Atencio on Couture Re-Signing

[snakerattle79]

http://www.mmarated.com/blogs/blog/2...e_ufc-635.html

Since the news broke that Randy Couture was returning to the UFC all I could think of was how does Affliction's Tom Atencio feel about this? After all, one half of his dream match was now headed back to the competition.

I caught up with Atencio earlier today to briefly ask him about the Couture situation and, not surprisingly, he took it all in stride.

"Randy needs to do what he needs to do to handle his problems," Atencio said. "I'm happy for him."

Atencio later added that he doesn't feel Affliction lost the Fedor vs. Couture dream match because Couture never had a fight contract with his promotion.

"I think the biggest problem is people assume everything," Atencio said. "The bottom line is Randy is our partner with Xtreme Couture. Randy is sponsored by Affliction. He's been with us and we work with him. Randy needs to handle his legal problems with the UFC and he did so I am happy for him."

And what about Dana White's comments that Affliction wouldn't live to see January? Surely, that had to piss off Atencio, right? Think again.

"Dana has his right to his opinion and he is very open about it and that is completely fine," Atencio said calmly. "Since day one, I have always handled things this way. I don't need to bite my tongue because I don't need to talk s**t about people."

[neils7147933]

UFC's going to have a few "competitors" for a minute and there are going to be some good matchups outside the Octagon and Dana is naive if he doesn't acknowledge that......

[jakkups]

I doubt any of these other companies will last long. Plenty have done the same thing and failed. When it comes to the UFC its the tried and tested method. It is responsible for the growth of MMA more than any other company in North America and the world. People are creatures of habit and the casual fan that the UFC appeals to will always choose the UFC over any other promotion. Hell the fact that the UFC can give away MMA cards for free with great fights and still make more money than any other promotion is proof enough that they know how to do business.

[snakerattle79]

I doubt any of these other companies will last long. Plenty have done the same thing and failed. When it comes to the UFC its the tried and tested method. It is responsible for the growth of MMA more than any other company in North America and the world. People are creatures of habit and the casual fan that the UFC appeals to will always choose the UFC over any other promotion. Hell the fact that the UFC can give away MMA cards for free with great fights and still make more money than any other promotion is proof enough that they know how to do business.

MMA fans are tired of UFC monopoly, Dream Matches are doomed in that setup

[YUHHHHHHH!]

Affliction and DREAM FC are on the come-up.

IMO both DREAM FC and Affliction have more exciting fights than the UFC. I can turn on any DREAM event and be excited for even the no name fighters, because they have heart and honor. I only watch the UFC for a few choice fighters, the rest are College level wrestlers who sit on top of people for decisions.

Give DREAM and Affliction a few years to work out deals with each other and you will have a PRIDE FC-Like Super Promotion all around the world, especially since both companies aren't all about hording the best fighters and living in a fantasy world like Dana white.

PS: With Bas Rutten commentating, any company wins.

=X

[jakkups]

Dream and Affliction will never be as big as the UFC, the UFC has taken over the sport of MMA in a worldwide scale and is continuing to branch out to new areas. Fact is they constantly make new stars, constantly churn out PPV after PPV as well as free Fight Nights and other shows.

MMA fans (or should I say PRIDE and anti-UFC nuthuggers) in North America are sick of the monopoly but on a worldwide scale the UFC is very much new and fresh and exciting. You see the problem with North American companies like Affliction, EliteXC and Strikeforce is that they all want to be the UFC aka Top Dog, Numero Uno, etc in terms of the North American MMA market. They constantly make reference to fighters on their shows as Former UFC Champs, Veterans of UFC blah blah blah. Hell even when Jake Shields gave an interview after his most recent win he said he wanted the winner of GSP/Fitch. These companies are giving the UFC free promotion for christs sake instead of doing what the UFC is doing, which is concentrating on its own business, its own future and where they can go next. They don't have to compete against these companies because they are too far ahead of the game. Affliction barely pulled in 85K buys, whereas the UFC are pulling in a 400K average with some of the events such as UFC 83 and 86 pulling in over 500K and UFC 81 pulling in over 600K. If fans were getting tired of the UFC then the numbers are telling a different story.

[YUHHHHHHH!]

Dream and Affliction will never be as big as the UFC, the UFC has taken over the sport of MMA in a worldwide scale and is continuing to branch out to new areas. Fact is they constantly make new stars, constantly churn out PPV after PPV as well as free Fight Nights and other shows.

