ACA 92: Yagshimuradov vs. Celinski

[Koniradi98]

Seems like Shamhan Erzanukaev is making his pro-Debut at ACA 92

 

[Sakuraba7]

Meanwhile, ACA 91 is basically the "shit we haven't given these guys fights in forever!" card.

https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/events/57053-aca-91

I kind of wish that they would re-start the counter now that they are an Akhmat property. Sort of like what WSOF did when they became PFL. It's just a neater delineation between the takeover. But I guess that would ruin the illusion of this being a straight on continuation of ACB.

ACB absorbed WFCA and Tech-Krep. Not the other way around.

I would much prefer they changed their name to something that sounds good. ACA does not roll off the tongue and it doesn't sound like an MMA promotion at all. Even ACF is better.

The change from WSOF to PFL was a positive name change. I think it would have been smart if they kept their existing event count though. Starting from 1 makes you seem like a brand new promotion, and lacks the respect from casual fans like you don't have a good roster or reputation.

 

[executionermma]

ACB absorbed WFCA and Tech-Krep. Not the other way around.

I would much prefer they changed their name to something that sounds good. ACA does not roll off the tongue and it doesn't sound like an MMA promotion at all. Even ACF is better.

The change from WSOF to PFL was a positive name change. I think it would have been smart if they kept their existing event count though. Starting from 1 makes you seem like a brand new promotion, and lacks the respect from casual fans like you don't have a good roster or reputation.

they aren't starting from 1, their next events are ACA 91, 92, 93 etc

 

[europe1]

ACB absorbed WFCA and Tech-Krep. Not the other way around.

Well, yeah, that's the "official" story. But considering the circumstances around the merger, I think it's extremely likely that the merger was orchestrated by Ramzan Kadyrov.

Hell, the last "A" in ACA even stands for Akhmat. Akhmat is what Kadyrov names all of his properties (it's the name of his father). Why would ACB call themselves Akhmat, if they aren't affiliated with Kadyrov? It's like if the UFC started calling themselves Ultimate Fighting Cagefighting after they absorbed the WEC. Just the fact that they named themselves that indicates who the true boss of the company is.

Plus, it was ACB who were in financial woes. You don't buy two entire organizations if you're forced to cancel your events and am unable to pay the fighters. Not to mention Kadyrov being a bloody dictator.

 

[Sakuraba7]

Well, yeah, that's the "official" story. But considering the circumstances around the merger, I think it's extremely likely that the merger was orchestrated by Ramzan Kadyrov.

Hell, the last "A" in ACA even stands for Akhmat. Akhmat is what Kadyrov names all of his properties (it's the name of his father). Why would ACB call themselves Akhmat, if they aren't affiliated with Kadyrov? It's like if the UFC started calling themselves Ultimate Fighting Cagefighting after they absorbed the WEC. Just the fact that they named themselves that indicates who the true boss of the company is.

Plus, it was ACB who were in financial woes. You don't buy two entire organizations if you're forced to cancel your events and am unable to pay the fighters. Not to mention Kadyrov being a bloody dictator.

They've been doing a lot of weird spending even BEFORE it came out they've been losing money. I'm one of the guys here who have been saying for ages they're wasting money (no international TV deals, no market they're concentrating on but wasting money flying around, pointless spending on A-list refs like Herb and Big John). @Noxcho18 buddy here was telling me otherwise way back about how Khasiev wants to rival UFC, and I was saying his whole business plan sucks.

Yeah no shit I know what the A stands for. I also want them to change it to something that sounds better.

As for companies adopting the name of whom they absorb. They do it all the time. UFC didn't because they're the older brand. Usually the lesser known brand will take the better-known brands name.

 

[Sakuraba7]

they aren't starting from 1, their next events are ACA 91, 92, 93 etc

I was speaking of PFL when I mentioned count.

 

[Noxcho18]

They've been doing a lot of weird spending even BEFORE it came out they've been losing money. I'm one of the guys here who have been saying for ages they're wasting money (no international TV deals, no market they're concentrating on but wasting money flying around, pointless spending on A-list refs like Herb and Big John). @Noxcho18 buddy here was telling me otherwise way back about how Khasiev wants to rival UFC, and I was saying his whole business plan sucks.

Yeah no shit I know what the A stands for. I also want them to change it to something that sounds better.

As for companies adopting the name of whom they absorb. They do it all the time. UFC didn't because they're the older brand. Usually the lesser known brand will take the better-known brands name.

I never said otherwise, we both agreed on that Khasievs plans was stupid and that he was wasting money on stupid shit. You can go back and read our chats again. I dont know if its a language barrier or something but i was very clear on that he was doing a poor job in promoting the promotion.

