GOLDEN BOY OSCAR DE LA HOYA READY FOR MMA (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=8012&zoneid=2)

“Just for the press, don't get any ideas, I'm not becoming an MMA fighter,” assured Oscar De La Hoya as he rose to the Affliction podium on Wednesday at the Sunset Strip's House of Blues.

The fighters of Saturday’s “Day of Reckoning” rode shotgun with the 10-time world champion as he and Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio heralded their new partnership.

“We are involved because it is the biggest event in MMA, probably in history,” De La Hoya said. “We figured what better way to get involved in MMA than with this fight right here.”

The CEO and figurehead of Golden Boy Promotions spoke of applying his company’s model to the fledgling MMA promotion.

“In a short period of time, we have become the premier boxing promoter in the world,” he continued. “That same business model that we have, we want to bring it over to MMA. We want to grow the sport and we feel that real competition doesn't hurt anyone.”

De La Hoya’s initial reservations about a partnership, evidenced by his company’s withdrawal from plans to co-promote with Affliction in early 2008, were quieted by the success of “Banned,” Affliction’s first MMA venture.

“We wanted to have that indication and see how Affliction does,” De La Hoya explained to MMAWeekly.com. “They’ve been very successful; they really want to push the MMA in a major way, they want to be a major player in the promoting business. Now that we saw what they are capable of doing, now we can come in and bring our expertise into this venture and really grow the sport… and take it to the next level.

“We like to be involved with big fights. Fedor and Arlovski, I don’t think it gets any bigger than this.”

De La Hoya downplayed conflict with his company’s other event, a welterweight boxing clash between “Sugar” Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito, set to take place on the same evening as “Reckoning.”

“We obviously sat down and talked about it,” he said. “We talked about it with Affliction, with talked about it with Showtime pay-per-view, we talked about it with HBO. We strongly believe that it’s a whole different audience. Both shows will be sold out, there’s no doubt about that. We just felt that it’s not going to hurt anyone.”

De La Hoya said the success of “Reckoning” would determine the future of the partnership with Affliction, but saw a bright future for his company’s involvement in the sport. When the partnership sees its public unveiling on Saturday, De La Hoya will be ringside, according to Atencio.

“I believe it’s a bright one,” he said. “I believe there’s no looking back. I believe the MMA world is growing at a rapid pace. Obviously, UFC has been doing a tremendous job. We commend them for that, because the business model they have is a tremendous one. But I’ve always said in everything, it doesn’t hurt to have a little competition, and we felt there’s a tremendous opportunity for us to not only get involved, but really be a major player.”

The quote I highlighted pretty much sums up why I think Goldenboy trying their hand at promoting these events is not looking good. If he seriously thinks that this is historical event in MMA then he's in it for the possibility of lining his own pockets much like he does in boxing. Newsflash Oscar, the biggest event this month and possibly this history is gonna happen a week later in Las Vegas.

GOLDEN BOY OSCAR DE LA HOYA READY FOR MMA (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=8012&zoneid=2)



The quote I highlighted pretty much sums up why I think Goldenboy trying their hand at promoting these events is not looking good. If he seriously thinks that this is historical event in MMA then he's in it for the possibility of lining his own pockets much like he does in boxing. Newsflash Oscar, the biggest event this month and possibly this history is gonna happen a week later in Las Vegas.



totally spot on yet again mate. I aint happy with GoldenBoy coming into MMA I reckon they are gonna put it back 5years.

GOLDEN BOY OSCAR DE LA HOYA READY FOR MMA (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=8012&zoneid=2)



The quote I highlighted pretty much sums up why I think Goldenboy trying their hand at promoting these events is not looking good. If he seriously thinks that this is historical event in MMA then he's in it for the possibility of lining his own pockets much like he does in boxing. Newsflash Oscar, the biggest event this month and possibly this history is gonna happen a week later in Las Vegas.

Uh.......that's what promoters do, hype up everything they get into.....man you need to learn a little something about the business side of the sport.

Exactly ya need to get of the UFC's nuts, there cant be more competition besides UFC and a bunch of currupt Japan organizations? GSP/Penn two is gonna be sick but not the biggest in history, it'll be forgotten just like their first fight especially is GSP wins and fights Anderson Silva

Uh.......that's what promoters do, hype up everything they get into.....man you need to learn a little something about the business side of the sport.

