Affliction: Banned showcased some considerable heavyweight talent, especially the talent of Andrei Arlovski and Fedor Emelianenko. Much more than that though, Affliction MMA showcased their ability to enter the MMA game with a mindset of providing high quality mma matches while keeping their fighters financially “happy.” Based upon the initial numbers, without the benefit of true pay-per-view numbers, it seems that Affliction has done well.

The Honda Center was nearly packed last night, with the official attendance number coming in at 13,988 fans, a very large number for any mma event, especially an inaugeral event put on by a new promotion. Add to it 600+ closed circuit buys(although we’re unaware of if the cost of the buys were lower than UFC’s) and it looks like there was considerable interest in Affliction, and in all honesty, Fedor Emelianenko. One has to wonder at how the promotion would have done had Fedor lost his first fight with the company.

From a striclty mma fight point of view the matches were of much higher quality and of a more hardcore nature than those put on by CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights first card which featured streetfighting legend turned MMA star Kimbo Slice. Whether or not Affliction gets the pay-per-view numbers they were looking for will be the true factor as to Affliction’s success, but UFC beware: Affliction MMA is showing signs of success that few, if any, other promotions have shown, and they’ve only had one card.

The MMA News, opinion.