Anderson Silva’s up-coming light heavyweight tilt against Forrest Griffin provides the perfect background for today’s discussion: MMA stars. What is the definition of an MMA star? Generally, there exist two types of stars in any sport: athletic stars and cross-over stars. Athletic stars gain acclaim and following through their in-competition achievements. While cross-over stars are known […]
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What Affliction MMA Should Have Been
By Kelsey Philpott The fact that Josh Barnett’s positive test for anabolic steroids was able to bring down an entire card really speaks volumes about the level of structure, organization, and most importantly, depth, within Affliction. A crisis such as this would not have hampered the UFC’s ability to put on an event; nor would it […]
Point, Counterpoint: Affliction Killed Affliction
By Kelsey Philpott Welcome to the latest addition of MMA Payout: Point, Counterpoint! After reading Payout contributor Jonathon Snowden’s latest piece entitled “Who Really Killed Affliction?” I feel compelled to respond and engage in some healthy debate here on the website. In his article Jon argues for the following: As the smoke cleared from Affliction Entertainment’s implosion, the media […]
Update: Affliction Back with UFC
According to Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports, Affliction has decided to throw in the promotional towel in return for a sponsorship placement with the UFC. In addition, there’s talk of a major UFC announcement tonight on ESPN radio. Payout Opinion: It’s certainly a shocking turn of events – especially considering that Iole had earlier reported […]
The Issues of Referee and Judge Certification
‘Showdown’ Joe Ferraro has an excellent piece up at Rogers Sportsnet that details his experience with ‘Big’ John McCarthy’s referee certification seminar, C.O.M.M.A.N.D. (Certification of Officials for Mixed Martial Arts National Development). The course is broken down into three areas and participants require a passing grade of 90 percent (at minimum in all three) to be certified. […]