 

[Sakuraba7]

I never said otherwise, we both agreed on that Khasievs plans was stupid and that he was wasting money on stupid shit. You can go back and read our chats again. I dont know if its a language barrier or something but i was very clear on that he was doing a poor job in promoting the promotion.

Definitely not a language barrier from my side. We had multiple chats, you're thinking of the last one which was after these financial troubles came out. The first one you weren't assertive.

What do you think of the ACA name? It does not sound like an MMA org name and it doesn't roll off the tongue well.

I personally had proposed a while ago that they merge with M-1. I guess they're going the different route, but mergers don't mean much if they're just going to waste their talent and resources—since noone's watching their product, unfortunately.

Fight Nights Global is a great name. I'm not sure why ACB merged with Tech-Krep but since they have they should operate it as a minor league for prospects that then get promoted to the major league. But the name Tech-Krep is also poor for an international audience. I guess they're sticking with "Young Eagles"? I hope they don't change it to something weird as well.

Business is all about marketing. You can sell an inferior product better than the superior if you have proper distribution and branding. Compare VHS vs Betamax vs Laserdisc. Compare UFC vs PRIDE and K-1 WGP. Even cassette types: most cassettes you are familiar with are Type 1 which sound like shit, but the superior Type 2 or Type 4 with their CD-like audio quality wasn't sold by music labels just to save a few cents. Now they don't even make those but the inferior one is still in production. There's millions of examples like this.

 

[executionermma]

I was speaking of PFL when I mentioned count.

Oh, ok, my bad.

Regarding PFL, well, they completely changed the format, released a bunch of elite fighters, signed many new guys, signed a new TV deal, new investors.. PFL it's pretty much a new promotion. IMO they did the right thing by going through the event count reset.

 

[Sakuraba7]

Oh, ok, my bad.

Regarding PFL, well, they completely changed the format, released a bunch of elite fighters, signed many new guys, signed a new TV deal, new investors.. PFL it's pretty much a new promotion. IMO they did the right thing by going through the event count reset.

If they own the WSOF's video library and trademarks they should have kept the count under the PFL name.

Being a new promotion is precisely the problem I stated in my first post. Nobody wants to take a new promotion seriously. It implies lack of reputation, experience and a poor roster. That's how casuals view it.

 

[executionermma]

If they own the WSOF's video library and trademarks they should have kept the count under the PFL name.

Being a new promotion is precisely the problem I stated in my first post. Nobody wants to take a new promotion seriously. It implies lack of reputation, experience and a poor roster. That's how casuals view it.

WSOF had some shady accusations regarding Ali and fighters contracts, this isn't exactly a reputation you'd want to keep/protect

 

[original doom]

so what fighters are the top ones now that 3 orgs have merged ?

 

[Noxcho18]

Definitely not a language barrier from my side. We had multiple chats, you're thinking of the last one which was after these financial troubles came out. The first one you weren't assertive.

What do you think of the ACA name? It does not sound like an MMA org name and it doesn't roll off the tongue well.

I personally had proposed a while ago that they merge with M-1. I guess they're going the different route, but mergers don't mean much if they're just going to waste their talent and resources—since noone's watching their product, unfortunately.

Fight Nights Global is a great name. I'm not sure why ACB merged with Tech-Krep but since they have they should operate it as a minor league for prospects that then get promoted to the major league. But the name Tech-Krep is also poor for an international audience. I guess they're sticking with "Young Eagles"? I hope they don't change it to something weird as well.

Business is all about marketing. You can sell an inferior product better than the superior if you have proper distribution and branding. Compare VHS vs Betamax vs Laserdisc. Compare UFC vs PRIDE and K-1 WGP. Even cassette types: most cassettes you are familiar with are Type 1 which sound like shit, but the superior Type 2 or Type 4 with their CD-like audio quality wasn't sold by music labels just to save a few cents. Now they don't even make those but the inferior one is still in production. There's millions of examples like this.

I have always criticized ACB for their business plans outside of Russia. The only successful event they had in Europe was in Manchester (Khalidov-Barnett) and Slovakia, you can look back at all our chats. I said many times that ACB should stay in Russia and have events in places where its popular instead of random events in Italy and Germany or at least promote their events better outside of Russia.

I think the "issue" here is that you think im Khasiev. I remember you saying that ACB should get some TV deals first, i told you that they had one with Combate TV and was trying to get one in US according(very important word here) to Mairbek Khasievs instagram. I never said it was an amazing deal or anything i was just giving you info about what the promoter said. You for some reason took this as me defending ACB and you thought i was praising their TV deal. I agreed with 90% of what you said, the only part where i disagreed was that i didn't believe ACB was some money laundering scheme. I genuinely believe that Mairbek Khasiev wanted to be the nr1 promotion and i said multiple times that he was doing a very bad job(outside of Russia).

