Total MMA Daily for 16 June 2008
Posted by Jonathan Snowden on 16th June 2008
Via the new Wrestling Observer website. Check it out.
Mr. White’s is a Familiar Act
When people say comparisons between pro wrestling and MMA don’t make any sense, keep things like this in mind: according to Sherdog, Dana White and the UFC will run a show on SPIKE TV on July 19th. This is the same day that Affliction debuts with a star studded card on PPV, featuring Tim Sylvia vs. Fedor Emelienko in the main event.
To long time wrestling fans, this will seem all too familiar. In 1987 Jim Crockett Promotions was excited to air their first PPV, Starcade 1987. They were less thrilled when Vince McMahon’s WWF offered a competing PPV on the same day. They were nearly in tears when McMahon informed cable companies they could either carry his show (a brand that had a track record of success) or Crockett’s untested show. You can imagine what happened.
The next January, McMahon upped the ante. When Crockett announced his second PPV, Bunkhouse Stampede, McMahon countered with a free special called the Royal Rumble on the USA Network. Crockett would get revenge by broadcasting the inaugural Clash of the Champions for free on TBS in competition with Wrestlemania IV. And so it went, until WCW was finally laid to rest.
Dana White has a history of vigorously attacking the competition in the courts. Now he’s bringing his bag of dirty tricks to the television industry. And because the UFC is the only brand with regular access to a significant TV audience, it’s not exactly a fair fight. Still, this is dangerous ground to walk for White and the UFC. Boxing promoters are pretty careful about putting on shows in competition to each other. There are enough weekends in the calender year for everyone.
A broadside like this may do irreparable harm to Affliction’s chances, but does White really want to open the Pandora’s box that could lead to the next Kimbo Slice fight being programmed for free on CBS opposite Chuck Liddell’s next pay per view fight? I think White would have been better served letting the market decide whether Affliction could survive the choppy waters of modern MMA promotion. He might have been pleased with the answer.
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