UFC vs. Affliction
It’s truly a very competitive market out there, and that market I am referring to is the MMA, or Mixed Martial Arts. Due the demand of solid fighting entertainment, many companies have tried venturing into this arena. Many failed, and only a few managed to climb to the top. Two names surface however, and they are the companies UFC and Affliction. Comparing the difference between the two, is like comparing the two older main wrestling domains ‘“ the WWF and WCW.
Foremost, the UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, is one of those promotional companies that managed to claim a big chunk of the MMA global market. In fact, it may be the company that can brag to have actually grabbed the monopoly of this particular market. It has already been involved in the MMA business for many years. Hence, it is the older and bigger promotional company when compared to Affliction.
What started as a fashion line apparel company that sponsored the UFC, Affliction has now branched out as an independent promotional company on the same footing as UFC. It originally had its headquarters in Signal Hill.
Affliction showed that it can compete with UFC by sponsoring a highly acclaimed match between two of the biggest names in the MMA heavyweight category, namely, Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia (former UFC champion). The said match was named ‘Banned,’ a pay per view extravaganza staged at Anaheim Honda Center, in 2008. To further its goals, Affliction even sought help from business giant Donald Trump to be the major shareholder of the company for the purpose of gaining more funds. As a result, Affliction managed to get one of UFC’s former premiere referees, John McCarthy.
Competing with the UFC in the MMA market, Affliction managed to grab some of UFC’s best fighters. It’s not yet disclosed if it’s really due to a ‘higher’ pay, or the bad business present in UFC, which made some of the fighters transfer to the Affliction arena, but what’s known, is that no one can actually say that Affliction has lousy fighters compared to UFC. If you claim such a biased and unproven statement, perhaps you don’t watch that much MMA entertainment.
The obvious differences between the two, nevertheless, are seen in some other aspects. Firstly, the ring design used by UFC is obviously the very popular caged structure, whereas, in the newer Affliction ring, they really use a ring and not a cage. In terms of the announcers, both promotional companies make use of the Buffer brothers. Affliction has Michael, whereas UFC takes price on Bruce Buffer.
Overall,
1. UFC is the older promotional MMA company compared to the more recent Affliction company.
2. UFC makes use of a cage, whereas Affliction stages its fights inside a ring.