Dude last nite was probably one of the biggest in the sports history and your hating over a ring? Come on, in Japan the ring is the standard, where the sport is much much bigger than it is here. You're clearly a UFC mark, just preface anything you write next time with that. It was their first ever show! You have to give them credit that the lights didnt go out or anything

Easy there Eric. I tend to agree that the ring has outlived its usefulness. A fighting surface with corners isn't ideal... Throw that out with the boxing scoring system...

I totally give Affliction props for the quality of the fights they put on, especially since it was their first event. The ring, the commentating, and the Megadeth concert thrown in the mix, however, left much to be desired. I'm sure they'll improve with the next show, so please don't label and hate on me before you even understand where I'm really coming from Eric. I'm not a 'UFC' mark as you claim and I will definitely buy the next Affliction card desperately hoping this event was a financial success so they'll have one. There is no doubt in my mind though that the UFC is definitely the most polished promotion in MMA and by a long shot. Keep in mind that's not taking into account the actual fights/talent, just the fillers around them...

I don't like the ring either only because it can lead to delays if the fighters get tangled up in it and I like the way certain fighters tend to use the cage to their advantage ala Randy Couture. The show was very good although the production and the commentating left a lot to be desired but it was their first show they have to learn from their mistakes.

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I'm glad you brought up that point Lev. Shoudl one surface curtail an entire strategy ala Randy Couture? If Affliction continues to use a ring and eventually gets Fedor to fight Randy, how big of a disadvantage will Randy be at?
Its not like anyone doesn't grab the cage like they would ropes, there are problems with all. I guess I like the action in a ring back from the days of PRIDE and the IFL. Plus its a little better to watch a fight live in a ring than a cage IMO.

I agree both of them have their pro's and cons, but a lot of us are kind of conditioned to watching MMA in a cage it's almost like it's embedded in our brain that if the fight isn't in a cage it isn't as good as it should be and we all know that is not fair to the participants in the fight. I just like watching guys on the bottom use the cage to help their positions and I love watching Couture use his dirty boxing when he as another fighter up against a cage. I haven't had all that much experience watching MMA in a ring so it's still kind of new to me, I just hope that Affliction isn't holding their fights in a ring just to placate Fedor, although his skills would translate onto any surface, arena or dwelling for that matter.

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Just from my personal experience, I prefer watching live fights in a ring. It's much easier to see the action and feels like you are closer and more connected to the fight. However, I think the cage just works better for TV. Just my opinion...

Certain styles work much better for cage, and others for ring. AA's style last night againt Rothwell was great for AA because he used the angles very well to cut off Rothwell and put him in a corner a couple of times. I think the ring actually gets action going a little better because in the cage a lot of the fighting happens AGAINST the cage pinned (either standing or on the ground). Sure there are more re-starts in a ring, but there is equally as much leaning against the cage either standing or on the ground slowing the action (without a re-start, but still stalling the action). In the end, I dont think ring v. cage would change the outcome of 98% of the fights. Anderson Silva would have destroyed Silva if that fight were in a ring... just like Fedor would have gone ape-S on Timmy if that fight had gone down in a cage.

I think it boils down to what more Americans want to see the fight take place in... and since most Americans watch fights on TV, they really should switch to a cage.

Finally you mentioned that if it were not for the "stunning performances of Nogueira, Barnett, Arlovski, and finally Fedor, I would've switched the DVR over to the UFC right right then and there"... that was 4 of the 6 fights!?!?! I even enjoyed the Lindland/Negao fight more than I did Franca/Edgar... and that was the UFC 'Fight of the Night'. Affliction was not up to par with the UFC in terms of TV production, but at the end of the day, the more entertaining and interesting fights for me were on Affliction last night... and that's what I care about most.

Well said Sixtus, I hadn't really considered how AA was using the ring to his advantage, and I must agree with you that a ring is preferred if you're going to watch MMA live. I just got pretty sick of watching certain fighters falling out of the ring over and over again or using unearned resets to their advantage. All in all it was a pretty damn good show because as you pointed out I didn't have a problem with 4 out of 6 of the fights.

Babalu, Lindland and a couple others were annoying to watch taking thier time to restart.

BTW - I noticed a typo... I said Silva destroying Silva regardless of ring or cage... obviously I meant Silva destroying Irvin.

Anecdotally from just my personal observations watching with my friends last night... the worst thing that Affliction didnt do was tell stories well. With the production so uncomfortable and the team not flowing so well, it was hard to buy in to any of the story lines... ESPECIALLY without any footage. I am sure the UFC owns it all... but the footage they showed to hype the fighters was WEAK. None of my friends bought in to the fights with guys like Rothwell, Barnett/Rizzo and pretty much everyone thought Sylvia was going to destroy ol FedKo just because they never had head of him before.

I live in Ontario and will likely never get the opportunity to see an event live. And if the rules change here and I do get to go see a live event it would be once a year if I am lucky so why do I give a crap about the live audience. I watch as many of the PPV's and fights as I can on the tube and I prefer the cage hands down. I agree with Sanitys last comment aswell about unearned rests. I couldn't care less about traditional ring, Pride or IFL. I wanna see the best fighters perform at their best and the ring sucks for that. That being said Affliction put on a good show. Too bad they used up their entire roster in one PPV. I can't wait for Barnett/Fedor and Tim/Andrei 4.

