Tom Atencio: Big announcement coming ... could it be Affliction on HBO?

by MMAmania.com on Sep 10, 2008 9:40 PM EDT

"From a business standpoint, we don’t want to lose money. We want to be here long term. It’s a wise choice. This is definitely a positive."

Affliction MMA Vice President Tom Atencio has promised that an announcement will be made about the future of his promotion during at the big lightweight title fight between Joel Casamayor and Juan Manuel Marquez, which will air on HBO pay-per-view (PPV) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, September 13. Affliction today revealed that it has postponed its encore show "Day of Reckoning" -- originally scheduled for October 11 -- until January 17, 2009, leading some people to believe that the big-spending upstart promotion was already financially on the ropes. However, if an announcement is indeed made during the HBO telecast one would have to assume that some type of partnership is possibly in the works to air mixed martial arts fights on the premium cable channel. Take that, Jim Lampley. Stay tuned ... nothing is official at this time.

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Oh, damn. I didn’t know they postponed their second show… I was thinking that this news might be a bit of b/s and not be so big but I’m buying into this one now.

by obsessedwithsports on Sep 10, 2008 9:44 PM EDT reply actions

yo this has been bothering me for 2 days now….what Casino do the fertita’s own? Not the hard rock?

by john on Sep 11, 2008 8:02 AM EDT up reply actions

google it…something station off the top of my head.
I think tito will be fighting fedor, or should I say picking up a check from affliction. I can’t picture tito not being scared for his own safety in this fight. With all the crap he’ll probably talk leading up to the fight, he should be scared.
I read a funny line the other day, with all the tanner threads, someone wrote "imagine if fedor died, how many threads would there be. Best response…
Fedor arm barred death last week!

by kevin doesn't know shit on Sep 11, 2008 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions

Is Tito actually dumb enough to fight Fedor? Good God man, that’d would be gruesome! If this is true kevin, you CAN have past tonight! haahaha

by chefdaddy on Sep 11, 2008 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions

JOHN. i already answered that the 1rst time you asked. the Station casino.

by b.w. on Sep 11, 2008 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions

thanks, my bad BW

Forget Fedor vs. tito. I bet my existence on this earth that it will NEVER happen! Tito had to be dragged in the octagon to fight the Iceman, you guys are silly if you believe that he will ever accept a fight against Fedor the GOD. NOT HAPPENING!

I promise you all that it is a fight that we will NEVER see, so no point in even talking about it! NOT GOING TO EVER HAPPEN!!

Tito is probably going to fight Babalu. It will be a good fight, they hate each other so once the war of words begins, it will really help sell the next event.

Fighters I would actually like to see Tito fight in Affliction:

Babalu
Rogerio Nogueira
The Janitor
Rematch with Vitor

They should just do a 4 man tournament to determine their 1st LHW champion. Contestants:

Tito
Nogueira
Babalu
The Janitor

by john on Sep 11, 2008 11:17 AM EDT up reply actions

I think they also own Green Valley Ranch Casino. There used to be reality show that took place at that casino and I rembember seeing Lorenzo quite a few times running the show.

by BNF on Sep 11, 2008 1:27 PM EDT up reply actions

BNF, was Green Valley the casino that houses that restaurant from one of the winner’s of Hell’s Kitchen?

by chefdaddy on Sep 11, 2008 1:56 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t know chef. I don’t watch Hell’s Kitchen. I never would have guessed you do. LOL… This was a show based strictly around that specific casino and daily activities that took place there. It is a big casino a few miles off the strip. The show was shown a few years ago on TLC or the Travel channel or something like that. I specifically remember Lorenzo there and everbody kissing his a$$ because he owned it.

by BNF on Sep 11, 2008 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions

I wouldn’t mind seeing Fedor completely demolish Tito. It would be entertaining, although not my first choice.

by Kimura by Fedor on Sep 11, 2008 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions

it wont save them.

by sbud on Sep 10, 2008 9:53 PM EDT reply actions

I agree sbud…actually, nothing will.

