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01/13/2009 Archived Entry: "Affliction M-1 'Day of Reckoning' Conference Call Transcript of Barnett-Lindland"
Affliction M-1 'Day of Reckoning' Conference Call Transcript of Barnett-Lindland
Press Release
January 7, 2009
Tom Atencio, Affliction: I look forward to this event. I think the two gentlemen that are on the line are great and it's going to be an incredible night for both of them, Josh Barnett versus Gilbert Yvel and Matt Lindland versus Vitor Belfort, two phenomenal fights.
Michael Cohen, The Trump Organization: Let me begin by thanking everyone for participating on this call as well. On behalf of Mr. Trump, Don Jr., and myself as the Executive Vice President at the Trump Organization and the Chief Operating Officer for Affliction, we truly look forward to this upcoming January 24 event. Many in the media have stated that this event is destined to be the MMA event of the century with the main event of Arlovski and Fedor as being something most fans have been looking forward to seeing. Myself personally, I truly look forward to it and I'd like to commend Tom Atencio for the 11-fight fight card that has not and most probably will not be able to be duplicated by anyone other than somebody with Tom's capabilities. So, again, I wanted to thank everyone for joining us on this call and look forward to seeing everyone very soon.
Josh Barnett: Well, it will be nice to be back in the ring and starting off the New Year with a productive one and that of a couple guys punching each other in the face. And things if they keep going well for me, then I expect to have a lot more opportunities to go out there and show what I got, and make it count.
Matt Lindland: Yeah, thanks for having me on. And I've been preparing hard for this fight. I've actually had a lot more time to prepare with the rescheduling of this event, so I think I will show that I'm well prepared and ready and this is the best shape I've been in and the most well prepared because I'm probably facing one of the toughest guys I've ever faced. Vitor is a phenomenal fighter with super athleticism and I'm looking forward to a great fight with him.
Question: This question is for Josh. Could you describe what your personal relationship is with Fedor Emelianenko and do you expect to fight him in 2009? Would your considering him a friend in any way affect whether you would want to fight him?
Josh Barnett: Well, my relationship with him is that we're pretty good friends. When we're in Japan, if we're there at the same time, we'll usually spend time and go out and have dinner or hang out together and we wish each other Happy Birthdays and all this kind of stuff that regular friends do. We both understand that when you enter a sport like this, of course, you're going to meet a lot of people and actually develop friendships, but at the same time, go up against one another.
And we're okay with that. And if there's someone else to fight, that's okay, too. But as far as if I'm going to fight him, who knows. I don't really put any effort into concerning myself with those things. I just make sure that I'm in good shape, I'm ready to go bring my best against the person that I have lined up in front of me. And whoever else ends up being after that, then, I got to make sure that I'm ready to beat them as well.
If I have to fight Fedor, I think it'll be a really great match and I don't think we'll have any problem going out there and giving a fight that is not going to be trumped for lack of a better word anytime soon.
Q: Tom, could you explain, are there any issues your are preparing for on the Pay-Per-View show? Are you concerned at all about timing? With you guys having those undercard fights on HD Net, is there a concern on your part that there's going to be a lot of dead time if some of the fights are finished in the first round?
Tom Atencio: No, absolutely not. We've spoken about that and we've methodically figured out a way to combat that if there is dead time. Yeah, these fights are unbelievable from top to bottom. And I have a feeling a lot of these fights will not go past the first round. I've been known to be wrong, but whenever you put something on paper, you never really know what's going to happen once the two fighters step into the ring. So now we've spoken about that and it's always a concern. It's also a concern if all of the fights go the distance, too. So it's just something that you have to deal with during the event and making sure it comes off on television correctly.
Q: This question is for Tom. Bill Douglas of the California State Athletic Commission last night cleared Yvel to apply for a license to fight, but do you have a backup plan or opponent if he's not licensed for whatever reason?