Well duh, way to state the obvious, i guess your an old hand at the business of MMA. It wasn't a slur on his promotional skills. The guy's a proven commodity in boxing both in and out of the ring. It's an opinion with regards to his attempts at glorifying a fight which he has given the title of being historical when he has no basis for why that would be the case. And in all honesty isn't going to be a historical moment unless Arlovski blows Fedor out and even if that is the case how many people will actually get to see it and want to see the next one. That's the problem I have with him because he doesn't seem to want to invest in the long term if this shows numbers aren't impressive which in turn leads me to believe that he could care less. I mean in all honesty do you think that the casual fan is gonna buy into DLH hype for this fight just because he says so. Plus he hasn't done anything near to what he does for his boxing events in terms of hyping it up and just seems content to say whatever he can to hype it without knowing much about the sport at all. And even with the hype it won't do the type of numbers that DLH will be used to seeing which will probably mean that he'll take his money and run.

Exactly ya need to get of the UFC's nuts, there cant be more competition besides UFC and a bunch of currupt Japan organizations? GSP/Penn two is gonna be sick but not the biggest in history, it'll be forgotten just like their first fight especially is GSP wins and fights Anderson Silva

No there should be more competition but quite frankly after the Gary Shaw episodes I'm not too keen on boxing promoters trying their hand at this sport. It's not nuthugging by any stretch. I appreciate the UFC both on quality and consistency of shows no more no less. And 9 times out of 10 they deliver IMO which for me is great because I don't feel cheated out of spending money to see them like I have with alot of boxing cards. Plus they do great things for their fighters as far as exposure goes. I mean the pay is probably an issue with some people but the sponsorhip deals, acting jobs television show appearances, autograph signings and so on all give them easy money. I mean Rich Franklin alone made a ton of cash from sponsorship deals last year, and gets no less than 10 grand for appearances outside of UFC broadcasting. I an't imagine what guys like Chuck or Randy get. But even I know they need some competition from somewhere. DREAM, WVR are good an all but it things like M1 and HDNet fights are great for the sport simply because they have guys behind it who are willing to invest, are business savvy so they stay in control of finances and although are in competition with the UFC they don't focus on trying to outdo them rather they look to build their brand and showcase fighters that people have yet to see. I mean HDNet finally gave Erik Paulson some national exposure on their first show which was great. It may have been years too late for him to build a good career off of but it was great to see nevertheless when you know how many guys he has helped over the years. And on M1 you get to see some of the best European fighters out there. I mean they finally showcased Stefan Struve who is one of my favourite fighters and one of the best unknown heavyweights in Europe. Hell the IFL was great it was just a bunch of idiots running it eventually running it into the ground. But it still showcased great cards with relatively unknown commodities as well as having a superfight to top the bill.

That's the type of competition the sport needs, not a company that is being built around one fighter (Fedor) and a bunch of guys who the casual fan see as "UFC rejects". Why have a top heavy card full of these fights when you could build around them more by spreading the fights over a succession of shows and then stack the cards with up and coming talent that people are yet to see? It baffles me because it seems as if their focusing their energy's on trying to outdo the UFC rather than just put on good shows and create their own niche by spotlighting their fighters more instead of their brand, because if they do that then the brand builds itself by becoming synonymous with the fighters they promote.

That's the type of competition the sport needs, not a company that is being built around one fighter (Fedor) and a bunch of guys who the casual fan see as "UFC rejects". Why have a top heavy card full of these fights when you could build around them more by spreading the fights over a succession of shows and then stack the cards with up and coming talent that people are yet to see? It baffles me because it seems as if their focusing their energy's on trying to outdo the UFC rather than just put on good shows and create their own niche by spotlighting their fighters more instead of their brand, because if they do that then the brand builds itself by becoming synonymous with the fighters they promote.

Every corporation/team at one time builds around one person. Look at football teams. Cowboys, Tony Romo. Steelers, Troy Polamalu. Colts, Peyton Manning. Boxing, Manny Pacquiao. K1, Ernesto Hoost/Remy Bonjasky. UFC, Royce Gracie and later Tito Ortiz/Shamrock. These people are usually the highest rated/undefeated/No.1 P4P. In Affliction's case, it just happens to be Fedor and their other Heavyweights.

You surely know this, it's best to not make assumptions and just see how it rides out.