I live in Ontario and will likely never get the opportunity to see an event live. And if the rules change here and I do get to go see a live event it would be once a year if I am lucky so why do I give a crap about the live audience. I watch as many of the PPV's and fights as I can on the tube and I prefer the cage hands down. I agree with Sanitys last comment aswell about unearned rests. I couldn't care less about traditional ring, Pride or IFL. I wanna see the best fighters perform at their best and the ring sucks for that. That being said Affliction put on a good show. Too bad they used up their entire roster in one PPV. I can't wait for Barnett/Fedor and Tim/Andrei 4.

I'm hopin thier next event is Fedor/Randy and Barnett/AA... they could all be ready for the next show as none of them had fights that I imagine they suffered injuries in... not to mention Babalu/Lil Nog... that would be one hell of a follow up...

Also interesting could be something like Tito movin to HW to fight one of those guys as well. Perhaps Tito/Rothwell? Tito/Aleks? Aleks/AA? Lots of good potential fights. You also have the UFC potentially buying the IFL... not all of the contracts could possibly be absorbed, so there are a number of quality guys that either the UFC will ahve to release from it's roster or they wont bring in from the IFL. MMA is HUGE right now... there is room for multiple promotions.

Too many promotions killed boxing and more recently Poker. Remember when you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting Daniel Negrano and Johnny Chan on the tube. Then before you knew it every network and thier mothers had a poker show. The Superstars faded away and you never hear of it anymore. You could call it a fad and that it was bound to go out anyway but at the time people were talking about Poker the same way we are talking about MMA right now. Too much product can kill it. Consider it a warning. MMA needs a single elite level. It needs an NFL, NHL, NBA or MLB. IT NEEDS IT. It also needs minor leagues to develop talent but those minor leagues need to know their role as minor leagues.

Agreed on that account Radial. I think that promotions like EliteXC are trivializing the sport. Even though they are bringing MMA to the masses, they're bringing a quality of show that relies more on gimmicks than true talent and competition. They're giving people the wrong first impression of what the sport is all about.

It's tough because I believe that fighters should have more choices and opportunities for themselves, but at the same time I definitely don't want MMA to go the way of boxing or poker. However, with the Affliction: Banned's success, it looks like there might finally be a promotion to rival the UFC and at the same time help the fighters get a bigger slice of the pie. Let's just hope it doesn't get as ridiculous as boxing though where the fighters demand to get paid so much you only see one fight on a card...

Sadly the UFC has more in common with the WWE in terms of how they are managed/operated than they do with the NFL.

As for Poker... Poker on TV IS/WAS a fad for the most part. It's a lot of fun, I love to play and occasionally enter tournaments myself, but I dont think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that there was anything beyond a very, very small narrow market for poker tv ratings.

I don't think that different promotions trivialize the sport, I think they make it better. The NFL, NBA, MLB work they way they do because there is competition among the owners/GMs/teams to be able to sign and compete for players/coaches. The UFC being the only competition is the equivelant of the Giants being the only team in the NFL and every couple months they hold selective tryouts to make the team and then they scrimmage themselves and we pay to watch. Sure it would be a great football team, but without the other teams/owners competing for players and coaches, it could never grow to be the level it is today. Of course the final product of the talent, skill and charisma of the players is what we 'buy/consume' from the NFL, but without the competing owners/GMs fighting for players through Free Agency and working to create the right mix is what builds the sustainability and legacy of the sport. MMA will become boring and diluted if only ONE MAN controls everything... if there is a team that will not put up with Randy Moss's bulls---, there is another team that is willing to give it a whirl and as fans we benefit as a result... the same has to be true for MMA. Sure I may think the Pats are stupid for signing a primadonna guy like him and I love to rag on them for it, but what a different team did for him and ultimatly us as football fans.

Right now everyone has to always be on Dana White's good side otherwise they could end up out of the UFC even though they are a top level fighter deserving of top level competition like Barnett, Randy, AA, Sylvia, Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler and on and on. He is more like a manager of a team than he is a commissioner of a promotion. XC and Affliction are going to push the UFC to fight harder to get our PPV buys and help the sport continue to move forward.

Well-said. I was trying to explain this to someone the other day. A team sports league model doesn't work for MMA because an MMA promotion owns all the fighters. The only competition comes from other promotions... Fighters need multiple promotions to give them the same options that team sport athletes have...

I dont like the ring either. I never have. Guys fall through the ropes all the time. Then take their time to get back in or struggle to get untangled. Happened alot in the Babalu fight and he had the guillotine choke on twice real deep and it probably would have ended from that if they were in the octagon. Cant say for sure but it sure liked like it.

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ring sucks balls. so therfore i am a UFC mark just like erict wants me to be as well...

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Very good retort senior Sixtus. I can see your argument. Your analogy regarding the UFC being the Giants and holding tryouts doesn't work either. The Giants cannot put on a show by themselves. The Giants need another team. The UFC can and has been for years put on great shows with or without Affliction, Pride, IFL ect.