by Kelvin on Sep 10, 2008 11:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Just put Arlovski in a fight already, had to wait a year before, now Affliction is postponing

by theCloser on Sep 10, 2008 9:53 PM EDT reply actions

could be that they are going to have boxing and mma on the same card. maybee a new deal with golden boy productions wich is the promoter of sat nights fight.

by b.w. on Sep 10, 2008 9:57 PM EDT reply actions

interesting view b.w., it wouldn’t surprise me. maybe they’ll mix MMA with boxing bouts throughout the night? Maybe it’s a way to save boxing as well…

by linx on Sep 11, 2008 8:21 AM EDT up reply actions

This is Crap, and it’s just getting crappier. Boxing belongs as far possible from MMA.

by Ro-J on Sep 11, 2008 8:46 AM EDT up reply actions

B.W: II will be furious if you are right about this one. Last thing I want is my beloved MMA to be tainted by splitting an event with boring ass boxing!

I do enjoy some boxing fights, but most of them are boring. and their undercard fights are crap. The only thing Affliction can do to turn me off from their organization is to mess with boxing.

P.s: YES I got tickets to the Bernard hopkins vs. THe GHost fight!

by john on Sep 11, 2008 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions

question: If they sign with HBO are we assuming that they wont do ppv’s anymore? or willl they still do ppv’s but have like UFN events on HBO?

by john on Sep 11, 2008 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions

I think they’ll use HBO’s ppv John, if I’m not mistaken HBO does PPV as well.

by linx on Sep 11, 2008 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions

Do they even have enough talent on their roster to do both at this point? My guess is that b.w. is on to something. I figure that HBO (if they are announcing something with Affliction on Saturday) is going to try to use the growing popularity of MMA to try to reinvigorate their boxing product. If I’m right, they’ll mix in MMA with their boxing on HBO (Boooo!) and then Affliction will still do their PPVs every 4 to 6 months. Which, if true, provides more info on why DW wasn’t able to do a deal with them.

by Canucklehead on Sep 11, 2008 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions

linx, u r right, I forgot that they also do ppv

They better not combine Boxing and mma. I have been one of Afflictions biggest supporters since the beginning and I will be so pissed if they do a Boxing/mma event. I will be really Furious!

by john on Sep 11, 2008 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions

You wouldn’t be near as mad as jim Lampley!!!!

by chefdaddy on Sep 11, 2008 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions

i was just trying to think of what would supposedly “change the mma world as we know it”. some kind of gimmick or something that hadnt been done before and the boxing/mma popped into my head. it could end up just being that Affliction is doing ppv with HBO, but why announce it on a boxing night? i dont know that i like it either, but this could be it.

by b.w. on Sep 11, 2008 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions

My first thought was that they might try some kind of tampering/anti-trust lawsuit against the UFC. Which potentially could be a game changer. But, honestly, I’m just grasping at straws at this point.

by Canucklehead on Sep 11, 2008 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Affliction can align themselves with anybody and it still wont make a difference. Even if they get an HBO deal what does that do for them? Atencio is just postponing the inevitable!

by JV on Sep 10, 2008 10:03 PM EDT reply actions

HBO might give them better production, but thats about it. they will own Affliction mma and use them up and spit them out. i agree, this is a desperation move on Afflictions part.

by b.w. on Sep 11, 2008 12:32 AM EDT up reply actions

why all the negativity out of everyone? This is a good thing. Enjoy it for however long it lasts!

by john on Sep 11, 2008 7:39 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree, besides, they need major help with their production.

by linx on Sep 11, 2008 8:22 AM EDT up reply actions

I would like to see Affliction eventually buy out EliteXC. You combine Afflictions roster with EliteXC’s roster and you got the makings of a decent organization!

by john on Sep 11, 2008 10:18 AM EDT up reply actions

A deal with HBO will put Affliction on life support.

by THORAZINE on Sep 10, 2008 10:04 PM EDT reply actions

completely off topic but i was thinking with the tuf reunion show what if they brought all the fighters back into the house what would the results be? and how they respond to being back in the house?

