In the last couple of days rumors have surfaced on the Internet that Affliction Entertainment is considering staging their third, and in some reports, their last event on July 11th, which is the same night as UFC 100.
Affliction COO Michael D. Cohen, in an interview with Versus.com, denies that Affliction is looking to put on a third and final show up against the UFC before calling it quits, and sets the record straight, sort of.
Cohen explained, “Right now, nothing is signed. We are exploring several different dates including that July 11th date. There’s so much that has to go into deciding what date that third event is going to take place on.”
Cohen denies wanting to go head-to-head with the UFC, “I don’t think we are ever looking to go up against the UFC or anyone for that matter. We are certainly not looking to share the viewers or the audience that is out there. We would like a date to ourselves because, at the end of the day, we want the greatest number of people to be watching.”
When asked if Affliction’s third event would be their last, Cohen said, “It’s absolutely untrue! The Trump involvement has really elevated Trump’s Affliction to becoming a real contender in this sport. Trump’s Affliction Entertainment is going nowhere except to the top, and the company will continue throughout 2009 and well into 2010. It’s here. It’s here to stay.”
The Affliction executive also claims that their second, and most recent show, ‘Day of Reckoning’ did “somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 pay-per-view buys,” which if true, would make it the highest selling MMA PPV ever, outside of UFC.
Cohen would not, however, confirm or deny rumors that Affliction has approached fighters and asked them to restructure their contracts in order to compete.
When asked whether or not Affliction has asked fighters to take a mandatory pay cut, he explains,”You have to look to see what’s going on in the world right now. We want to be able to make the event affordable to the viewers and those who are going to be in attendance. Obviously Affliction needs to make money in order to keep the engine going.”
Cohen also noted that Affliction has already secured a venue for it’s third event, but would not reveal the name or any further details.
By: Jeff Howard