:rolleyes:

As Well He Should!

Blood Sport was a good movie…
=)

“How to lose a shit load of someone else’s money…FAST!”

Money in hand, Atencio, 42, and his partners, Eric Foss and Clifton Chason, both 35, forged a relationship with professional boxing’s Golden Boy Promotions (owned by pay-per-view king Oscar De La Hoya) and hosted Affliction’s second MMA bout, which took place in Anaheim, California, earlier this year. The event filled more than 13,000 seats and drew in more than 100,000 paying viewers.

The widely viewed ticket wasn’t a fluke. All signs say that Affliction has even more to look forward to. MMA’s cable and pay-per-view audiences often beat TV ratings produced by pro sporting events—including baseball, NASCAR and the Stanley Cup Finals—in the coveted 18-to-34 age bracket. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association reports that participation in martial arts, including MMA, has grown about 11 percent since 2000. And Action Sports Retailer, the popular action-sports apparel convention, added a separate MMA clothing show last September.

To Foster’s point, Affliction, whose other staffers also sport huge muscles and acres of scar tissue, has seen average annual growth of more than 300 percent in the past two years. (Foss says the company broke the $100 million revenue mark in 2008.) What’s more, says Atencio, "MMA is still in its infancy. In five to 10 years, it will explode."

Maybe he’s just wearing his game face, but Atencio seems as fired up to compete as a fighter entering an MMA cage. He’s quick to point out his company’s anabolic growth, including the recent unveiling of its 150,000-square-foot headquarters, which includes an MMA ring where visiting fighters can train. Affliction also plans to promote future events that could create the kind of high-profile business showdown that MMA fans love. "The UFC is threatened by us," he says. "I’m up for the challenge."

Wow, this is pretty amusing.