Tom Atencio Discusses Future of Affliction, Gina Carano, and More
by Cannon Jacques on Dec 17, 2008 11:25 PM EST
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Affliction's Tom Atencio recently spoke with Gary Herman of 15rounds.com. Notable quote:
Q: Is there a certain number of shows you’re looking to do in 2009?
TA: Right now, we are looking at four events for 2009, but that could change. Right now, I’m just looking at the January show, and the next show would be about four to five months from there.
Q: About thirty-five miles away and on the same night as your show January 24, Golden Boy Promotions – one of your partners - will be having a pretty big card of their own headlined by Antonio Margarito vs. Shane Mosley. What are your thoughts on Golden Boy having a show in the same area on the same night?
TA: We spoke about it. Right now, we don’t see it affecting us too much. The UFC counter-programmed us with the free Anderson Silva fight against our first show, and it didn’t affect us that much. At this point, I don’t see the boxing audience coming over as heavy as some people think. I’d like to change that and hopefully, I will someday.
Q: Isn’t a concern though from a media standpoint to get the word out there for the show? There is only so much local space available. Now, you’ll be competing for space with the boxing show.
TA: Absolutely. We’ll be competing a little bit. It is what it is. Golden Boy is our partner, and we’re making sure that both events are known. It’s a collaboration between the two of us to make it work out for everyone.
It's hell when you have to compete with your enemy (the UFC) and your "partner" (Golden Boy) on the same night. Even if you accept the notion that Zuffa's previous counter-programming effort didn't significantly affect Affliction's show, it's hard to accept that Golden Boy's competing event, just a few miles away no less, is part of Affliction's road map to promotional viability. This looks like a dysfunctional business relationship to me.
Atencio also threw cold water on a potential acquistion of female MMA's most recognizable figure:
Q: How about the other big draw from EliteXC – Gina Carano?
TA: I think Gina is a great fighter. She has proven herself many times. But having said that, if we were to bring her over, I think the only fight out there is her vs. Cris Cyborg. I haven’t really looked into it, but I don’t know who else there is.
Q: Likely what would need to be done is to have the main event and then have another female fight on the show to build a contender.
TA: But the question is – who would that be? I don’t think there is anyone in the same weight class that has enough appeal.
Atencio brings up a good point. However, if it were me, I'd expend more energy worrying about the immediate future than fretting about matchmaking difficulties that may become an issue if the promotion still exists in a couple months. Gina Carano could give Affliction a boost of starpower which is desperately needed. If I were guessing, the deteriorating relationship between Affliction and the Coutures is more of an impediment than a lack of recognizable opponents for Carano.
Honestly, I hate to be so negative in regard to Affliction and Tom Atencio. It's just that Atencio is fighting an almost impossible battle in what would seem to be an inept and impractical manner. There's a lot more in the full interview, including Atencio's desire to promote MMA for years to come and the requisite Tito Ortiz talk. Did you really think we could broach the subject of Affliction without mentioning the "T" word?
Photo via Combat Lifestyle
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“As far as the American public goes, Arlovski’s a bigger draw and is more well known here. Barnett, if you talk to people overseas, is well known there, and that’s another fight everyone wants to see. Barnett needs to beat (Gilbert) Yvel in order to fight Fedor. If Yvel beats Barnett, Yvel would be next in line.”
so much for the illustrious wamma rankings.
and it’s a HUGE ‘if’, but i can’t imagine them doing a main event with fedor/yvel. especially if they’re contenders are chosen based on fanbase.
I still say...
that people need to keep in mind that Golden Boy didn’t “pick” the date of that boxing card. HBO picked it and while GB could have said no…they’d have been costing themselves a considerable amount of money.
It works with networks giving dates and the promoters making it work…not the other way around. I know the sexy story is that Golden Boy doesn’t care and are choosing to go head to head with their partners…but it just isn’t totally the truth.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Dec 18, 2008 12:05 AM EST reply actions
I understand your point. The problem is that HBO and GB have a long relationship that takes precedent over the Affliction relationship. Affliction’s working with Showtime, and that could make things even more adversarial. I wouldn’t say that GB doesn’t give a shit about their partner, but the situation just makes the hill steeper for Affliction. Of all the weekends in the year, both entities are trying to put on events within 50 miles of each other? That’s some way to execute a partnership. It doesn’t matter who is pulling the strings. This is a mess for Affliction, regardless of GB’s intentions.
by Cannon Jacques on Dec 18, 2008 12:30 AM EST up reply actions
Just because both can succeed doesn’t mean it’s advantageous to schedule them in competition with each other. Affliction needs the attention and hopefully big PPV buys resulting from the spotlight. The boxing card just makes things more difficult for them.
