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When Affliction runs their debut event on July 19th headlined by Fedor Emelianenko against Tim Sylvia, the UFC is countering with UFC Ultimate Fight Night 14 on the same night headlined by Anderson Silva taking on James Irvin. When Elite XC presents Elite XC On CBS II on July 26th headlined by Robbie Lawler defending the Elite XC Middleweight Title against Scott Smith, the UFC is countering by re-airing the UFC 84: Ill Will pay-per-view on Spike TV headlined by UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn defending against Sean Sherk.
These are not the first times that the UFC has attempted to steal viewers from rival MMA promotions, as proven when Elite XC debuted on CBS in May Of 2008, the UFC countered with a UFC Unleashed featuring Chuck Liddell versus Wanderlei Silva from UFC 79 and the Ultimate Iceman documentary that was released on DVD a year earlier.
The UFC will always be remembered as the MMA promotion that gave rise to the MMA revolution a few years ago with the UFC Ultimate Fighter reality program and spectacular live events that followed after the start of the MMA boom. It isnʼt much of a secret that in the current period of MMA, that the UFC is the promotion in the number one position above every other promotion out there right now.
With that being said, is the UFC proving to be a smart promotion by countering the oppositions events or are they subconsciously admitting that the competition is starting to catch up to them?
Attempting to eliminate the competition is something that has been done between factions and companies for years, the WWE did it to WCW and ECW, the NBA did it to the ABA, the NFL did it to the AFL, and the UFC has already done it to PRIDE and World Fighting Alliance. The first attempt by the UFC to steal viewers from the Elite XC On CBS event seemingly failed because Elite XC drew record number ratings when it was all said and done.
Unlike the first attempt at running opposing programming, the UFCʼs next two competing programs will be a live event (UFC Ultimate Fight Night 14) to counter Affliction on July 19th and then a pay-per-view replay (UFC 84) to counter Elite XC On CBS II on July 26th. I firmly believe that the usage of a live event and replayed pay-per-view event to counter a live pay-per-view and live cable event shows that the UFC believes that Elite XC and Affliction could become promotions that are superior or on the same level the UFC is currently on in the MMA hierarchy.
This could be uncharted territory before for the UFC because they never had any true competitors that challenged them on a national level, although they did face some stiff competition internationally from PRIDE (based out of Japan) until the UFC eventually bought the fledgling organization after they made their stateside debut a few years to late.
Although UFC front man Dana White has publicly blasted Elite XC for bringing in street fighter Kimbo Slice amongst other things and is currently embroiled in a legal battle with estranged UFC Heavyweight Champion and Affliction aficionado Randy Couture, Dana White nor any other UFC official has shown any signs of fear about the competition being provided by Affliction and Elite XC.
However, the average person must be thinking that the UFC has to be fearing at least Affliction at this point, which can be proven in a way because the UFC is putting their middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a fight for free on Spike TV. This is UFC/Spike TV history in a way because this is the first time in UFC history that a current title holder is fighting in a non-UFC pay-per-view for free (although the Quinton Jackson/Dan Henderson UFC Light Heavyweight Title Fight was broadcast for free on Spike TV, it was a pay-per-view event outside of the United States).
Time will tell, especially after Elite XC On CBS II, Affliction and UFC Ultimate Fight Night 14 are all part of history, who will become the cream of the crop and who will go by the wayside. The next five to ten years of MMA superiority could all come down to three events that take place within a week in July.
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