Tom Atencio: Well, he's been approved to move forward in the licensing process and that's pretty much where we're at. I have people in line if it doesn't work out, but as far as Josh is concerned, it's approved. But once again, just like anything else, you never know what's going to happen, if there's a process to go through. So hopefully he makes it through all of his medicals. And if he does, then the fight is on. And I know that Josh is preparing for him, but I also know that Josh will fight anybody out there. So it's not so much a concern for me. Anybody I put in front of Josh, I know that he's going to make it an exciting fight.
Q: Who do you have on standby if he can't fight?
Tom Atencio: I'd rather not talk about it. To me, it's not a concern right now. And when we approach that bridge, we'll cross it.
Q: Okay. Do you have a ballpark, how are ticket sales so far?
Tom Atencio: Ticket sales are good. I'm real positive. They are comparable to last event. And that's what I'm looking for. I mean, if we're as successful as the first one which I'm sure we will be, then I'm going to be real happy.
Q: I first wanted to ask Josh Barnett how much pressure do you feel going into a fight against Gilbert Yvel knowing that you're really close to a heavyweight title fight, a WAMMA heavyweight title fight.
Josh Barnett: I don't have any consideration on whether I'm going to fight a WAMMA title fight or anything after this. That doesn't exist to me. The only thing that exists is Gilbert Yvel. Gilbert Yvel is the only fight that's assured and January 24 is the only night that I'm guaranteed to go out there and get into a brawl, so, I don't really care or think about or concern myself with anything past that. It really doesn't exist.
Q: And what are some of his traits or characteristics in the ring that you're going to have to look out for?
Josh Barnett: He's got a few shoddy tattoos, so I might be afraid he'd distract me and then...as you may ask Tom Atencio with his, you know, his choice of tattoos ...I'm trying to read it wrap all the way around his arm with him moving and fidgeting around...He's a dynamic kickboxer. He works a lot on his ground game. He's even gone for quite a few leg locks...I'd like to see him go after my legs.
Q: And a question for Matt Lindland -- I just wanted to get your impressions on what you saw out of Vitor Belfort in his last fight against Terry Martin and what you think you can learn how he fought that time.
Matt Lindland: Vitor has very quick feet and very quick hands. He moves well. He's hard to get a hold of. And he looked to be working his way off the bottom better in that last fight, so he's going to be harder to control him in the ring.
Q: And we saw you ran for office, for a state congressional office there in Oregon. You came up a little short. Is that something that you're still aiming to do as you're still fighting as a (mixed) martial arts fighter or maybe something you want to get into when you finish fighting?
Matt Lindland: No, it was actually something I did because we didn't have any qualified candidates running. And now we have a whole houseful of Democrats down there, we can't get any GOP opposition. But no, it wasn't necessarily something that I was looking to do or something I had my heart set on, but I did run a competitive race and won two out of the three counties and I came up short by 1200 votes out of 30,000. And it was a 2% margin. So I thought I did a very competitive job for my first time out. But I'm focused on this fight and my fighting career. And that's really my number one priority.
Q: And a final question just for Matt -- there's been some criticism from your last fight when you fought Fabio Nascimentoin the initial card. Is that something that's still in the back of your mind about how maybe unimpressive that performance might have come across?
Matt Lindland: I don't know whose criticizing. They weren't in there fighting him that night. In the first round he came to win and I think in the second and third round he may have switched more to a survival mode and it was a hard fight to finish. He's a tough fighter. He's a good fighter. And, I really felt that he went into a survival mode and was looking to get through the fight. He said after he realized he wasn't going to beat me, he decided to set his goals on, you know, not getting finished and he did a good job of that. I felt like I dominated all three rounds, and I'm going to have a better performance come January 24 against an opponent that's going to come after me and try to win.
Tom Atencio: Hey, if I may say something that Matt didn't bring up, which is, I think it's amazing that he didn't, but Matt was sick in that fight, which a lot of people don't know. Matt doesn't make excuses, so I think, if people are going to criticize him, they should know the full story.
