Here at PRO MMA we already linked you up with the Tom Atencio Fox News interview. As delusional as Atencio sounded during the video the highlight has to be when he tries to sell fans on the match up between Gilbert Yvel and Josh Barnett. When asked why American fans should care about the fight he said the following:

“I don’t know if the American fans are. I think that the uh….the hardcore fans definitely should be. Uh Gilbert comes out and Gilbert throws you know….he’s…he’s been he’s knocked out quite a few guys. He can be the bad boy for sure, there’s a lot of talk about that. But you know I think it’s almost one of those things it’s good vs. evil you know? Josh Barnett’s the All-American guy you know he’s got that superhero look, he’s well spoken, and you know Gilbert, Gilbert comes out and fights. There is a lot talk about he is a dirty fighter and this and that….he’s got all the tattoos and everything else…he looks the part too. But nonetheless, Gilbert’s a tough, tough guy.”


So let me get this straight, hardcore fans should be excited because Gilbert Yvel looks like a bad guy and Barnett looks like a superhero? That doesn’t really make much sense to me. On one level I would hope that hardcore fans get excited about fights for things besides looks. On another level is Atencio really trying to promote Yvel’s history of bad acts?

Let’s run down the list
5/23/1998 – Yvel was disqualified for literally taking a bite out of Karimula Barkalaev
2/26/2000 – He landed a deliberate elbow to the back of Dan Henderson’s head
9/24/2004 – Once again he was disqualified, this time for continually gouging Don Frye’s eyes
11/13/2004 – A day that will live in youtube infamy forever. Yvel decided it would be best to knock out the referee.

This history resulted in Yvel not receiving a license to fight in Nevada in 2007. California has been known to be a rather strict commission, so this fight may not even happen. Not only did Affliction replace an undefeated up and coming fighter, Brett Rogers, with a relatively unknown veteran, but they also made a fight that very well might be cancelled by the commission.

Even if the commission lets the fight happen, most MMA fans would have to hope that the sport is past using the “bad guy” angle to hype up a fight. It is a shame that a fight like this is bringing negative attention to an otherwise superb Affliction card.

4 thoughts on “Fans might not be the only people who have a problem with Yvel vs. Barnett”
  1. I highly doubt the CSAC will give Gilbert a license to fight, especially since Nevada denied him one for Pride 33. Nobody wants to see this fight, but Affliction does need to get an opponent for Josh, as they have promised. Josh has been waiting patiently for a chance to fight Fedor and hasnt had any real competition in quite some time. Affliction may be on their last legs if they cant pull some magic out of their hats for the january event.

  2. Don’t forget that Barnett spends much of his time (both in MMA and pro wrestling) in Japan–this could be a match that was put together for the consumption of the fans there. Yvel is well known in Japan–much better known, in fact, than Rogers.

    At some point it would seem that the relevant state athletic commissions would give Yvel another shot–not saying that he deserves one now or not, but precedent suggests that at some point it happens.

    Here’s my take on the whole thing–Affliction’s ticket and PPV sales will be determined by how well the promote the main event. If they can put together what is considered to be a compelling undercard as a whole, that helps. I’m not sure that there would be a marginal difference in marketability between a Barnett fight vs. Yvel and one vs. Rogers.

    On the other hand, the Barnett/Yvel match could make the event more compelling to the Japanese media. If they’re seen as a “big deal” in Japan it could open some opportunities down the road there both for their core business of selling t-shirts and their ancillary one of promoting MMA.

    Granted I’m a “fight geek” and not the sort of casual fan they need to reach to make the event successful, but the Barnett/Yvel fight is much more intriguing to me than Barnett/Rogers.

  3. To be honest, though, neither Rogers or Yvel vs Barnett is a viable or competitive PPV fight. Barnett is ranked in the top 5 on every HW list, usually at number 3! Fighting either one of the non top 10 HW’s shows me, or any fan, anything worth paying for.

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