Affliction has that name recognition, and the fans know they carry many talented fighters. On the other hand, one has to wonder how, when time marches on, will they continue to produce high profile fighters.
One would have to imagine continually absorbing fighters who have vacated the UFC is not going to work forever. With the inclusion of fighters like Babalu, Tim Sylvia, and Andre Arlovksi, it has worked so far. Still, Affliction must separate itself in its own right from the UFC and its fighters.
That being said, they may learn a thing or two from the practices of the UFC.
This means cultivating up-and-coming fighters who have both the talent and potential star power to help Affliction stand on its own. This is not to say they are not currently pursuing this angle-only to say there is a viable option just waiting to be picked up by a top shelf promotion.
That option is Bobby Lashley.
What the UFC has done so successfully with Brock Lesnar is not out of the realm of possibility for an alliance between Lashley and Affliction.
This has the potential to become the catalyst for Affliction-strengthening its presence and prolonging its tenure in this game. Lashley has that star power to attract cross-over fans from the world of professional wrestling.
No, no it doesn't.
He's got one sort of valid point here, Affliction is doing nothing to build new fighters, they're just burning t-shirt cash on fighters who made their names in PRIDE and the UFC.
But for the rest of it, I'm afraid Jackson is making a mistake I made about a year ago when I first heard Lashley was coming from WWE to MMA: assuming that Lashley is popular enough with the wrestling audience to inspire a crossover of fans to MMA. Brock Lesnar did it, but the problem is Lashley is not Lesnar.
For one thing, he's not quite the athlete Lesnar is. Lesnar was the 2000 NCAA national champion as a heavyweight. Lashley was the NAIA national in 1997 and 1998 at 177 pounds. I'm not making light of Lashley's accomplishments, winning the NAIA national championship is a serious accomplishment but winning the NCAA's is a much bigger accomplishment.
Also Lashley is not naturally as big and strong as Lesnar. He's very big and strong but Lesnar cuts weight to make 265, Lashley weighs in around 255 and has bulked up enormously since his college wrestling days. Lesnar has put on muscle as well, but proportionally much less.
Then there's the evidence of their MMA fights. Let's face it, Brock Lesnar is a freaking prodigy and Lashley isn't. Lashley is a serious prospect, but that's all he is. In his third MMA fight, Lesnar was sending Heath Herring ass-over-feet across the ring with one punch. In his second MMA fight, Lashley struggled to win a decision over an overweight light heavyweight in Jason Guida.
Even in pro-wrestling, Lesnar outshone Lashley, winning the marquee WWE belt twice and had periods as both one of the top heroes and one of the top heels in the game. Lashley only held the second-tier ECW belt and never really got over with pro wrestling fans.
This doesn't mean I'm not following Lashley's career with interest, but he's just a prospect with an unusually high profile. And compared to guys like Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal or Ben Askren or Jake Rosholt or Satoshi Ishii, he's older. At 32 he's as old as Antonio Rogerio Nogueira or Wanderlei Silva. Sure he's younger than Shane Carwin, so I wouldn't say he's too old to make an impact or even to win a major title, but I would say his window to do it is much shorter than the younger prospects.
That's the Lashley side of things, as far as Affliction, I think its too late for anything to save that promotion.