Q: Tom, I was wondering, you had Megadeth in your first show. Is that the sort of thing that you want to get away from now having a band with it? What sort of things do you have to make this show a spectacle and - other than the fights? Or are you focusing on the fights themselves?
Tom Atencio: Well, as a business choice, we just decided not to have the music again. It's a little costly and when you're looking at your overhead, it definitely works into that factor. But as far as, everything else, it's going to be the same. We've made adjustments and we saw what we did wrong and, we're just looking to improve every time.
Michael Cohen: What was done after the fight is there was a poll that was taken as to whether or not the fans truly enjoyed and appreciated the music of Megadeth. Many of them thought it was interesting, but they didn't think that it created a benefit to the fight or to the speed to which the fight took place. So it was a decision that Tom and others made this time, we'll try something different. One of the other things that needs to be acknowledged is that Golden Boy Promotions has been brought on within to assist in the promotion of this event. And you've probably seen that in recent press releases. So as Tom just said and I'm going to agree with it completely, every event we're going to look to make it better and more enjoyable to the fans.
Q: Tom--What is the greatest challenge in putting on such an event?
Tom Atencio: God, it's hard to say. I would say making sure that the casual viewer knows that we are a viable fight organization now. Everybody seems to know the name UFC. I always say that they're the Q-Tip of the industry. When you talk about cotton swabs, you don't call them cotton swabs. You call them Q-Tips. Well, it's the same thing with the UFC. And that seems to be the hardest thing when you talk about mixed martial arts fighters, most people that don't know a lot about the industry, they call them UFC fighters. So I would think, combating that and making sure that people know that we're putting on events and making sure that, people know that they're quality events and they're great cards from top to bottom. That if they're going to purchase an event, it's definitely this is the event to purchase because you're going to get quality fights from top to bottom. And, you know, and nobody else is doing that.
Q: And can you talk about your third event? Do you guys have that lined up yet?
Tom Atencio: We're definitely talking about it and we're working on a location right now. It's definitely going to be the winner of Yvel and Barnett versus the winner of Arlovski and Emelianenko. So that - I mean, that's going to be a huge. So yeah, we're definitely looking towards a third event.
Q: And a question for Matt real quick, too, two things -- can you make a prediction on the Fedor/Andrei fight, especially having the experience of having fought Fedor?
Matt Lindland: I'm not real good at predictions, especially when I'm not in the ring. You know, they're both phenomenal fighters, and they bring such a different style to the fight that., I'm really looking forward to watching that one, Doug. And I'm just going to enjoy the fight and not make a prediction on that one.
Q: And can you take me through the final hour before you actually go out and your bout starts? What are you doing physically and what are you doing mentally?
Matt Lindland: Well, I was back in the locker room and Josh Barnett and I were visiting. And then I think we decided we were going to get warmed up. And I got my hands taped and I got my body moving and then I went out and scrapped. I mean, it's what I do. I think if somebody didn't do this for a living, they might get a little worked up and nervous and stuff, but for me, I'm getting excited. I enjoy going out there and performing and doing my job. So, I just keep my body moving and start thinking of my game plan and go out there and fight.
Michael Cohen: I want to just to add to one more thing Tom was talking about, which is to create the knowledge of Affliction as a real player in this mixed martial arts arena. And I want everybody on the line to understand and appreciate that there's a real team in place here when it comes to Affliction Entertainment. Besides for the amazing talent of Tom Atencio in dealing with the fighters and dealing with the match-ups and dealing with venues and so on, there is a real team behind Tom as well, which is led by, you know, Mr. Trump himself, who is a tremendous sports fan. Mr. Trump has recently turned the reins over to Don Trump, Jr., in order to represent him in this specific arena and this specific venture. Alongside with myself as an employee of Mr. Trump's, as well as my relationship with Affliction, there is a real team behind here. So you have the Trump - you have Mr. Trump, you have Don Trump, Jr., you have myself, you have Tom Atencio, you have Golden Boy, you have distribution that's now going to be through Showtime. There is a real team here. And what I want to express is that there is no doubt in our minds that ultimately Affliction will be as Tom put it the Q-Tip of the mixed martial arts world. We will become the premier company when it comes to the fighters.
