De La Hoya, Golden Boy Challenge The UFC’s Monopoly
Posted by: Mark Vester on 01-20-2009.
By Mark Vester
Besides being the co-promoter to Saturday's welterweight showdown between Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley, Golden Boy Promotions is also the co-promoter to the Affliction "Day of Reckoning" pay-per-view, which also takes place on Saturday night. Both events are taking place in California. The Affliction pay-per-view, headlined by heavyweights Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski, will clash at the Honda Center in Anaheim, while Margarito vs. Shane Mosley is about 30-miles away at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, a New York press conference that was hosted by Donald Trump at the Trump Tower in Manhattan, had the full support of Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya. At the presser, De La Hoya and his partners expressed their goal of becoming the main competitor to the UFC. Golden Boy and Affliction announced their partnership last September. The "Day of Reckoning" pay-per-view will be the first of four planned 2009 MMA pay-per-views that are being co-promoted by Affliction and Golden Boy.
Can Golden Boy and Affliction make an impact where so many others have failed? Other MMA promotions like EliteXC, IFL and Pride, failed to overtake the UFC. They not only failed, they all went out of business trying. De La Hoya believes that Golden Boy can win where the others have lost.
"Golden Boy got involved in MMA because who doesn’t want to part of this big event in the MMA world? In what we accomplished in this short amount of time in boxing, our intention is the same in the MMA world. The expertise in what we have, in what Affliction, Trump have, we can beat one of the premier promoters in the MMA world. A little competition doesn’t hurt," De La Hoya said.
Tom Atencio, Affliction's vice president, says the partnership with Golden Boy will present a real challenge to the MMA market that UFC and their president Dana White have held tight with an iron fist.
"The UFC, up until now, has been the only game in town. I hope to change that," said Atencio. "They're going to do what they have to do to make sure that they're the only game in town. With the organization that we have and the partners we have, I just don't see that happening."
While De La Hoya and Atencio believe they can win, MMA insiders are wondering if Affliction will be able to last until the end of the year.
NExt.
Ugh, just like Vince McMahon had no business trying to start a football org (anyone remember XFL?), guys like Trump or Cuban don't belong in the fight game.
It's bad news when they have two promotions on the same night.
Metrosexuality.
It was a lot harder for GBP to accomplish what they did in the world of boxing owned by Arum and King in comparison to this. It will be hilarious when Affliction-GBP-Trump succeeds and UFC elitists are pissed.
Good post TS
with the amount of debt the UFC carries around ($350mm) if anyone was SMART they look to BUY the UFC and not try and compete....
Haulport - with the amount of debt the UFC carries around ($350mm) if anyone was SMART they look to BUY the UFC and not try and compete....
I always wondered why GBP and Trump didn't just invest in that. Maybe they are feeling out the mma landscape first. Who knows.
What are you guys talking about, buying debt gives you no ownership interest in the UFC. You just get the interest payments, even if they went bankrupt you would maybe at best get some money from the sale of assets.
Okay, I think you just meant why dont they make an offer for the UFC. The owners dont want to sell, at best they would have to offer a few times what the UFC is actually worth to get it. The only ones i've seen paying for more then an mma company is worth is the UFC when they bought pride. So that tells you which business men are serious about the sport and which arent.
Affliction agreed to this partnership only because they know they're fucked.
Mortality - What are you guys talking about, buying debt gives you no ownership interest in the UFC. You just get the interest payments, even if they went bankrupt you would maybe at best get some money from the sale of assets.Yeah......I meant with the debt load they carry it would be hard for them to ask for too much since anyone who buys would have to take on a shitload of debt...
Okay, I think you just meant why dont they make an offer for the UFC. The owners dont want to sell, at best they would have to offer a few times what the UFC is actually worth to get it. The only ones i've seen paying for more then an mma company is worth is the UFC when they bought pride. So that tells you which business men are serious about the sport and which arent.
And everything is for sale all the time...ESPECIALLY since the station casinos are having some very tough times...
Is there a reliable source that says UFC has currently 350M in debt? In the Forbes article it was estimated that UFC would make revenue of 250M in 2008.
UFC in debt, thats some of the funnyest shit I have heard in a while!
Seems like a great business idea of promoting two ppvs at the same time that are competing for same viewers.
Kage - Seems like a great business idea of promoting two ppvs at the same time that are competing for same viewers.
Mosely/Margarito isn't PPV it's on HBO. Still not a good idea to have 2 events at the same time. Affliction should stop calling out the UFC and just put on good shows.
inf0 - Is it just me, or do these guys not pay attention to what happens to EVERY MMA Organization that isn't the UFC?Most MMA orgs live and die by their fight cards. Affliction doesn't. They use the fights to sell clothing. That's the big difference.
Quickest way to squander away a fortune, start up a fight league!!!!!!!!!!!
NorthFromHere - Affliction agreed to this partnership only because they know they're fucked.
A couple of months ago Todd and Tom were willing to shut down Affliction Entertainment IF the UFC would allow them to sponsor UFC fighters again (on camera) and sell their gear like they used to.
DW and Lorenzo rejected the offer.
Cindy
CindyO -NorthFromHere - Affliction agreed to this partnership only because they know they're fucked.
A couple of months ago Todd and Tom were willing to shut down Affliction Entertainment IF the UFC would allow them to sponsor UFC fighters again (on camera) and sell their gear like they used to.
DW and Lorenzo rejected the offer.
Cindy
When did you hear about this? Couple of months ago or just today?
"UFC in debt, thats some of the funnyest shit I have heard in a while!"
Take comments from idiots like Haulport with a grain of salt. Every business carries debt, whether they are turning a profit or not. Companies with huge cash reserves like Exxon and Microsoft carry debt, it's the nature of the way companies do business and is why the credit freeze was such a huge issue to the US economy.
Carrying debt and being in debt are two different semantic statements. Yes the UFC carries debt but the UFC also makes enough of a profit to be be able to make their interest payments on that debt right now.
Anyone person who owns a home with a mortgage in this country is technically "in debt" for hundreds of thousands of dollars.