Affliction’s plans for a successful debut PPV event were tarnished this month when the UFC announced that they would be airing UFC Fight Night 14 on the same night as Affliction "Banned".

While Affliction is coming out strong with a recipe for success that consist of top ten ranked heavyweights, the Russian Emperor, and Megadeth, there is no doubt that the UFC’s July 19th event will take it’s toll on the companies PPV sales.

The message boards are already crawling with fans that say that will not purchase the event but will instead watch the UFC’s free event on Spike TV.

While Dana White would never admit that he scheduled the event on the same day on purpose, it is quite obvious that he was looking to send a message to his competitor in the form of a giant FU. The two organizations have formed a rivalry of sorts that goes back to UFC 79 when the UFC’s fighters were banned from wearing Affliction clothing.

Headlining UFC Fight Night 14 is Anderson "The Spider" Silva who will make his light heavyweight debut against James "The Sandman" Irvin. Affliction "Banned" features a main event that will decide the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in a match between number one ranked Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

With a total of five top ten ranked heavyweights on the card, you would think the choice for many would be simple. That is not the case however. It seems the UFC’s branding power has a hex over it’s fans who are loyal to say the least. There seems to be two types of fans in mixed martial arts at this point in time, MMA fans and UFC fans. It’s unfortunate but I truly believe this is the case.

Sherdog.com did a poll asking it’s readers which event they would watch on July 19th. Twenty five percent said that they would watch UFC Fight Night 14 instead of Affliction "Banned". It is also clearly evident in the forums that a good percentage of people will not pay Affliction’s $39.95 price tag to watch the event. In fact some posters have even posted topics warning others not to pay for the event.

Here are some of the reasons that people will watch the UFC instead of Affliction:

"The headliner is great, but otherwise I have never been that pumped about this card. I don’t really care about the heavyweight division, can’t stand Lindland, and a lot of the other fighters are past their prime. Now that UFC has a decent free event on I’m gonna save myself some loot and just watch that. I’ll check the PBP on here for Affliction."

"I was going to buy just to support them, but it is in a friggen ring, so no, I will not be giving any MMA org money, who is dumb enough to use a ring. I hope they fail."

"The UFC is basically the NFL of mma and I would much rather watch the Dolphins play the Browns than any arena league game and this affliction card is like watching the 49ers play the Rhine Fire."

"I too will no longer be purchasing the affliction show. The card has a lot of big and recognizable names, but the actual matchups don’t interest me that much. Tim Sylvia’s fights are often boring. AA hasn’t looked like the AA of old since getting ko’d by Tim. Lindland’s style is often boring. Barnett’s too. I would’ve gotten the card to watch Fedor fight against a decent opponent, but now that Anderson Silva, Vera, Franca, Edgar etc. are fighting on a free card…I think I’ll just save my money instead."

"The only fighters worth watching on the Affliction card are Fedor and Arlovski….I don’t understand why everyone thinks this card is so great. Id rather watch Anderson any day."

"I’ll watch the free prelim card for sure on FSN, but once its time for UFN… Spike channel it is. I mean I’m sure the Affliction PPV will end up on the net anyway. In all honesty, the economy is rough and gas prices are high. $40 for a PPV = gas money/groceries."

"I will watch the free UFC fight, then find free videos of Affliction fights."

The most common reason for people deciding to watch the UFC over Affliction was the fact that Anderson Silva is on the card. Another common reason was that many believe a lot of the heavyweights on the Affliction card are past their prime. Some also stated that a lot of the fights were mismatches.

A very common solution to the problem of deciding what to watch was to DVR the UFC event and watch the Affliction event live on PPV.

So what will you do and explain why?