And look at we have. You have Fedor. You have Arlovski. You have Josh, Vitor, Matt Lindland, Babalu...I mean, we have the best - as far as we're concerned the best of the best that's out there. Now are there others that are also great? The answer is yes. But we believe that we have the best of the best. We believe that the event that we put on is truly the best event for the benefit of the fans. And ultimately Affliction Entertainment will become the premier company in mixed martial arts.
Q: If I could start with Tom Atencio, please, you briefly mentioned ticket sales earlier, but I was hoping you could address them a little more specifically. There have been some reports that there's this view is 1500 to 2000 tickets sold at this point. And I was curious if you could, address the validity of those reports and also if an adjustment to the arena configuration is possible.
Tom Atencio: No, absolutely not true. The ticket sales are going well, as I stated before. I'm not going to give exact numbers. It's just I don't think it's necessary. But, no, I mean, the ticket sales are going well. And what was the second part of the question about the arena?
Q: If there was a possibility of a different configuration than what we saw the first time.
Tom Atencio: No, it's going to be pretty close to the first time. Obviously the only difference is there's no band. But we will have a stage, and I was real happy with the way the fighters came out last time. And so we're looking to, continue with what we did right, and fix what we did wrong. So it's going to be a learning process. This is only our second event. But, we did something that no other organization was able to do and come out with a big bang and we look forward to doing it again.
Q: Absolutely. There's been a handful of people associated, fighters specifically, that have mentioned that you may be doing as many as 14 shows next - or this year with four under the Affliction banner and through the M-1 partnership as well. I was curious if you could comment on the validity of that as well, if that's your initial plans to do that many events?
Tom Atencio: Yeah, we are. And we've partnered up with M-1 Global that are our full partner. And they put on 10 or 11 shows a year and so yeah, a lot of my fighters are going over there, as well as main events. And so it's a way for us to be able to keep the fighters busy. That's one of my struggles right now is making sure these guys are busy. These guys need to make money. You know, Josh Barnett fights in Japan. Matt, we want to keep him busy as well. And a lot of people aren't looking at the fact that this is only our second event. So I'm looking forward to having a second successful event. But, once again, I want to keep these guys busy. They need to make money. They need to make a living.
Q: And for Josh Barnett, there have been some reports and some speculation before - in the buildup to this fight that you had originally been considered for a fight with Fedor and turned that down. And I was curious if there was any validity to those reports that that was offered to you and you didn't want to accept that fight.
Josh Barnett: Well, it was more like Fedor and I both were not actually really into the fight at the time. So there was a lot - there's a lot that go behind that. And there was some jostling to begin with, but a lot of it was fairly premature. And then in the end, it ended up just laying out the way that it did, as it is.
Tom Atencio: Let me back that up as well. I mean, Josh doesn't turn fights down. I can honestly say that. And it just didn't work out. And, with the onslaught of the Internet, that's part of the problem is people just say whatever they want to say with no validity, without any kind of backing. And everybody tends to believe it. Especially the writers, always tell everybody, if you want to know the truth, come and ask me. I'll always give you something. But, you know, no, absolutely, Josh will fight anybody. I know that for a fact.
Q: No doubt, thank you. Also for Josh Barnett, your career, you don't have a whole lot to prove, but you're still not really a household name to most American fans. Is that notoriety to the American fans important to you? Or is it more about the match-ups and what you can continue to accomplish in your career?
Josh Barnett: Notoriety only means something to me if there's free stuff involved or money. That's about it. I never did this to be famous. I did this to, crush skulls. That's what I do. That's what I enjoy doing. I love being in the middle of that. I'm going to continue to work on establishing and creating a career that's going to stand the test of time and that it's going to have to speak for itself. But as long as I get to go out there and get stuck in and just fighting with anybody, then I'm living what I want to do.