MMA fans (or should I say PRIDE and anti-UFC nuthuggers) in North America are sick of the monopoly but on a worldwide scale the UFC is very much new and fresh and exciting. You see the problem with North American companies like Affliction, EliteXC and Strikeforce is that they all want to be the UFC aka Top Dog, Numero Uno, etc in terms of the North American MMA market. They constantly make reference to fighters on their shows as Former UFC Champs, Veterans of UFC blah blah blah. Hell even when Jake Shields gave an interview after his most recent win he said he wanted the winner of GSP/Fitch. These companies are giving the UFC free promotion for christs sake instead of doing what the UFC is doing, which is concentrating on its own business, its own future and where they can go next. They don't have to compete against these companies because they are too far ahead of the game. Affliction barely pulled in 85K buys, whereas the UFC are pulling in a 400K average with some of the events such as UFC 83 and 86 pulling in over 500K and UFC 81 pulling in over 600K. If fans were getting tired of the UFC then the numbers are telling a different story.

That's a stupid statement, you can't bunch Affliction in the same category as EliteXC and Strikeforce. The caliber of fighters in Affliction alone sets them aside.

Affliction has shown interest in helping revamp the Heavyweight division in Japan's DREAM FC, hence their negotiations with Josh Barnett. The more humble the company is, the farther it will go.

And I would take Affliction's first card/any DREAM FC/PRIDE FC card over ANY UFC card to date. Don't call it nuthugging to have an educated opinion.

Fact is, PRIDE > UFC. Always and forever. Get over it.

[jakkups]

That's a stupid statement, you can't bunch Affliction in the same category as EliteXC and Strikeforce. The caliber of fighters in Affliction alone sets them aside.

Affliction has shown interest in helping revamp the Heavyweight division in Japan's DREAM FC, hence their negotiations with Josh Barnett. The more humble the company is, the farther it will go.

Wow, one division, thats really pushing it far. Even so, it won't get any where near the same attention on a global scale as the UFC does.

And I would take Affliction's first card/any DREAM FC/PRIDE FC card over ANY UFC card to date. Don't call it nuthugging to have an educated opinion.

I wouldn't say it was being educated at all, I would call it nuthugging pure and simple and your next statement proves it.

Fact is, PRIDE > UFC. Always and forever. Get over it.

Yeah really educated. PRIDE=DEAD pal, so cry me a river, I'll build the bridge and you can get the **** over it sweetheart. Facts don't lie. The UFC is more recognisable than any other promotion albeit whether or not they have in your opinion high caliber fighters which is bull**** in itself when you look at the fact that it has more ranked fighters than any other promotion. They have access to overseas events which they can run when they want and have a bigger reputation than any other promotion. Its not about nuthugging its looking at it in black and white.

[YUHHHHHHH!]

Wow, one division, thats really pushing it far. Even so, it won't get any where near the same attention on a global scale as the UFC does.



I wouldn't say it was being educated at all, I would call it nuthugging pure and simple and your next statement proves it.



Yeah really educated. PRIDE=DEAD pal, so cry me a river, I'll build the bridge and you can get the **** over it sweetheart. Facts don't lie. The UFC is more recognisable than any other promotion albeit whether or not they have in your opinion high caliber fighters which is bull**** in itself when you look at the fact that it has more ranked fighters than any other promotion. They have access to overseas events which they can run when they want and have a bigger reputation than any other promotion. Its not about nuthugging its looking at it in black and white.

I'm sorry, I thought that I said PRIDE > UFC. Which if you have been watching MMA from the beginning, you'd understand. PRIDE is the greatest company in the history of MMA, bar none.

You can make the stereotypical argument of "Blah blah lost in the UFC, the UFC has more current champs, etc." But the facts are, that the PRIDE era outsold UFC and if it was still running at it's peak today, it would STILL be outselling the UFC. It was more exciting, pediod. PRIDE was where UFC fighters dreamed of being, and when they competed there, they got destroyed.

I see things in black and white, so rather than just assuming that others don't see things in black and white, I suggest you learn your standings and statistics. To make the argument that the UFC is the leading company now is valid, but to say that it is the greatest promotion and most recognized World Wide is an opinion. The heavyweight division in the UFC is weak outside of 5 competitors. How about you look at Affliction's fighters, since we're comparing divisions apparently.

PS: I'm glad your way of making an educated statement has to involve swear words. When you evolve and step out of the cave I'll give you the time of day.

[jakkups]

I'm sorry, I thought that I said PRIDE > UFC. Which if you have been watching MMA from the beginning, you'd understand. PRIDE is the greatest company in the history of MMA, bar none.

You can make the stereotypical argument of "Blah blah lost in the UFC, the UFC has more current champs, etc." But the facts are, that the PRIDE era outsold UFC and if it was still running at it's peak today, it would STILL be outselling the UFC. It was more exciting, pediod. PRIDE was where UFC fighters dreamed of being, and when they competed there, they got destroyed.

I see things in black and white, so rather than just assuming that others don't see things in black and white, I suggest you learn your standings and statistics. To make the argument that the UFC is the leading company now is valid, but to say that it is the greatest promotion and most recognized World Wide is an opinion. The heavyweight division in the UFC is weak outside of 5 competitors. How about you look at Affliction's fighters, since we're comparing divisions apparently.

