Affliction has pulled the plug on its planned event in Last Vegas on October 11 and informed the Nevada State Athletic Commission today that its next event will be in Anaheim in January of 2009, Sherdog is reporting.
The move doesn't come as a big surprise: There was no buzz at all surrounding the main event between Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett, and Affliction hadn't signed any big-name fighters for its undercard. If the show had gone on in October, it would have been a huge money loser for the company.
Of course, the event is already a money loser because Affliction has already sunk money into promoting the event for October 11. But the company apparently decided to cut its losses and look toward next year.
Questions remain, however, about whether the company can ever succeed in mixed martial arts. Although the company has some good fighters under contract, it doesn't have the kinds of fighters who can attract hundreds of thousands of pay-per-view buys, and that's what Affliction needs if it wants to turn a profit.
If Affliction doesn't add some big names by January, Dana White's prediction that they'll be out of business by then may prove correct.