15 Years Ago Today - Affliction: Banned

[AmericanMMA]

How time flies... 15 years ago today we were treated to a STACKED card headlined by former UFC HW champion Timmmmehhh Sylvia vs former Pride HW Champion Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor made quick work of poor Timmeh and further cemented his status as the GOAT.

The main event received much of the attention, but the whole card was STACKED top to bottom. See below copy and paste job from wikipedia.

Main card
Weight class Method Round Time Notes
Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko def Tim Sylvia Submission (rear naked choke) 1 0:36
Heavyweight Andrei Arlovski def Ben Rothwell KO (punches) 3 1:13
Heavyweight Josh Barnett def Pedro Rizzo KO (punch) 2 1:44
Light heavyweight Renato Sobral def Mike Whitehead Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) 3 5:00
Middleweight Matt Lindland def Fabio Negao Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) 3 5:00
Featherweight Mark Hominick def Savant Young Submission (armbar) 2 4:25
Preliminary card
Heavyweight Paul Buentello def Gary Goodridge Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) 3 5:00
Light heavyweight Antônio Rogério Nogueira def Edwin Dewees TKO (punches) 1 4:06
Middleweight Vitor Belfort def Terry Martin KO (punch) 2 3:12
Welterweight Mike Pyle def J.J. Ambrose Submission (rear-naked choke) 1 2:55

I can't believe how fast time flies. I still wish we got to see Fedor vs Barnett as planned.

On another note, also on this date 15 years ago was a UFC event put on to fuck with the ratings of Affliction - UFC Fight night Silva vs Irvin - which saw another GOAT make quick work of his opponent in the main event. - This card also was stacked, but we didn't know it at the time having future stars Rumble, Cain, and Frankie Edgar.



Those days sure were fun to be an MMA fan. Crazy so many legends all fought on the same night! Cheers guys!

 

[Fengxian]

 

[ArtardFiesta]

2008 was a great year. seems magical looking back.
we appreciated these events because we had not been spoiled by instant gratification like we are now with netflix, uber eats, tinder dats etc

oddly the smart phone was around the corner a few months later and about to change our lives forever.

 

[swarrrm]

Best part of that card right here

 

[Tweak896]

Was the first mma fight I got tickets to live when I was back in high school. All we could afford was obviously the back seat tickets for like 50$ each, but snuck up to mid seats that were empty. I remember being next to the side Sylvia walked out from and felt bad because everybody was talking shit and booing as he walked out. Wonder if that just messed with his head?

Anyways we came to see Fedor win and weren't disappointed. Kind of hard to top this event ever again. Whole night was this great positive energy and is probably why I'm so into MMA still to this day.

 

[BJJ4Tone]

Seeing Fedor stop Timmeh almost effortlessly was one of the best moments in MMA history.

 

[Elvis.]

Imagine seeing two fighters of this calibre on the same night this day and age .

Also 15 years ago , for fuck sakes

 

[D 1 Wrestler]

Didn't they go bankrupt putting on that card?

 

[Van Daz]

Never seen that pic. Geeez, Dana's a prick. Those promotions were cool. Look at him, just so happy killing off MMA fans enjoyment.

 

[heavy_hands]

Didn't they go bankrupt putting on that card?

I still can’t believe Tim got $700k for that fight

 

[Superman Elbow]

How time flies... 15 years ago today we were treated to a STACKED card headlined by former UFC HW champion Timmmmehhh Sylvia vs former Pride HW Champion Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor made quick work of poor Timmeh and further cemented his status as the GOAT.

The main event received much of the attention, but the whole card was STACKED top to bottom. See below copy and paste job from wikipedia.

Main card
Weight class Method Round Time Notes
Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko def Tim Sylvia Submission (rear naked choke) 1 0:36
Heavyweight Andrei Arlovski def Ben Rothwell KO (punches) 3 1:13
Heavyweight Josh Barnett def Pedro Rizzo KO (punch) 2 1:44
Light heavyweight Renato Sobral def Mike Whitehead Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) 3 5:00
Middleweight Matt Lindland def Fabio Negao Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) 3 5:00
Featherweight Mark Hominick def Savant Young Submission (armbar) 2 4:25
Preliminary card
Heavyweight Paul Buentello def Gary Goodridge Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) 3 5:00
Light heavyweight Antônio Rogério Nogueira def Edwin Dewees TKO (punches) 1 4:06
Middleweight Vitor Belfort def Terry Martin KO (punch) 2 3:12
Welterweight Mike Pyle def J.J. Ambrose Submission (rear-naked choke) 1 2:55

I can't believe how fast time flies. I still wish we got to see Fedor vs Barnett as planned.

On another note, also on this date 15 years ago was a UFC event put on to fuck with the ratings of Affliction - UFC Fight night Silva vs Irvin - which saw another GOAT make quick work of his opponent in the main event. - This card also was stacked, but we didn't know it at the time having future stars Rumble, Cain, and Frankie Edgar.



Those days sure were fun to be an MMA fan. Crazy so many legends all fought on the same night! Cheers guys!

It pisses me off to think how much bigger mma could be by now if it werent for the ufc going out of its way to ruin other organizations. Competition between organizations is good for the sport, it creates a market where fighters are being looked at as a demand that needs met and organizations would have bid over fighters and it would have given fighters leverage to get good contracts. Anyone who thinks Dana and the UFC care about mma is delusional. Dana promoting all the powerslap bs over actual ufc fights is a prime example.

 

[Pittie Petey]

Fashion lives in 20 year cycles which means were almost due for an Affliction rebirth!

 

[mahavishnunj]

How time flies... 15 years ago today we were treated to a STACKED card headlined by former UFC HW champion Timmmmehhh Sylvia vs former Pride HW Champion Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor made quick work of poor Timmeh and further cemented his status as the GOAT.

The main event received much of the attention, but the whole card was STACKED top to bottom. See below copy and paste job from wikipedia.

Main card
Weight class Method Round Time Notes
Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko def Tim Sylvia Submission (rear naked choke) 1 0:36
Heavyweight Andrei Arlovski def Ben Rothwell KO (punches) 3 1:13
Heavyweight Josh Barnett def Pedro Rizzo KO (punch) 2 1:44
Light heavyweight Renato Sobral def Mike Whitehead Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) 3 5:00
Middleweight Matt Lindland def Fabio Negao Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) 3 5:00
Featherweight Mark Hominick def Savant Young Submission (armbar) 2 4:25
Preliminary card
Heavyweight Paul Buentello def Gary Goodridge Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) 3 5:00
Light heavyweight Antônio Rogério Nogueira def Edwin Dewees TKO (punches) 1 4:06
Middleweight Vitor Belfort def Terry Martin KO (punch) 2 3:12
Welterweight Mike Pyle def J.J. Ambrose Submission (rear-naked choke) 1 2:55

I can't believe how fast time flies. I still wish we got to see Fedor vs Barnett as planned.

On another note, also on this date 15 years ago was a UFC event put on to fuck with the ratings of Affliction - UFC Fight night Silva vs Irvin - which saw another GOAT make quick work of his opponent in the main event. - This card also was stacked, but we didn't know it at the time having future stars Rumble, Cain, and Frankie Edgar.



Those days sure were fun to be an MMA fan. Crazy so many legends all fought on the same night! Cheers guys!

The most surprising part of that, is Arlovski actually got a finish. I just looked, the last time that happened was a TKO in 2015 vs Travis Browne.

 

[Odoylerules4lyf]

The most surprising part of that, is Arlovski actually got a finish. I just looked, the last time that happened was a TKO in 2015 vs Travis Browne.

Considering this happened in 2008 and Arlivski had finished most of his fights at this point, I wouldn't consider it that surprising.

 

[AmericanMMA]

The most surprising part of that, is Arlovski actually got a finish. I just looked, the last time that happened was a TKO in 2015 vs Travis Browne.

Nahhhh AA used to finish all of his fights back then. His only decision win prior to December 2012 was against Werdum. Everything else was a finish, usually with his fists.

 

[mahavishnunj]

Considering this happened in 2008 and Arlivski had finished most of his fights at this point, I wouldn't consider it that surprising.

I'm aware, but looking at it from now-It's almost unbelievable Arlovski actually finished people at one point.

 

[AmericanMMA]

It pisses me off to think how much bigger mma could be by now if it werent for the ufc going out of its way to ruin other organizations. Competition between organizations is good for the sport, it creates a market where fighters are being looked at as a demand that needs met and organizations would have bid over fighters and it would have given fighters leverage to get good contracts. Anyone who thinks Dana and the UFC care about mma is delusional. Dana promoting all the powerslap bs over actual ufc fights is a prime example.

Yeah Dana did what he could to kill Affliction. That is his MO, kill the competition and essentially have a monopoly.

What was funny too is he denied having the event on July 19th had anything to do with Affliction, even though it was put together last minute is clearly was to fuck with them.

 

[AmericanMMA]

Was the first mma fight I got tickets to live when I was back in high school. All we could afford was obviously the back seat tickets for like 50$ each, but snuck up to mid seats that were empty. I remember being next to the side Sylvia walked out from and felt bad because everybody was talking shit and booing as he walked out. Wonder if that just messed with his head?

Anyways we came to see Fedor win and weren't disappointed. Kind of hard to top this event ever again. Whole night was this great positive energy and is probably why I'm so into MMA still to this day.

Damn your lucky to have seen those fights live. How was the event overall?

 

[Uber_Noober]

Daner’s choke defense is on point

 

[Gang Sign Luke]

Seeing Fedor and Anderson get highlight reel finishes within minutes of each other was fucking unreal.

Also, I remember it looked like Vitor literally killed Matt Lindland.