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Affliction VP Tom Atencio wants to work with UFC

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Affliction VP Tom Atencio wants to work with UFC
by John Morgan on Jul 13, 2008 at 1:17 pm ET
Less than a week away from Affliction's debut show "Banned," Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio is unfazed by UFC president Dana White's recent verbal outburst.

In fact, he's committed to Affliction and UFC at some point working together to create unified champions in all the sport's weight classes.

Atencio discussed the plans while a guest on TAGG Radio (TAGG Radio Network - Home of TAGG Radio & The Lights Out Show!), the official radio partner of MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com).

White recently called Atencio an "idiot who sells T-shirts for a living" and predicted severe financial losses for Affliction during an interview with Y101 FM in Richmond, Va.

"I would assume it comes from competition," Atencio said. "[White] obviously is worried about what we're doing."

Atencio maintained that Affliction is flattered by the UFC's decision to broadcast an event on cable television the same evening as the Affliction pay-per-view broadcast.

"[White] is obviously worried," Atencio said. "By him putting on another show, he sees us. We're in his sights. So we're obviously a threat to him, so maybe he feels like he needs to attack me."

Atencio also hopes White will eventually let down his guard and work with other organizations in an effort to declare true world champions.

"If we can all come together and work together as one organization and we have an undisputed champion -- heavyweight, lightweight, middleweight, etc. -- then, yeah it's great," Atencio said. "But is it going to happen? I don't know."

But regardless of future opportunities, Atencio said the comments from White were all a matter of protecting the UFC's own financial concerns.

"[White] used to wear our clothes," Atencio said. "He used to wear our T-shirts. Anybody who knows us, anybody who knows this line, knows we're not a T-shirt company. We are a clothing company. We manufacture denim. We do sandals, board shorts, hoodies -- everything you can think of.

"But, apparently (to White), we're a T-shirt company. Where does that comes from? I think it's just business. I completely understand. Business is business, and he's protecting his."

Atencio also discussed the WAMMA belt, future Affliction shows, and a possible showdown between Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko later this year. To hear the full interview, download Friday's edition of TAGG Radio, available for free in the TAGG Radio archives.

Source:Affliction VP Tom Atencio wants to work with UFC | MMAjunkie.com
:laughing4: if he thinks Dana will ever go for that.

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Originally Posted by pa99fighter (Post 500728)

Source:Affliction VP Tom Atencio wants to work with UFC | MMAjunkie.com
:laughing4: if he thinks Dana will ever go for that.

I can picture hell freezing over befor the UFC cross promotes with anyone, especially Affliction.

Same logic as M1 Global and who ever else tried to work with the UFC.

It wont happen. Tim Sylvia will be back in the UFC at some point in 2009.

At least this guy seems to be professional and won't stoop to White's level.

I see good things happening for Affliction in the next year or so.

Atencio better hope those shirts don't go out of style because this event is not going to bring in money. He's paying for all the top fighters in the world giving them big contracts but this card has no hype to it besides the "hardcore" mma fans and some of them might get a live stream for it or just watch it the next day on the internet. With the Anderson Silva card at the same time this event will be lucky to get 30k buys max

If the other organizations decide to cross promote together, this is going to create a major problem for the UFC. I can see Gary Shaw and Tom Atencio working together in the near future to put together some card. Take that Mr. Dana White!

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Originally Posted by goldberg_52403 (Post 500735)

At least this guy seems to be professional and won't stoop to White's level.

I see good things happening for Affliction in the next year or so.

If by good things you mean a shit load of lost money and eventually going under than yeah they should have some good things ahead this year. Imo affliction isnt gonna do shit I will be suprised if this show gets 40,000 buys I think most people are gonna watch the UFN and wait for the affliction fight to get posted on the internet most american fans dont know Fedor and hate Sylvia this makes for a low selling PPV which is gonna lose alot of money for them.

I see Affliction being able to put on one, maybe two, spectacular cards per year, even in the long run. Like it or not, you've got to face it...the UFC is top dog right now, especially stateside, hands down.

Is it a monopoly? Maybe...monopolies run most of our lives anyway, though, so why should we get all bent out of shape about the UFC?

Affliction's best bet is to co-promote with other smaller orgs. I can see them becoming a noticeable force (though not a threat to the UFC) with time.

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Originally Posted by pa99ortiz (Post 500743)

They all already do that, to a good extent, and the UFC is still way out in front.

Most of the smaller shows cross-promote or at the least openly trade fighters to each others' shows.

UFC is the 800 pound gorilla and is literally the only org stateside that doesn't really need to do that.

They all need for the UFC to love them, the UFC doesn't need for them to love it. As long as it stays that way, it's perfectly logical for Dana to continue to snub them.

Tom Atencio is living in ADL. (Affliction Dream Land) How does this make any sense for the UFC? Free advertising for another organization.

I still haven't seen a media blast for Banned. I want this to work, but casual fans have no idea about this event. Every time I bring it up I get blank looks.

To be successful you can't just depend on hardcore MMA fans.
I mean we've seen that just on this board. There was a disturbing percentage of people not even ordering Affliction Banned. I'm assuming virtually everyone on this board knows about the event at this point. And the magnitude of this fight card, yet a large percentage isn't getting it.

Unfortunately, I see Affliction doing two ppvs ever. With this interview I really see this as nothing more than a power move against the UFC. Affliction is hoping to get something from this. As in the UFC buying them out. Therefore making a bunch of money, and getting their gear back in.