PS: I'm glad your way of making an educated statement has to involve swear words. When you evolve and step out of the cave I'll give you the time of day.

Error 1, I never said the UFC was the greatest company in the world and if you read what I had written you would see that I was merely stating the obvious fact that on a worldwide scale it is the most recognisable MMA promotion. More people, I don't mean MMA fans, would associate the sport of MMA with "cagefighting" or the UFC, very few would associate it with PRIDE or any of the modern day promotions that have come along in the last couple of years. That in itself is proof enough that the UFC is the most recognisable exponent of MMA in the world, not the best or the greatest just the most well-known.

Error 2, PRIDE never outsold the UFC. If you look at PPV buyrates you will see that the UFC has at one point outsold not only every other MMA promotion across the board, but alone outsold Boxing for an entire year and generated more cash in the process. In fact the only times PRIDE ever did a show in the USA both shows were epic failures for the company in terms of money and buyrates respectively barely cracking 200K buys combined. And both cards were stacked with great matches and star power yet couldn't pull in the numbers. And quite frankly saying theat IF PRIDE were still about it would be outselling the UFC is neither here nor there. Fact is they aren't around and that was because they couldn't sell enough of their product.

Error 3, I never made any argument for "this fighter lost in the UFC" etc. Sure some UFC guys lost there but plenty of the so called PRIDE guys were UFC guys, Coleman, Barnett, Randleman, Baroni, Shamrock, etc and all of them had success. And PRIDE guys that came over to the UFC haven't exactly made the dent that was prophesised by so many PRIDE nuthuggers. But either way where they fought or who they fought for was and is irrelevant. Fact is fighters have nothing to do with this argument nor does where a fighter decides to perform have any bearing on whether or not the fighter is great or not because a great fighter can fight anywhere, anytime and still pull out the win. This is about the promotions and the competition that these promotions are trying to create not the fighters and who can beat who.

Error 4, you assume that I have only been watching the UFC and have no clue about PRIDE or its history. You are sadly wrong. I remember PRIDE from its humble beginnings watching the great Rickson Gracie take on pro wrestler Nobuhiko Takada all the way through to the rise of Saku, the dominance of Wanderlei, the coming of Fedor to the rise of Gomi through to its last breath at PRIDE 34. Many MMA fans are mad that the UFC swallowed PRIDE and buried it but quite frankly PRIDE was no different when it started all the way back in 97. It swallowed up RINGS and took all of its fighters from under Maedas nose and created their own company. At least with the UFC and most notably the Zuffa era of the UFC, built its own stars and built its own following off of the back of its own talent and fought tooth and nail to get the regulations, sanctioning and testing in order to help the sport grow in your country and round the world.

Error 5, never compared divisions. You brought up the issue of revamping the Heavyweight division and quite frankly it is again pointless. I was merely pointing out that if it is a case of having proven and ranked fighters across the board the UFC wins hands down. But if that is the case then lets compare.

UFC HW and Affliction HW
UFC
-Randy Couture
-Gabriel Gonzaga
-Fabricio Werdum
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
-Frank Mir

Affliction
-Josh Barnett
-Tim Sylvia
-Andrei Arlovski
-Fedor Emelianenko
-Ben Rothwell

UFC LHW vs Affliction LHW
UFC
-Forrest Griffin
-Quinton Jackson
-Chuck Liddell
-Wanderlei Silva
-Lyoto Machida
-Mauricio Rua
-Sokoudjou
-Thiago Silva
-Keith Jardine

Affliction
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

UFC MW and Affliction MW
UFC
-Anderson Silva
-Dan Henderson
-Rich Franklin
-Yushin Okami
-Nate Marquardt

Affliction
-Matt lindland

UFC WW and Affliction WW
UFC
-GSP
-Matt Serra
-Matt Hughes
-Jon Fitch
-Josh Koscheck
-Diego Sanchez
-Thiago Alves
-Karo Parisyan

Affliction
None

UFC LW and Affliction LW
UFC
-BJ Penn
-Sean Sherk

Affliction
None

Now where Affliction may have the more competitive HW division as it stands. The impending HW tourney in the UFC has the chance to not only mixed up the rankings further but give fresher matchups and up and comers such as Cain Velasquez a chance and vets like Mark coleman a chance to get in the mix. Not to mention Kongo still needing a marquee matchup. Affliction is going to have to rely on the same group of fighters going at it which really doesn't have a good outcome in the long term other than the fighters getting nice paychecks and the promotion itself losing money.

Now seeing things in black and white which I am is looking at it objectively without any allegiance of which I have none other than to the fighters themselves. And what I see is a bright future for the UFC and a not so bright one for Affliction. Sure they'll have a few good cards to begin with but after that where to next. It seems long term there is nothing to look forward to as a promotion that is able to compete on the same scale as the UFC and be a successful financially and consistency.

And just a note, less of the self-righteous "I don't have to swear therefore I am more educated" bull please, it doesn't suit you.