by matt on Sep 10, 2008 10:18 PM EDT reply actions

LMAO!!! “Take that, Jim Lampley.” That guy is a closed minded turd.

by chefdaddy on Sep 10, 2008 10:21 PM EDT reply actions

Careful, you might OOOfend him.

by Jrandolph on Sep 10, 2008 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions

I can only hope!

by chefdaddy on Sep 11, 2008 7:10 AM EDT up reply actions

a deal with hbo will turn this thing from affliction mma to hbo mma guaranteed hbo will be calling all the shots and we all know hbo greatly favors boxing and could careless about mma they are in it for the short term and try to make some fast cash

by matt on Sep 10, 2008 10:26 PM EDT reply actions

IF they did do something with HBO it would be huge and far from ‘life support’. Dumb asses cant seem to remember Affliction makes MILLIONS off their clothing they can afford to lose a small ammount of money for the first few shows. Even doh im 100%sure that by the third they wouldve been making money already. The only thing i hated was that the ring sucked they need to get a dream/pride ring over there+more lighting.

They dont have the same ammount of talent that the ufc has but that doesnt matter. Because they have more then enough to continue to blow the ufc ppv’s and make them look like shiity half ass org. UFC is like obama talks a good talk but dont back it up. Affliction is willing to give us all the fights we actually want to see because they crosspromote. So we could see a Alveraz vs KJ Alveraz vs Thompson Crocop vs AA or tim etc…

Im definitely hoping its HBO id love to just turn on my tv and go to channel 300(astound cable) and watch a better then UFC qaulity fight card free basically since i already got hbo.

by Khaos_warrior on Sep 10, 2008 10:27 PM EDT reply actions

affliction is better than the ufc are you kidding me, they have one show and then tell their fighters that they have to cut their salaries in half. That sounds like a great org to me doesnt, it is also great when your fighter salaries is double your ticket sale revenue, it is also great for affliction that the ufc sells 5 times as many ppvs than them right? the ufc ppvs are half ass? thats why your complaining about afflicions ppvs and not the ufcs right? the ufc doesnt have poor lighting, the ufc doesnt have ring problems, the ufc doesnt have shitty old bands interupting, the ufc doesnt have to fire their announcers after one show do they? Affliciont has a good heavyweight division but that is it, they have one good middle weight and that is matt lindland who is a boring lay and pray artist, they also possibly have vitor if he can reinvent himself, who is their best middle weight jay heiron they guy gsp destroyed, who is their best lightweight hordecki who is exciting but would stand no chance against the top ufc guys such as penn and sherk also bud about your kj vs. alveraz last time i checked kj belongs to elite xc and alveraz has been fighting in japan and i also think he belongs to xc also thompson is in strikeforce and crocop is in dream and who the hell wants to see tim vs. aa 4? So as of now the ufc is by far the best mma organization and will remain that way as long as their is mma

by matt on Sep 10, 2008 11:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Khaos_warrior

1) If it is HBO it doesnt make it good just cause you have HBO!

2) Just because Affliction clothing makes millions doesnt mean that they can afford to lose millions!

3) You think the ring sucked, but want them to get a Dream/Pride ring? WTF?

4) You say Affliction has enough talent to make UFC PPV’s look sh*tty! (thats laughable)

by JV on Sep 10, 2008 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions

ok, on the 3rd point he was right JV (but that was the only point I agree with him). Can you seriously not see the difference between the Affliction ring to the Pride ring? they also need to learn how to work the ring.

by linx on Sep 11, 2008 8:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Linx: I agree! If they learn how to work the ring, it wont be as bad. I absolutely ADORED Pride, and I think that the ring in Pride (and the way they worked it) was just as good as a cage. I prefer the cage, but never had a problem with the ring the way it was used in Pride.