Every corporation/team at one time builds around one person. Look at football teams. Cowboys, Tony Romo. Steelers, Troy Polamalu. Colts, Peyton Manning. Boxing, Manny Pacquiao. K1, Ernesto Hoost/Remy Bonjasky. UFC, Royce Gracie and later Tito Ortiz/Shamrock. These people are usually the highest rated/undefeated/No.1 P4P. In Affliction's case, it just happens to be Fedor and their other Heavyweights.

You surely know this, it's best to not make assumptions and just see how it rides out.

Hey fair game who am I to tell them how to do business and although I am making some assumptions here I will be happy if the show succeeds for the fighter's sakes. But what I meant was that building the company around these guys and having them more or less fight on the same shows together doesn't pose much of a long term future IMO. I mean the good thing the UFC, under the Zuffa banner, was able to do is build stars consistently and by doing so they're able to put on more shows on a frequent basis and not have the same guys on the same shows all the time.

If they were to say have a tournament setup to jumpstart the promotion spread over shows featuring the heavyweights then they would probably generate interest in their shows more as well as setup future matchups which would have a headstart on hyping themselves because the fan watching already knows who is next on the list, which in turn could turn them into a longterm fan and a dedicted on at that. I mean the whole GP thing from Pride was fantastic because it showcased talent that might not have always gotten there chance to, it brought the best perfomances out of the fighters and with each show there was an air of anticipation because you never knew who was gonna win. Only thing I would change if Affliction were to do something of this kind would be to not have them fight twice in one night like they do in the finals.

Affliction have lucked out in they have the best HW in the world as well as the best fighter and they have a ton of HWs which makes the possbility of a tournament format possible. You can throw in new talent to go up against the seasoned players and some of those newbies are gonna get passed those guys which in turn creates another option for matchups. Plus if they were to do this with the other weight divisions it makes for exciting fights top to bottom without having a top heavy card. I mean it would be great for fighters from outside the US such as Korea, Japan, mainland Europe to come over and showcase their talents for a national US audience that have probably never heard of them. At least that way they can show that the sport of MMA is bigger than the UFC instead stacking the cards with former UFC talent that the casual fan would see as a castoff. Things like that if done correctly can lead to bigger paydays, more lucrative contracts, more bargaining power when it comes to fights and basically bust the whole business open to where it becomes a level playing field and not a monopoly.

Affliction has done nothing but try to put on an entertaining show, I can understand if they were puttin trash like Elite XC but they have quality fights.

And it doesnt matter who promotes MMA as long as they do it well. Oscar is a boxer, Dana is a failed boxer, Zuffa are a bunch of casino owners. As long as you get the job done.

Oh fuk Gary Shaw, as a boxing fan I just felt the need to say that

EliteXC wasn't a bad company in terms of talent outside of the Kimbo circle. It was the fact that they put the no talent at the top of the bill against no talents when they could've been putting more emphasis behind someone like Jake Shields or Robbie Lawler instead of Kimbo and Gina's breasts. . erm I mean fights.

And your right it doesn't matter who promotes, but they have to know how to do it. Fact is their two different sports with two different audiences. If Oscar can bring some crossover, more power to him and Affliction. But bringing them over and having them stay around is another thing. They barely made any revenue from PPV buys (it topped out at around 45k according to Meltzer) the last time with a huge card so really as far as promoting went I'd say that's a loss for the company but a win for the fghters since they got some big pay for it. Right now MMA is not a profitable business but the UFC is, sad but true. And when the UFC are churning out monthly PPVs and free Fight Nights on a regular basis it's gonna be difficult for Affliction or any upstart for that matter to keep their name out there if they have a 6 month gap in between shows like this and the first one.

Thats why it's a good idea for them to spread out the marquee players they have in the HW division over a number of shows and back it up with stellar undercards that feature new talent or unseen talent, that way you can build stars which in turn help keep the company alive. It's all good for us because we get to see so many good fights on the card but from a business perspective Oscar is gonna wanna see a return off of this show that is good enough to keep him interested and get him to hopefully pump a bit of cash into company and hell he might even be able to convince HBO to sart showing MMA which would be a great step for MMA in general.

Oh fuk Gary Shaw, as a boxing fan I just felt the need to say that

Amen to that.

totally spot on yet again mate. I aint happy with GoldenBoy coming into MMA I reckon they are gonna put it back 5years.

Surely more money and publicity for the sport are only good things?

wait people actually think this affliction card is good??? the only fight im interested in seeing is Fedor vs Arlovski because i think Arlovski has a good chance of KO'ing the God Of MMA :rolleyes: