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“Holy crap, are you watching HDNet? There’s no one there.”
By Zach Arnold | January 24, 2009
The words from an MMA writer in regards to watching the Affliction undercard.
The phrases ‘plagued by empty seats’ and ‘There aren’t many fans here at this point, maybe 2,000 but it’s early’ are not uplifting.
Quote of the Night: “Merchant just said on the HBO boxing broadcast that ODLH was paid a fee to be at the Affliction fights tonight.”
Shane Mosley def. Antonio Margarito by TKO in R9 to win the WBA Welterweight crown. Here are the CompuBox stats. Affliction booked Vitor Belfort vs. Matt Lindland opposite of this fight on PPV.
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 55 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wow. What a night of fights.
Two of the combative arts best of the best put on virtuoso performances mere minutes apart, mere miles apart from one another. Great stuff, indeed!
Mosley proved again, beyond a doubt, that styles make fights. And that he is FAR from the “shot fighter” that so many folks called him coming into tonight’s bout off his so so showing against Mayorga.
I feel vindicated in that I was ridiculed when I called “Sugar” Shane by KO over Tony Margarito in the BoxRec forums earlier today ( where I post under the “Joe Kurtz” monicker ). Where I spelled out how I believed Mosley’s punches would effect Tony much differently than the heavy handed blows of Cintron & Cotto’s did ( or didn’t ) & I was proved right.
So, forgive my wee bit of a gloat here … LOL
Then came Fedor. Wow.
Based upon Arlovski’s skill set, especially with his hands, I really thought that he had a fair chance at pulling the upset.
And, he nearly did.
Andre was doing great …
Until he got hit.
Some will probably blame the outcome on the Belarussian’s chin or his bad choice of going for a high risk maneuver when he was pretty much dominating with his hands up to that point, but the fact is, Arlovski likely would have beaten ANY other heavyweight in the world tonight.
Just not Fedor.
The guy’s just THAT good.
Even under the worst circumstances, he stays totally calm under pressure, then capitalizes on the smallest opportunity to end matters in an instant.
Again, wow.
For anyone who EVER again complains about no one showing up in the beginning!
This is LA people! WE DONT show up early for our beloved Dodgers and Lakers, but we eventually get there. That is in no way proof of major papering, etc, although everyone does it to some degree.
Just watched the Mosely fight. To those who picked Mosely I take my hat off to you. I always knew Margarito was one dimensional but I thought he would be to much for Sugar Shane and break him down late. Mosely was terrific. Great body shots early on and unlike Cotto he didnt use so much energy hitting and then getting away.
Zach, I covered the event live, and while the portion shown on HD net was not that impressive, seat wise, when we got to the main card, it was pretty packed.
I was on the floor, so I didn’t have a great view of the whole stadium, but the side where I was sitting (opposite side of the ring from where fighters were making their entrances) was full by the Vitor/Lindland fight.
I agree with JStein….I was there live and the place was pretty packed by the main card. Since UFC’s popularity in the last few years, people have started to show up early enough to watch the undercards, but it wasn’t always like that. I remember being there at UFC 49, and when Yves Edwards delivered one of the best KO’s of all time to Josh Thompson, there were probably only a few thousand people there.