I do think that the American audience wouuld respond better to a cage, but I could care less as long as they can keep the action flowing

by john on Sep 11, 2008 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions

You are so right, it would be cool if they show some fights on hdnet in “HD” also, the possibilities are endless. Long live Affliction so we don’t have to get sucked in by the UFC propaganda machine, Lesner getting a title shot, what a slap in the face big nog. He may not sell ppv’s but he should have the next shot at the title.

by bigmcmac on Sep 10, 2008 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m calling “Troll” on this post because you can’t actually believe what you just wrote.
Come on, “sucked into the UFC Propaganda machine”? WTF? As if they hold some kind of power over you. Did you see the card last weekend? If you didn’t like it, you aren’t a fan. Try another sport. You sound so bitter. You know, there are always free shows on Spike, dude.
By-the-way, I’m getting very tired of the “slap in the face” argument. Nog is going to do just fine with the exposure he’s going to get on the new TUF show. That gym he opened in Florida with the Spider is going to make him boatloads of money. Especially once American fans get a chance to get to know him on the show. And then once he’s done, he gets to fight in a mini-tournament to determine the unified heavyweight champion of the UFC, Yeah, he sure is getting screwed. Poor Nog.

by Canucklehead on Sep 11, 2008 3:01 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah your right nog has such a superb command of the english language that all american will fall in love with him like Desi Arnaz.

by bigmcmac on Sep 11, 2008 9:36 AM EDT up reply actions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2b1D5w82yU
Wow his English sure sucks, hey?

by Canucklehead on Sep 11, 2008 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

It’s probably FAR better than our Portuguese! lol

by chefdaddy on Sep 11, 2008 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions

OK, looks like that didn’t work, sorry about that Mania. ;)
@ bigmcmac – You clearly don’t know what you are talking about. Here is a clip for you (Nog’s interview is at the :42 second mark),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpjCC0mIqQw
I don’t understand when guys talk like you did in that last post. Just because he’s Brazilian, he obviously can’t speak a word of English, right? On the bright side, you are on the right website if you are looking for an MMA education.

by Canucklehead on Sep 11, 2008 11:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Khaos_warrior – You’re out in left field, man.

First, a deal with any broadcaster only means that they get exposure, with a relatively small influx of cash. Otherwise, it’s still up to them to make their money back.

Regarding their clothing line, it isn’t a perpetual money machine. It requires marketing, a lot of marketing. And the lost a huge chunk of that marketing in the UFC.

by MMACrossfire on Sep 10, 2008 11:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Dammit Tom quit coming here. Go pawn your 90 dollar t-shirts somewhere else.

by dandeman on Sep 11, 2008 12:11 AM EDT up reply actions

Khaos are you on crack?

by Ro-J on Sep 11, 2008 8:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Or NBC

by DBG on Sep 10, 2008 10:27 PM EDT reply actions

I heard that the announcement is that Fedor is fighting on the card. I’m not sure against who though.

by RyanHobbs on Sep 10, 2008 10:51 PM EDT reply actions

probably some can

by matt on Sep 10, 2008 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions

v tito

by McArthur on Sep 11, 2008 8:20 AM EDT up reply actions

LMAO

by linx on Sep 11, 2008 8:28 AM EDT up reply actions

These guys and their big announcements. A “big announcment” from Affliction would be: “We ain’t broke yet and were still open for business”.

by Jrandolph on Sep 11, 2008 12:51 AM EDT reply actions

yeah, usually when DW says he has a big announcement I just roll my eyes. But since this is the first time Atencio says it I’ll give him a break. Depending on the announcement it will probably change my views for when he says it the second time around.

by linx on Sep 11, 2008 8:30 AM EDT up reply actions

I never said Affliction was better then the ufc. They obviously as i pointed out have some tweaks to work out. If you dont know the difference between a pride/dream ring vs the one they used, you shouldnt be responding to me or even posting on an mma website.

Yes affliction can make ufc cards look like shit. The ufc gives you like 3 good fights per card, so even if they had ALL the best talent in the world guess what….YOU WOULD STILL GET A AVERAGE ASS FIGHT CARD! Affliction stacked the first and the 2nd was looking pretty good. As for the other fighters who ‘arent signed to affliction’? They can easly get them to come fight in an Affliction show just to stack the card BECAUSE ORGS BESIDES THE UFC OFTEN LEND THEIR FIGHTERS.