The name i dont care that much about tbh, i wish they had started over with "ACA 1" or something. ACB sounds better but i guess they wanted to represent both ACB and Akhmat.

 

[Noxcho18]

so what fighters are the top ones now that 3 orgs have merged ?

Thats a very very tough question now that WFCA is in the mix. I cant even think of a Top 5, i guess we will know next year since many of their fights are ACB vs WFCA.

 

[europe1]

Yeah no shit I know what the A stands for. I also want them to change it to something that sounds better.

As for companies adopting the name of whom they absorb. They do it all the time. UFC didn't because they're the older brand. Usually the lesser known brand will take the better-known brands name.

If you know what the A stands for, then you know that the A isn't excactly optional. I honestly don't think ACB has much of a choice in what they call themselves.

I personally had proposed a while ago that they merge with M-1.

M-1 isn't owned by a Caucasus oligarch (unlike ACB, WFCA, Tech-Krep, Fight Night Global). Of all the companies in Russia, they'd be the least likely to have merged with ACB from a socio-buisness perspective.

I'm not sure why ACB merged with Tech-Krep

Khasiev owned the property since some time back. I don't think he started the org but he bought it some time back without merging the two orgs.

I never said otherwise, we both agreed on that Khasievs plans was stupid and that he was wasting money on stupid shit.

The fun part about that discussion for me was figuring out if Khasievs incompetence was due to poor planning or him just not giving a shit about his hobby

I think the "issue" here is that you think im Khasiev

the only part where i disagreed was that i didn't believe ACB was some money laundering scheme.

Do Russian/Chechen goverment officials even have to launder their money. I mean, is such an issue even material to them?

Though for Khisaev I don't know how much of his income steams from privately owned buisnesses and how much is taxpayer rubles.

 

[Noxcho18]

Do Russian/Chechen goverment officials even have to launder their money. I mean, is such an issue even material to them?

Though for Khisaev I don't know how much of his income steams from privately owned buisnesses and how much is taxpayer rubles.[/QUOTE]

I dont know tbh, Kadyrov gets everything he wants by Russia. All he needs to do is keep Chechnya within Russia.

 

[executionermma]

so what fighters are the top ones now that 3 orgs have merged ?

the next 4 or so events will decide it in many weight classes, because they will be unifying the titles

 

[Koniradi98]

 

[Sakuraba7]

WSOF had some shady accusations regarding Ali and fighters contracts, this isn't exactly a reputation you'd want to keep/protect

Adopting the PFL name already starts a fresh rreputation. How is that hard to follow?

It's the number count that gives a level of REPUTATION to casual fans that conveys experience and roster depth.

 

[Sakuraba7]

Do Russian/Chechen goverment officials even have to launder their money. I mean, is such an issue even material to them?

Though for Khisaev I don't know how much of his income steams from privately owned buisnesses and how much is taxpayer rubles.

I agreed with 90% of what you said, the only part where i disagreed was that i didn't believe ACB was some money laundering scheme.

That's because you didn't pay attention because I never said that. I said anyone can ACCUSE Khasiev of it when it becomes politically convenient. Like what happened with Ziyavuddin. He was close to President Medvedyev but now Medvedev isn't as prominent and his allies are being selectively targeted.

If you know what the A stands for, then you know that the A isn't excactly optional. I honestly don't think ACB has much of a choice in what they call themselves.

M-1 isn't owned by a Caucasus oligarch (unlike ACB, WFCA, Tech-Krep, Fight Night Global). Of all the companies in Russia, they'd be the least likely to have merged with ACB from a socio-buisness perspective.

Having links to Kadyrov doesn't mean they shouldn't change the last A. There's already a damn A in the first part of the name. ACA name sucks. It's an accounting firm or a medical clinic of some sorts.


M-1 and ACB merger was proposed by me when it became public that they were suffering financial issues. M-1 and ACB were the top orgs and by combining they would have a solid roster and become a powerhouse because M-1 has it's accounting and management in order, their decision making is far more financially sound.

That was me speaking from a rational POV and an MMA POV. Nothign to do with regional politics and cliques. I still don't believe there would be any hang up between an M-1 and ACB merger back then, because Khasiev is a businessman and so are the guys behind M-1. If it was just PR then ACB would have merged with WFCA ages ago instead of operating separately.

Finkelshtein who heads M-1 also heads WMMAA, and both orgs have heavy Caucasus fighters and cooperation. There's Russian MMA Union events behind held in North Caucasus every year. Khasiev being Chechen doesn't mean he's automatically disqualified from partnerships. It's WFCA that was politically aligned.