Q: And lastly for Matt Lindland, please, obviously the frequency of your fights has kind of dropped off dramatically over the last couple of years. I was just curious if there was any reason for that other than the various contract negotiation issues you've had and if we can expect to see you fight more frequently in 2009 and beyond?
Matt Lindland: Well, I can just be frank with you and tell you that two companies prior to Affliction that I was fighting for, or actually three companies, we had - went out of business. I fought for the IFL. They went out of business. I fought for Bodog. They went out of business. And WFA, they all were not able to make this work. I'm with Affliction now and they're making it work. And you're going to see me in the ring a lot more frequently now that I'm hearing the amount of shows that Affliction's going to be able to put on and produce. And you'll see me in the ring more frequently, which is what I've always wanted to do.
Michael Cohen: And Affliction is happy to have to you, Matt.
Josh Barnett: How more frequently will we see you in the - singing karaoke, though?
Matt Lindland: Every time we go to Japan, Josh, we're going to do karaoke. Thanks for inviting me to karaoke, Josh. I appreciate that.
Josh Barnett: Well, you have to be able to stop from getting arm-barred by women fighters.
Q: This question is for Josh. Josh, I'm wondering since so much of your career has taken place in Japan, how many people in the Seattle area, in your hometown, kind of know who you are and what you've accomplished? I'm just trying to get a gauge of I know MMA has become much more popular, much more people know about it. How many people know about you here in town?
Josh Barnett: That's pretty difficult. Seattle isn't really an MMA town. It just isn't. And it never really has been. And there are some strong pockets of support up there in the Northwest, but as a whole, MMA really isn't Seattle's thing. They've never really embraced it. They've never really, come out for it. It's never been something that was a big topic of conversation amongst the regular folk here. And when I say regular folk, I mean, I grew up in Ballard, so I'm as regular as you could possibly be. And, you know, all of the fights usually occur in Edmonds or maybe one of the outlying casinos or maybe out over towards Shelton or something like that or there are pretty successful fights in the south Seattle area, you're talking Federal Way, Auburn, that kind of thing. But like in Seattle, if you get 400 people at a show, it's probably just because it's in a gym and the other gyms' fighters and supports of those fighters from the visiting gyms are there. It's just not - it's never been a main focus. And that's actually part of the reason why I moved to Orange County for all my training and because I just wasn't really able to continue to try and be the best fighter in the world and live in Seattle, unfortunately. And I was there over the Christmas break and I really enjoyed being back there and I still love the town very much. But I think that they're going to still be running behind in terms of MMA's popularity in the actual Seattle metro for a little while.
Matt Lindland: Actually since the Sonics left a void in some of the sports entertainment up there, I've moved our Comcast sports show with Sport Fight, which is a show I produce, it's actually gone into the Seattle market now as well on Comcast SportsNet. So you can catch some of the fighting up there. So hopefully more fans will catch on and it will grow up in the Northwest. We're having those same issues in the Portland market where, there are fans. They just need to know about it and find out about it and they'll get out and watch it. And so every Saturday night on Comcast SportsNet, it's going to be in the Seattle area. It has been now.
Michael Cohen: You know, one of the nice things about MMA is it's just become the fastest-growing sport in probably in the world right now. And I've had the opportunity to witness first hand the popularity of Josh Barnett, you know, as we were walking say, through Vegas or, through Los Angeles, and I can tell you that ultimately all of the towns and all of the states will become much more familiar with the fighters and it's just a matter of time.
Josh Barnett: And the other thing about the Northwest, that's great to get that kind of content up there for people to watch. I just worry that from Oregon and being in Seattle, we might be like oh, crap...
Matt Lindland: We showcase all of the best fighters from all over the Northwest.
Josh Barnett: The Northwest is really, even though it - like Matt says, we have these metropolitan areas, which have - really, they're kind of their own vibe. And Portland...
Matt Lindland: You could call them tree-hugging hippie liberals.