One can argue that none of this matters, because Affliction is destined to fail. The point is, however, that the GB deal isn’t going to provide that much bang for Atencio.
by Cannon Jacques on Dec 18, 2008 12:40 AM EST up reply actions
Also
These events will be bought largely along racial lines. Just being real. The people that go to the Margarito event will be 60% or more, Mexican. (Quite likely ALOT more.) An ethnic group that LA has a whole lot of and a group that is still largely based in boxing culture. Affliction isn’t drawing from LA’s Latino fans for the most part anyways so their by and large support for the boxing card is a non-event.
See my later post
LA is also full of rich and powerful people. None of them are going to go see Margarito vs Mosley.
Unless you consider
George Lopez to be a casual rich and powerful fan. I guarantee he will be at the Margarito fight, but he’s been a HARDCORE since before the UFC was a twinkle in the Gracie’s eye
Golden Boy doesnt give a shit or a rats fuckin ass about affliction…
were they at the press conference today?
What did Golden Boys CEO say when last asked about affliction?
Pretty much said he didnt give a fuck and he doesn’t want to be bothered with that shit.
If you listen to the recording of this audio you hear the voice of a guy who just sounds beaten up… almost like a “we never wanted to be competitors to the UFC… it was you guys – it’s all your fault – now I have no idea how to make this fuckin thing work”.
Pretty soon we will start hearing some whole numbers on ticket sales… should be interesting :)
Whatever dude lol
Golden Boy doesn’t fear the UFC at all. Oscar earned the lions share of 700 Million in PPV money during his career not including any investments. His promotion company is one of the top in all boxing.
Being “rivals” with the UFC is natural they are a competing sport and the UFC trys to put anybody in competition with them out of business. Its either ally with Affliction and at least have somebody else competing with the UFC or have noone competing against them.
The HBO boxing card
will not compete with Affliction for live viewers. Margarito vs Mosley isn’t even that good of a fight. Mosley looked like crap vs Mayorga though he scored one of the most amazing KO’s i’ve seen with 1 second left in the fight. LA has more than enough boxing fans to pack Staples and more than enough MMA fans to fill up, (I believe its the Pond), up in Anaheim. Its not like they are trying to have 2 events in Vegas on the same night.
Even the rich and famous that will show up to be seen are more likely to go see Fedor vs Arlovski than Margarito (who is only now building a viable fanbase) vs Mosley who has never been THAT marketable. Also for people that love boxing enough to dedicate time to watch Mosley vs Margarito… WE HAVE DVR’s. HBO and Showtime counterprogram each other ALL THE TIME. I mean whenever there is a quality card on Showtime, HBO will find something quality to throw up against it. DVR’s are necessary for boxing fans. MMA fans will obviously watch the MMA card or nothing. Pure boxing fans will watch Margarito vs Mosley or nothing. Boxing and MMA fans such as myself will utilize the necessary tools we already have to record the Margarito Mosley card and will for the most part order THE MUCH BETTER more relevant fight on the Affliction card.
LOL, you think the VIP’s are gonna go to affliction over mosley v margorito?
Even the D-listers will be at the boxing event.
I bet you even we see tito at the boxing event!
You think the counter programming of showtime v boxing is help either?
Come on man you need to build a better case.
You don't know anything about boxing
Margarito has no fan base. Thats why the fight isn’t on PPV. He’s the Anderson Silva of boxing. Nobody wants to fight him whether he’s the best or not at his weight, but nobody wants to watch him either. Mosley is shot and has never been a draw. Fedor vs AA is the bigger fight.
So the big names won’t come out and see the big boxing match but they are going to come out to see some Russian guy fight some other Russian guy for a MMA org that sells t shirts at the Buckle? If the “stars” aren’t coming out for Margarito vs Mosley then they probably aren’t coming out for Affliction either. Heck Affliction didn’t sell out the Honday center last time, having boxing in the same town on the same night definatly isn’t going to help this time around.
Hell you can't even spell his name right
You probably have to go to search to tell me who he beat before Cotto, if you even knew Cotto was his last victim.
Whatever man
Anyways we’ll see. Mosley has a fanclub and thats about it. There is a reason he drew only about 350K PPV buys against Cotto and Cotto has star power that Margarito STILL doesn’t have even after beating him.
