Saturday, August 9, 2008

Affliction II: Rizzo vs. Rothwell Announced


Definitely an good match up for fight fans as both fighters are looking to rebound from losses at Affliction: Banned, but I think this highlights a major problem the Affliction promotion has which is a lack of young fighters to challenge true contenders. The Pedro Rizzo versus Josh Barnett fight made sense for the first Affliction show because Rizzo was Barnett's only loss on US soil and it was a good way to set up a fight with Fedor if he also won and was healthy. This fight is much less attractive because Rizzo is clearly on his way out of the sport and Rothwell is on his way up or at his prime. Will it be a good show for the fans? Probably, but I would personally rather see Rothwell fight a young, hungry fighter than an old retread that fans merely recognize by name at this point. It is similar to when Tito and Ken Shamrock fought two times a couple of years ago, only without the animosity, sure it was cool to see Tito finish a fight, but it didn't really prove anything. Memo to Affliction, if you want to be successful in this game find the sport's next stars and pit them against the best, because they will fight for less money and they are willing to risk more, which means a better show for the fans. Plus, you are able to build your own stars as opposed to buying someone else's.

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