Last the ufc is the #1 org and will continue to be so NO DUH, its been around for YEARS. If affliction can do better the second show and start making even a little bit of profit in the future they will become the #1 org. You gotta remember once fighters become paid(make good money) they want to challenge themselves vs the BEST and the ufc wont allow that EVER unless the person belongs to the ufc(see fedor vs couture ba-gillion posts)

by Khaos_warrior on Sep 11, 2008 12:52 AM EDT reply actions

you smoked more writing the second paragraph didn’t you?

by Ro-J on Sep 11, 2008 8:49 AM EDT up reply actions

LOL I agree!!

Khaos, Just because Affliction had a Good 1st and ONLY card it does not mean that they are always going to have good cards. I mean how many of their shows are we going to see the same fighters over and over and over again? Yes UFC has 3 GREAT fights on a card and a bunch of good fights. I AM SORRY BUT UFC WILL RULE ALWAYS. DOWN with AFFLICTION, LOL.

by Fokman on Sep 11, 2008 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions

I was wondering where my stash went. Curse you Khaos warrior

by dandeman on Sep 11, 2008 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions

UFC turned down HBO deal as they wanted to have owned all rights to the fights. UFC would have to give up allot to do the deal they were not in a desperate position to accept the deal. Affliction is desperato so if they get offered the deal I am sure they will jump at the chance , but who knows how this will affect their bottom line,,,, this will not help them succeed if they sell all their rights,, they need money coming in the door from past , current and future promotions to stay afloat.. just look at UFC airing all their past fights and able to own the catalog of them for that extra revenue … Smart vrs desperate .. T-shirt guy loses!!!

by Qmonster on Sep 11, 2008 12:57 AM EDT reply actions

the funny thing though is that when the UFC was rumored to have a deal with HBO everybody was busting a nut. Now that Affliction is supposedly having the same deal, everybody acts like this is their demise…

by linx on Sep 11, 2008 8:32 AM EDT up reply actions

SEE ELITE XC with Showtime!!! Struggling company took the 1st offer of a tv deal.

UFC doesnt need HBO it would have just made UFC that much bigger. Affliction NEEDS HBO to get exposure bc all they have is PPV. Thats the difference!

by Fokman on Sep 11, 2008 9:30 AM EDT up reply actions

Affliction will be in the crapper in the next year or so , All they have is the hw div,and only so many fighters , eventually,they will trickle out and go to the ufc,

by DBG on Sep 11, 2008 1:12 AM EDT reply actions

Well hopefully they won’t go away anytime sooncos I for one hated that I (along with millions of others) couldn’t get to see Fedor and at least they stepped up and made it happen.

Even though people say they are relying to much on Fedor to sell the cards I thought the last card was actually a very solid one and well worth the money people often shell out on some mediocre UFC PPV’s.

All in all I do believe they have the raw ingredients to make it happen and they actually came together in the first place to put fights on that people really wanted to see but I think the deciding factor will be them sorting out the business side of this potentially upcoming fight promotion that will make the difference in the long run, and we all know that took the UFC many years to get right so give them all a chance as more MMA makes me a happy man!

by Ca$z on Sep 11, 2008 5:30 AM EDT reply actions

I agree! Affliction has provided us with fights that the UFC could never deliver. Lets be honest, if Affliction folds, all its fighters wont just run to the UFC like Dana seems to be counting on. Most of the top affliction fighters would just migrate back over to Japan. Fedor does not need the American market or the UFC, he is a MEGA STAR in Japan, as is Barnett, Rogerio, Vitor and I am sure the Japanese will eat up Tim Sylvia with their love of Freakshows.

Thanks to Affliction for delivering fights that the UFC could never! Not enough of you fans appreciate that about Affliction.

by john on Sep 11, 2008 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions

this is one thing i just can’t understand anyone who is a fan of mma should love affliction and what they have done giving us more mma and even making the ufc better, i understand the ufc fans hating but not the people who claim to be fans of mma, as far as the ufc only fans keep watching and down the road you will probally love all things mma.

by roy on Sep 11, 2008 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions