I was hoping I would get cheap tickets for the event since it seemed no one knew about the event. Get them cheap from the scalpers. My brother and I drive down to Honda Center. Meet up with a couple of our friends. Cheapest tickets we could get were $60 and it was in the bleachers. I could have gotten it at that price at the box office two weeks before the event. I was hoping for $30 tickets but no scalper offered it. Even the $60 tickets weren’t together. It seemed like Affliction gave a shitload of comps or it was attracting casual fans. I predict the former.
My two other friends decided it was worth $60 so they buy it. Me and my brother were contemplating so we just walked around the arena.
There was a red carpet to the back entrance. Kind of like the Oscars, but less media, around 5 or so. Saw Stone Cold as he was going in. Seemed friendly and took a pic with a kid. Next up was Donald Trump Junior. He seemed cool as well, taking his time talking to three interviewers. We walked around some more and noticed Guy Mezger. I just gave him a nod and he nodded back. He was tall but looked skinny.
Next up, I noticed the best MMA announcer ever, Bill Goldberg. He was crossing the street and had a Hollywood attitude. Looked arrogant and spoke loudly to his friend so everybody can hear what he was saying.
Walked some more and saw Heath Herring. I wished him luck against Brock Lesnar and told him he’ll probably win since he has more experience. He agreed. Also a nice guy.
We decide not to get tickets for $60 a piece and just watch it on PPV instead.
Watched the event. Even though the production value was pretty shitty (microphones not working right, lighting was off. Saw Jay Glazier, the announcer getting peppered with makeup), the last 3 fights were pretty entertaining. They were all heavyweight match ups, something UFC is missing.
After the last fight, in which Fedor took care of Sylvia in 36 seconds, my brother and I decide to go to Double Tree Hotel where the fighters were staying. I figured the beating Fedor gave to Sylvia at least warrants a picture with him.
Went to the hotel and about 15 fans were already waiting for the fighters. We sat on the bench and start talking to a couple that just attended the event. They said they were from Texas and just came down to see Fedor fight. Damn, that’s what I call hardcore. They noticed Vitor Belfort and all of us take a picture with him. He seemed really happy with his win.
Matt Lindland showed up and stopped for us. He thanked everybody for showing up and he gets the best picture of the night.
Next up was the King of The Streets, Marco Ruas. He seemed sad that his fighter, Rizzo, lost the fight. He was still willing to take pictures with us. I guess the girl that we were talking to grabbed his ass and the boyfriend noticed it. Her excuse was that she had nowhere to place her hand but on his ass. Haha.
After that came a van full of fighters, Arlovski, Sylvia and Aleksander Emelianenko. I didn’t notice the first two fighters because I went directly to Aleksander. I asked him if he could sign my Pride 32 program. He took the program and looked at it carefully. He said “Pride” with his Russian accent. He looked at the cover and noticed it was his brother, Fedor. It seemed like he somewhat got pissed and started looking at the pages. Then he looked at a page where he was in one of the pictures and I point it out to him. My brother said he looked mad but maybe that’s just how he looks. He finally said “OK” and signed the back of the program. I also took a pic with him afterwards. He definitely had that tough guy persona to him but he was very polite and signed for everybody.
Next up was Babalu. I don’t really care for the guy but the couple from Texas wanted his autograph. Babalu seemed pretty cocky and didn’t want to be around his fans. Babalu told them he’d come back for the autographs. To his credit he did come out again and signed for everybody but you could tell he doesn’t enjoy mingling with his fans. He tried to ignore them at first but when he realized his shuttle didn’t arrive yet, he acknowledged his fans.
Gray Maynard passed by and took a pic with him. It seemed like no one really recgonized him. He was cool but his energy was very low. Probably because his training partner, Whitehead lost. Shows how close these guys are really are to their teammates. You could tell right away who won or lost based on their team’s attitude.
Then came Fedor. He was in shorts and signed my program. Some guy had about 10 art prints signed by Fedor. He gave one to Fedor and wanted more signed. Fedor finally said “Maybe later, I have to sign to others”. Fuckers like this will ruin fan interaction with the fighters. At least Fedor knew what’s up. He got dragged by his team and said he’d come back later for pictures.
Smeared autograph by Aleksander
Fedor’s trainers were outside smoking so I take a picture with one of them. They didn’t really understand english so I just had to point to the camera. Fedor came out about 20 minutes later and all of us take a picture with him. I told him he put on a good show and thanked me. The other trainer was next to him. I ask him for a picture and he said “sure” and pointed to Fedor. I told him again I wanted a picture with him, he was surprised and happily obliged.
I think Affliction can really market Fedor after his win against Sylvia. He demolished a former UFC champ, who beat up the current UFC champ, Nogueira (even though Big Tim lost the fight). The Fedor fight will make Affliction a more credible organization. Hopefully Affliction didn’t overspend on this event because and will have a second show. Competition is always good for the fans.
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