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By Zach Arnold

Give Affliction VP Tom Atencio some credit. He put his money where his mouth is and ponied up the big cash to pay for some of the best heavyweights in the world. In the States, the heavyweights have always been the main marquee attraction in fighting. Bigger is better, right?

Atencio, along with front man Donald Trump, have made a big splash after one show by building a card that featured at least five of the world’s top heavyweights in MMA. While their Trump card (pardon the pun) is Fedor Emelianenko, the promotion is also blessed to have the charismatic Andrei Arlovski and well-spoken Josh Barnett under their umbrella as well. In one single MMA show, Affliction did a better job establishing their heavyweight division bonafides than UFC has in the past couple of years.

The idea on paper sounds solid. Build it and they will come. Get the best fighters in the world and hope that those fighters can carry the day for you. It’s the old fighters vs. brand argument. Plus, run shows quarterly as opposed to every single month and perhaps you have a fighting chance against the MMA behemoth known as UFC.

The problem, however, for Affliction is momentum and money.

The budget on paper is ambitious. The fighter payouts after the first show were enormous and blew away anything UFC has ever offered on a static payscale. Tim Sylvia was paid over $800,000 USD for getting destroyed in 36 seconds, or about $20,000 USD/second in his loss to Fedor. Who wouldn’t take that kind of payday? Sylvia won’t have to worry so much about his retirement, after all. Yet for all of the money that Affliction paid out to their fighters, now we have keyboard warriors who are complaining about the promoters paying out too much cash. These same critics are the ones who whine and complain that UFC doesn’t pay their fighters enough money.

You can’t have it both ways.

With that said, the critics have a point. Compared to other MMA promotions (including the ghost of PRIDE and K-1), the payouts by Affliction to their fighters on the debut show blow away salary figures seen elsewhere. The question remains: how much is too much?

The media has been asking Mr. Atencio non-stop about the company’s finances. When you have to spend as much time talking about your show’s payroll as you talking about the show quality itself, it becomes a double-edged sword. If people aren’t complaining about the fight quality on the show, then it’s something else (in this case, money spent).

There is a fair question to ask Mr. Atencio, however. Is the price tag for Affliction getting into the MMA promoting business too high?

One of the interesting x-factors to take a look for the rest of this calendar year is to see whether or not merchandise sales skyrocket for Affliction gear. As the company’s brand name becomes more synonymous with the fight business in the eyes of your casual American fight fan, will Affliction gain brand power in a unique way that UFC can’t combat?

We know all about UFC’s strong brand name. That brand name delivered big time for Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin on the 19th when the live Spike TV telecast drew a 2.1 cable rating. People believe UFC is king and are willing to accept what the company is marketing. Pretty impressive branding on Zuffa’s part. However, Affliction is going about the branding game a different way and the avenue that they are using to accomplish this brand expansion is backwards to what UFC is all about.

The question is whether or not Affliction can afford the high price tag that comes along with this expansion of their company’s name. Their first event was more successful than other MMA start-ups that we’ve seen over the years, but can the company withstand the financial onslaught that UFC is going to unleash on them over a long period of time?

Can Affliction make up money that they may loss at live events through extra merchandise sales?

Can Affliction successfully turn a profit on a show without having to rely on a 40% cut of PPV receipts?

Can Affliction pull off a free-to-air broadcast television deal to give them the kind of exposure that Elite XC has?

It’s a high-stakes game of poker that Tom Atencio is playing. The odds are against him, but he seems to have a big-enough bankroll to hang around for a long time. Even rich people get tired of losing money quickly, so all eyes are on Affliction to see if they can minimize their future financial risks in the promoting game.

He just better pray that having Fedor as his company’s ‘ace’ doesn’t bankrupt him like it has for RINGS, PRIDE, BodogFight, and other countless shows (Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye, Yarennoka, etc.) It’s amazing that as scary as Fedor’s track record is in the ring, his track record of working for promotions that have shut down in dramatic fashion is just as eye-opening.