Josh Barnett: Well, there is that. They're super highly educated. And, in fact, I believe Seattle is one of the most highly educated cities in the world, or at least in our nation. And, they're - what they're into out there is usually, fighting isn't one of the things that comes up on top of the list. But there's a lot of great talent that has emerged from the Northwest. I mean, you've got Matt, Randy Couture is a Lynnwood, Washington native. If you're from Seattle, you think of Lynnwood, you think of mullets and Trans Ams, but it doesn't matter. I mean Seattle is Seattle. Maurice Smith from West Seattle, Matt Hume, he's from the Kirkland area. I mean, there's just a ton of great talent that's come out of there. And it's a little disheartening for me that all these great fighters go somewhat unnoticed.
Tom Atencio: What's wrong with mullets and Trans Ams just out of curiosity?
Josh Barnett: Well, they'll be coming back. Don't worry about it, Tom.
Tom Atencio There's a lot of great talent that always end up leaving the Northwest. And I would really like to see the Northwest be able to embrace and then be proud of the great athletic talents that are coming, I mean, world champion level talent that has come - emerged from Seattle and other places in the Northwest.
Q: So have got a question for Josh Barnett. Gilbert Yvel did have some issues in his past. What would you do if he tried anything like that?
Josh Barnett: Are you saying what would I do if Gilbert was to try to foul me or...
Q: Yeah, try to do anything illegal or anything.
Josh Barnett: Well, I guess there's a scale on that. I think if somebody took a cheap-shot at me and a low blow, I'll probably just suck it up and just put him away and put a little extra stink on it. If somebody tries to bite one of my fingers off or gouge my eyes, then I'll probably lose my cool and try fight for my life. I don't think that's an issue. I think, you know, I was with Gilbert. He knows what he did was wrong. And, you know, there are other circumstances. And I think if you don't know the full story, you don't know the circumstances, I think it's the past. It's been over four years since he's had any trouble, so, you know, and I think it's time to just lay it to rest.
Q: I wanted to know why was the event rescheduled and what was the original date?
Tom Atencio: It has been asked before, but the original date was October in Las Vegas and it was an executive decision as Mr. Cohen had stated of all people involved that we just decided it would best benefit everyone involved to go ahead and reschedule to the date now, which is January 24 with Mr. Trump, M-1 Global, and Golden Boy Promotions. So we all decided that it would benefit what we had.
Michael Cohen: To add to that, because this question, as Tom has said, has been asked and answered at least 2-1/2 dozen times. As Tom stated, we are a relatively new company, Affliction Entertainment. In the course of the nine months since the inception of this company, there has been the introduction of Donald Trump to the company. M-1 Global, you have Oscar de la Hoya, you have the distribution going through HD Net and Showtime. There has been tremendous, tremendous success that has been brought about by the efforts of those who I've mentioned, as well as others at Affliction, including as you've been hearing from many of the different reporters, Tom Atencio, who has done an unbelievable job for this company. So you need to understand that every company that's at its inception stage has things that they do right and things that they do wrong. It has always been the mantra of this company to put on the best events for the benefit of both the fighters and the fans. The October event would not have been the type of event that Affliction, Mr. Trump, Tom Atencio, or any of the other mentioned parties would have been satisfied with. Would it have been good? The answer is yes. Would it have been great? The answer is no. Affliction Entertainment will soon by synonymous with only putting on events that are spectacular. This fight on January 24 will be spectacular. The July 19 event was spectacular. And every event that is put on because of the power of the people who are associated will be a spectacular event.
END OF CALL
Promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and brought to you by Affliction Entertainment and its partners, Donald J. Trump and M-1 Global, Affliction M-1 "Day of Reckoning" is scheduled for January 24 at Honda Center in Anaheim, CA and live on Pay-Per-View. The loaded fight card includes 11 rousing bouts of fierce, full-throttle action headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski. The six-fight blockbuster PPV telecast, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, features MMA stars Josh Barnett, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Chris Horodecki and Matt Lindland in separate bouts. As a prelude to the highly anticipated PPV telecast, HDNet will televise live beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT five additional fights with the marquee match-up of Antonio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko as the main event.
