Wow, Affliction Is Getting A Ton Of Publicity
by Jmend255 on Jul 23, 2009 1:42 PM EDT
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Isn't it a bit ironic that Affliction, who probably already spent all their marketing and advertising money for this event, is getting a ton of publicity and coverage at the expense of Josh Barnett's failed re-licensing PED test. The plethora of story lines that this has created have been gold for MMA media outlets and possibly Affliction? Jake Rossen at Sherdog expresses his take on the latest incidents surrounding the Afflicted Trilogy event.
Thursday, July 23 12:00 am PT: Just a brief passage on the no-explanation-needed Affliction meltdown of the week: With Josh Barnett benched for having some suspect urine and a main event bout with Fedor Emelianenko suddenly vaporware, the promotion is currently earmarked as having some serious trouble. It’s being perceived as a death rattle.
That would be true -- if Emelianenko were fighting Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture or another UFC-polished athlete. Barnett is a terrific fighter, but his ability to draw in the states has never been explored. Dialed-in fans were excited, but your average "Ultimate Fighter"-chugging casuals know him best as the guy who struggled to put away Gilbert Yvel in January.
The old "no such thing as bad publicity" coat hanger has never been more warranted. Affliction has stirred up more media attention for their Aug. 1 event than would have otherwise been expected; people indifferent to the show (and possibly Barnett) are now suddenly intrigued by how Emelianenko will handle the challenge of a late replacement. Call it viral marketing at its accidental best.
SportsCenter commented on the Affliction event last night and pondered who the best MMA HW In the world was going to face for the upcoming Trilogy event. Not to mention that every single MMA related website is trying to find out who will win the Fighting Fedor sweepstakes.
Oh yeah, and more story lines are springing up by the minute!
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Never thought of it this way
If Affliction can somehow pull a decent replacement for Barnett out of its ass this could be a blessing in disguise. It could potentially get them more interest and buys than any of their other cards. Not that the interest from this little scandal would stop Affliction’s demise though.
On MMA websites, sure...
but there’s still no evidence that this is crossing over to the casual sports fan. Shoot, even before Barnett got yanked, there was no guarantee that this would do any better then Affliction’s previous show. This event would have still been on the front page of ESPN’s MMA site with Barnett, this hasn’t changed.
As much as we dont like to admit it, hardcores have minimal impact on the mainstream growth of the sport, outside of word-of-mouth. The MMA blogosphere maybe made up 5% of the millions of PPV buys that UFC 100 got.
yeah
Lewish says pretty much exactly what I was thinking.
They’re getting plenty of publicity… but only to those who already follow MMA and go out of their way to read MMA news. There is no “general public” attention being garnered… not like there was for UFC 100.
V-I-K-I-N-G-S! Skol Vikings, Let's Go!!
Oh, absolutely not. Why would anyone compare this to UFC 100? All that is being compared to is that Affliction is getting more press now than they were before, which is true. It has nothing to do with casuals or hardcores, since Affliction has never sold to the casuals in the first place.
by MMASuPreMaCy on Jul 23, 2009 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree...
Comparing UFC 100 to Affliction would be like comparing the Super Bowl to the Grey Cup.
I dont see where anyone made that comparison?
The fact is that this will get a lot of coverage on MMA sites, but that’s it.
Affliction can expect another 100,000 buys, then to lay down in the woods and die.
The fact is that this will get a lot of coverage on MMA sites, but that’s it.
Exactly. That’s all I was sayin’.
I just think that it is wrong to even guess that “all this garnered publicity could be good for them”. The only way it can be good for them is if this makes a bunch of people who previously didn’t watch Affliction events suddenly want to order this one. Which it won’t.
It’s true though, that MMA-related sites are talking more about Affliction now then they were a week ago. But that’s what happens when a big story hits…
V-I-K-I-N-G-S! Skol Vikings, Let's Go!!
Yea so far I haven’t seen any mention of this controversy on ESPN. Not even down at the bottom in the ticker.
This not even being big enough news to make the ESPN ticker kind of reinforces in my mind that the only time Fedor is important to main stream media is if he is mentioned in the context of fighting the UFC Heavyweight Champ.
It was on ESPN SC. I saw it, and other posters saw it already. Its been reported.
by MMASuPreMaCy on Jul 23, 2009 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions
From another forum...
SportSCenter just reported about the Barnett/steroid situation. I’ve never been one to say “MMA’s hit the mainstream”. But I think ESPN is now laying the groundwork for MMA to be shown on ESPN/ESPN 2. They just had a lot of coverage for UFC 100, and now they’re reporting on steroid allegations like this in the MLB or NFL. I love it.
Like they say, any publicity is good publicity.
Yha I saw that too, and they had “MMA” on the ticker next to NFL.
oooooh yah!!
by MMASuPreMaCy on Jul 23, 2009 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions
please include links when you post pieces from other sites
I added the link this time.
thanks
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
Having “We may Not Have a Main Event” as your most populat story is not a good way to convince people who just coughed up $50 for UFC 100, and were planning to cough up $50 more for UFC 101 to cough up $50 for a main event that may not even get coughed up.
Keep firing Assholes!
Thanks to Bisping's reenactment of the Battle of Cowpens, walla walla walla I'm an idiot.
by Ubernoober on Jul 23, 2009 5:30 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs
Failed Steroid Test in America is always a Big Scoop. Thanks Olympics and MLB.
=)
by MMASuPreMaCy on Jul 23, 2009 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions
And it should be
Lousy goddamn cheaters.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 24, 2009 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions
This kind of press attention gets coverage from a lot of sources,
but i’m not that sure that would translate to more PPV buys..
They’d know that the main event is in danger and one mma guy juices up. so why would they buy the card?
Maybe it’s just me, but watching Barnett vs Yvel, I have no interest in seeing Barnett fight Fedor, so I look at this as a good thing.
Rodgers
If rodger gets the fight I would buy it.
If it is belfrt then I will watch the vids on monday because they will only have two fights that I am really intersted in
by WhiteyBarrington on Jul 24, 2009 11:38 AM EDT reply actions
Yeah, fat fucking pile of difference the publicity made.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 24, 2009 3:34 PM EDT reply actions
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