They've been trying to piece UFC Fight Night 14 together over the last few weeks. Thus far I haven't seen many matches on there that actually intrigue me enough to watch it over Affliction: Banned. However, I'm what the industry considers a "hardcore" fan as opposed to a "casual" fan. I'm pretty sure they are trying to keep casual MMA fans from tuning into the PPV broadcast for Affliction. It seems to me that they could have found a better headliner for this than Anderson Silva. Not that I don't love Silva, but he hasn't seemed to be as big of a draw as some of the other champions.
Here is the card for UFC Fight Night 14
- Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin
- Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy
- Frankie Edgar vs. Hermes Franca
- Jake O'Brien vs. Cain Velasquez
- Kevin Burns vs. Anthony Johnson
- Brad Blackburn vs. James Giboo
- Nate Loughran vs. Johnny Rees
- Shannon Gugherty vs. Dale Hartt
My assumption is that the first 5 fights listed will be the fights that get on the main broadcast. Obviously Anderson Silva vs James Irvin will be the main event. I'm quite surprised that Silva is moving up to Light Heavyweight and not fighting for the belt. I mean he is the Middleweight Champion, so he has proven himself to the UFC by destroying the entire division.
List of destroyed opponents
- Dan Henderson
- Rich Franklin
- Rich Franklin (again)
- Nate Marquardt
- Travis Lutter
- Chris Leben
That is one hell of a list. Dan Henderson was the Pride Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion when the company went under. Rich Franklin was the UFC Middleweight Champion for a long while, and only has 3 losses; 2 to Silva and 1 to Light Heavyweight Title contender Lyoto Machida. Then you have Nate Marquardt who is just a fucking beast, and holds some wins over top Middleweights and an Abu Dhabi title.
I expect Silva to roll over Irvin quite easily. Silva is by no means a small Middleweight, so I think making Light Heavyweight and still having the power and explosiveness he shows at Middleweight won't be a problem.
There is really only one match other than the main event that I feel is intriguing, and that is the Frankie Edgar vs Hermes Franca bout. It's not intriguing enough for me to go to great lengths on describing the two, but it will be a good fight.
I'll leave it at this, even though Affliction is on PPV and UFC is on free cable, spend the money and get the better fights. I want to see another organization succeed and put on great shows like the one Affliction is putting on. The UFC just doesn't have enough time to make all the fights I want to see, plus they don't have a lot of the fighters that are at the top of their game.
Thankfully I have free PPV and Tivo, so I can watch both back to back!