Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Affliction Show to Register 6.5 Bodogs on the Fail-O-Meter

Bust out the Fail-O-Meter. Affliction: "Banned" will air on pay-per-view this Saturday opposite SpikeTV's UFC Fight Night 14, which means that: a) fight fans will have a chance to pay to see Fedor Emelianenko fight Tim Sylvia; b) fight fans will have a chance to see Anderson Silva destroy James Irvin on free TV; and, c) Affliction will make enough money to cover the cost of maybe 90 seconds of the Fedor/Sylvia bout, but everything after those 90 seconds and everything on the rest of the card is going to have to be written off as a financial loss. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Affliction, I'm thrilled they've put together a card of top fighters, and I wish them success. But reality has a way of slapping wanna-be UFCs (with a little money to burn and no viable revenue stream) in the face, and Affliction is going to get slapped pretty damn hard. Prediction: in terms of projected losses, someone will take a big hit on Saturday - and it ain't the UFC.

BCX 5 Notes

Battle Cage Xtreme had their fifth event on Saturday night, and with seven belts on the line, the event provided a healthy dose of ass-kickery. Some notes: -Joey Camacho absolutely crushed Micah Goss, proving yet again that he's more than capable of bringing the fury. A post-fight Goss looked like he'd been in a car wreck. -The unbreakable Don Wagner, old school warrior Joey Brown and last-minute replacement Andrew Montanez all fought their hearts out right up to the final bell, despite being on the losing end earlier on. You gotta love it. -Why can't Kevin Roddy ever get a split decision to go his way? He's so damn talented and skilled. Props to Dwayne Shelton for not getting caught by the K-Rod sub machine. -Jon Jones is good but he still needs to be tested. Someone like Brendan Barrett, Costa Phillippou or Ricardo Romero won't be overwhelmed by Jones' speed and athleticism. -Tim Troxell looked great (as usual) but Lester Caslow was pretty impressive for hanging in there, and he even had the Trox rocked at one point. On paper, I thought this would've been a mismatch, but Caslow proved he belonged. -Joe Abouata exposed Carlton Haselrig as a one-dimensional wrestler. Oh wait, we already knew that. Well, Abouata looked fantastic either way.