Fedor draws an interesting mix of people
I fully expect Van Damme, Trump, Harrison Ford, Nicolas Cage and Joe Rogan to be there
Maybe I got the Affliction guys mixed up, but isn’t this the guy who Kim Couture put a restraining order against? Couldn’t that be why Carano won’t be there since she trains at Xtreme Couture.
It’s the other Affliction guy, Beard. Affliction has sort of distanced itself from him, but I think the Couture situation probably does affect Gina’s decision in regard to possibly fighting for them.
by Cannon Jacques on Dec 18, 2008 12:55 AM EST up reply actions
Not to mention, like, every other fighter on the planet.
by Derek Suboticki on Dec 18, 2008 5:32 AM EST up reply actions
Naive
Atencio might be just a bit naive in this department. Golden Boy bleeds boxing, period. I believe they are playing both sides of the fence, keeping their enemies close. Money is money but boxing pays well.
Just a thought...
I could be completely wrong but hear me out. This might be a move on GB’s part to see how the PPV buys and viewers numbers compare on the same night. If they notice Affliction gets a larger number than it would be more attractive for them to do a combined event in the future. If they notice the boxing income drops dramatically when hosting the same night as MMA, they could renegotiate with Affliction to help their own financial situation in the future. I suppose the same viewpoint could be said for Affliction as well, either way it’s all about the market and making the most profit.
Yea I realize that, thats why I threw in “viewers numbers” for lack of a better term
by midwestbred on Dec 18, 2008 11:15 AM EST up reply actions
That really doesn’t make sense because they will be splitting the market. The boxing match isn’t super big, Affliction didn’t do that great last time, so to take even 1 viewer away from either of them would be stupid.
It made sense in my head but I see your point.
by midwestbred on Dec 18, 2008 12:19 PM EST up reply actions
Atencio said they want to do 4 shows in 2009 but their next show won’t be for 4 or 5 months after that. Planning on going from January to June without a show doesn’t sound too promising from them for trying to build up any momentum or getting 4 shows into a year. It also doesn’t seem all that great for guys signed with them who are looking to fight any time soon.
"Honestly, I hate to be so negative in regard to Affliction and Tom Atencio. It’s just that Atencio is fighting an almost impossible battle in what would seem to be an inept and impractical manner. "
—While this is one of the few attempts by bloggers to be “positive”, to make a remark regarding someone or something being “inept” counters the view that you are apologetic for being negative.
Cut them some slack…someone. They are facing a juggernaut in the very aggressive UFC. The country is in an absolute financial mess. Asking for stability is as difficult as asking for a loan.
The fact that we are still discussing them in december is a plus, furthermore the fact that an agenda for 2009 is being discussed is also a positive for MMA.
Wags
I didn’t say that Atencio was stupid or a bad person. He seems to have done a great job in the realm of clothing. I just don’t believe his approach in regard to the promotional venture is well conceived. It’s possible to be competent in business and still make mistakes. In fact, it happens all the time. My intention wasn’t to attack Atencio. My intention was to disagree with the effectiveness of the plan he’s laid out for Affliction Entertainment.
by Cannon Jacques on Dec 18, 2008 9:40 AM EST up reply actions
TA: I think Gina is a great fighter. She has proven herself many times. But having said that, if we were to bring her over, I think the only fight out there is her vs. Cris Cyborg. I haven’t really looked into it, but I don’t know who else there is.
TA: But the question is – who would that be? I don’t think there is anyone in the same weight class that has enough appeal.
After reading this I had douche chills shoot up my back. If I agree 100% with something that Atencio said, then I am probably wrong! Oh how could this happen!
Being on the internet gives me a right...nay a responsibility to bitch about things
I really don’t get what he’s saying about Gina.
That seems like the exact reason that Zuffa has for not signing Gina/other women. But Zuffa has a history of building divisions and looking towards the future. Affliction has not done anything like this to bolster any of their other divisions, so why would they start with the women, especially when the superfight is already set up?
That’s pretty much exactly what I wondered. Atencio’s question is legitimate, in my opinion. If you’re going to make a go of female MMA, you need multiple stars. Gina’s huge right now, and she looks to be committed to continuing her career. Who knows what the future will bring, however? With that said, should this concern really take precedent over making Affliction viable in the short-term? I don’t think so. I have to think they need build some interest quickly if they are going to continue promoting MMA. And like you said, besides heavyweight, their other divisions are less than deep.
by Cannon Jacques on Dec 18, 2008 12:06 PM EST up reply actions
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