For those of who've been wondering when Affliction would start promoting their July 19th PPV, MMA Junkie has some comments from Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio:
"Right now, we haven't even broken water (on marketing) yet," Atencio said. "We're waiting until the push because we know a lot of people, especially the casual fan, they'll forget about it if we push too soon. ... We've sold about 8,000 tickets so far, and that's with minimal advertising."
Talking about the UFC July 19th free event, Atencio also reveals a real big gap in his thought processes:
"Anybody that was going to buy our pay-per-view, I think they're still going to buy it," Atencio said. "I think the people that weren't going to buy it, [the UFC event] just gives them something to do now. I don't think it really changed the hardcore fans' outlook."
If he's looking to just give away a few million dollars, he's got his head in exactly the right space. But if he's looking to make money, Atencio needs to realize that there aren't enough hardcores willing to shell out $39.95 for a PPV to put Affliction over the top. Oh yeah, the Junkie story also reveals the utterly lame back up they're considering to replace Vernon "Tiger" White (popped for diuretics) against Antonio Rogerio "Little Nog" Nogueira -- Edwin Dewees. Yes even though they're wasting Babalu Sobral against Mike Whitehead on the same card, the only opponent they can come up with for Little Nog is Dewees, a mediocre middle-weight.