into Affliction's second event.

Is Freddie Roach right?

When Manny Pacquiao demolished Oscar de la Hoya, Freddie Roach instantly became trainer of the year in boxing. Roach put his new found skills to use in training Andrei Arlovski for his fight against Fedor, and Roach started talking shit,

"As far as his stand up game, we’ll kill him. If we can keep the fight standing up, if [Fedor Emelianenko] chooses to fight us like a man, we’ll dominate him...Just be smart with it. Use your angles when they’re necessary, but after you land a combination, because after you land a combination with Fedor, he’s going to throw back. That’s his instinct. He throws one punch after the other. He’s very predictable. He makes the same moves every time. He’s very common. His boxing game is weak...I think we’re going to knock him out."

"He looks pretty effective on the ground from what I can see. He’s really good at the armbar, I guess it’s called. How he gets those guys in the position for an armbar is pretty clever."

Will Arlovski pull out a victory standing with Fedor. Or will Roach eat his words with an Arlovski loss?

Affliction: Day of Reckoning may just be that

Pun alert! With all the rival promotions counter-programing Affliction second event -- UFC 91 for free on Spike, Golden Boy at the Staples Center, WEC 38 Sunday, and UFC 94 a week from Saturday -- plus the rumors of poor ticket sales, it seems that Affliction may indeed be witnessing its Day of Reckoning. 

Boxing vs. MMA

Whether we would like to admit it or not the winner of the main event may define the next chapter of the boxing vs. MMA argument. If Arlovski wins with superior stand up then boxing proponents will cite it as a triumph of the techinically superior boxing over the brutal thuggery of MMA. If Fedor wins by any method, then it will further reinforce how different the sports are, which true fans of either sport already know.

Will GIlbert Yvel do something crazy?

It took Gilbert Yvel quite awhile to get a fighting license in California due to his past indiscretions. If there is the slightest indication of dirty behavior from Yvel he could be blocked from fighting in the U.S for the rest of his life. 

How big are the fighter's salaries?

Last time Affliction put on an event, they paid Tim Sylvia $800,000 to lose in a minute. Was it worth it, not at all. A lot of observers are anxiously awaiting the salary report card to see if the promotion is healthy or near death. 

Does anyone buy Affliction shirts?

Seriously, they are the ugliest things on the planet. I would rather wear a burka.

written by Micahel Comeau

Saturday night's Affliction: Day of Reckoning event is approaching fast, and unlike the rest of the MMA world, I can't seem to get excited for this event. Chris Horodecki has been dropped from the card due to injury, and I don't have much interest in the Lindland/Belfort and Babalu/Sokodjou fight, but more importantly, the matchmaking just plain stinks and we're not getting the heavyweight bout we really want - Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett.

Andrei Arlovski is a great fighter, but let's face facts. He's just not on Fedor's level. Roy Nelson did a good job of handling Andrei on the ground in their match at EliteXC: Heat and got royally screwed over by the ref who decided to stand up the fight despite Nelson having Andrei in side control, a dominant position. Fedor is an incredible and even bested BJJ master Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on the ground in their matches. Fedor could actually benefit from Andrei Arlovski working his stand-up with top boxing trainer Freddie Roach. After all, like Keith Richards, Fedor can't be killed by conventional weapons. MMA striking and boxing are simply worlds apart and I'll bet on Fedor's explosiveness over Andrei's refinement any day of the week.

However, while Josh Barnett's stand-up isn't so hot, he is an excellent grappler and would give Fedor trouble on the ground. Plus, Fedor does not run from his opponents' supposed strengths. He had no problem standing with a prime Cro Cop, and had little trouble dealing with Nogueira's dangerous guard for extended periods of time. So it's safe to say that a Fedor/Barnett fight could go down as one of the greatest heavyweight matches of all time. And who is Josh fighting? Gilbert Yvel, a guy best known for attacking referees and biting opponents. Were there no child molesters available Saturday night?

What's worse is that Affliction does not seem to be interested in staying in business long enough to make this fight happen. According to wrestling/MMA journalist Dave Meltzer, Affliction is paying Andrei Arlovski $1 million+ to take on (get armbarred by?) Fedor Emelianenko, the world's greatest heavyweight fighter. Let's break down some numbers very quickly:

Affliction is charging $44.95 a pop for the pay-per-view. The cable company gets something like half of that. To pay Andrei $1 million, Affliction will have to sell about 45,000 units. And you know Fedor is getting a lot more than Andrei, so it's likely that Affliction will have to draw well over 100,000 buys just to pay Fedor and Andrei. The live gate will help, but once you factor in Affliction overpaying for fighters that don't draw, marketing/PR, location rental, insurance, operations crews, etc., they're going to be losing serious bucks on Saturday night.

This is an Amazon.com circa-1999 style of business in an unforgiving 2008 and it will prevent MMA fans from getting the fight we really want.    

Main Event

- Fedor Emelianenko (-450)  vs. Andrei Arlovski (+300) for WAMMA heavyweight title

Televised Card

- Josh Barnett (-550) vs. Gilbert Yvel (+350)

- Vitor Belfort (+155) vs. Matt Lindland (-185)

- Reanto Sobral (-145) vs. Thierry Sokoudjou (+115)

- Jay Hieron (-450) vs. Jason High (+300)

- Kiril Sidellnikov (+135) vs. Paul Buentello (-165)

Undercard

- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (-125) vs. Vladimir Matyushenko (-105)

- no odds for Dan Lauzon vs. TBA

- Bao Quach (+215) vs. LC Davis (-275)

- Albert Rios (+250) vs. Antonio Duarte (-325)

- Brett Cooper (-185) vs. Patrick Speight (+155)

odds according to sportsbook.com

Freddie Roach’s recent comments regarding the boxing abilities of Fedor demonstrates the ignorance within the boxing community regarding the subtle differences between the two sports. One of the most important aspects of boxing is footwork. While this tenet holds equally great importance in MMA, there are key differences between the two styles. The chief difference is in stance. A MMA stance is wider creating greater balance and lateral movement. This is a necessity due to the increase in ring size, as well as the danger of leg kicks and takedowns.

In boxing footwork is key in taking away a fighters' balance, while cornering them against the ropes. It is of chief importance to maintain one’s footwork mechanics in order to uphold correct punching fundamentals and further one’s cardio. But if a fighter relies too heavily on a pure boxing stance in MMA, he opens himself up to debilitating leg kicks as well as an easy shoot and takedown. That is why a new stance evolved in MMA, with the feet being wider apart.

Roach is right when he states that MMA fighters aren’t that technical. But he is observing these fighters from the viewpoint of technical boxing. This is not on par with an NFL scout saying a college quarterback is not technical with his delivery. It would be the equivalent of a baseball pitching coach critiquing a professional quarterback’s throwing motion.