Archive for February, 2007

NEW YORK, February 28, 2007- The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, and television partner Fox Sports Net will host a family rivalry on Friday night, as Ken Shamrock’s Reno Lions take on the San Jose Razorclaws, coached by his brother Frank, this Friday night. It will be the second of 22 one-hour shows to be seen on FSN.

Start time for the show is 11 p.m. in most markets. The March FSN schedule, with dates and times on each Regional FSN network, can be seen at http://www.ifl.tv/TV-Schedule.html. Viewers can also check their local schedule at http://msn.foxsports.com/tv/schedule. Read the rest of this entry »

The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization today announced to the world it will stage UFC 70: NATIONS COLLIDE – the largest MMA event ever seen in the United Kingdom – at Manchester’s MEN Arena Saturday, April 21, 2007.

Headlining UFC 70 is Croatian superstar Mirko “Cro Cop” vs. Gabriel Gonzaga. The main card also features Belaruse heavyweight Andrei Arlovski vs. Fabricio Werdum and Forrest Griffin vs. Lyoto Machida. The event will also mark the homecoming for Britain’s own Michael Bisping, the winner of the most recent season of the hit reality show, The Ultimate Fighter® 3 which airs on Spike TV in the US and on Bravo in the UK.

The Manchester show is the first of a series of high-profile events to hit Britain this year, following the announcement that the UFC now has a fully functioning London-based office. The UFC is also looking at expansions through Europe with a number of large-scale live events which will be screened live in the UK on Setanta pay per view. Read the rest of this entry »

ATLANTA, February 23, 2007 – The Wolfpack, coached by Matt Lindland and based in Portland, Ore., and Pitbulls, coached by Renzo Gracie and based in New York, won their 2007 International Fight League debuts in front of 5,057 at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. UFC veteran Robbie Lawler defeated Brazilian upstart Eduardo Pamplona by TKO in the Superfight which followed the team competition.

The Wolfpack topped the Dragons (Toronto), coached by Carlos Newton, 3-2, while the Pitbulls subdued the Red Bears (Chicago), trained by Igor Zinoviev, by a 4-1 margin. The victory moved the Pitbulls into first place after the first round of IFL competition. Read the rest of this entry »

LAS VEGAS – The World Extreme Cagefighting® (WEC™) organization announced today that it will hold its second event in Las Vegas live in The Joint at the world-famous Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Featuring three championship bouts, the WEC will take place Saturday, March 24, 2007.

With three title bouts on tap, the WEC’s second Las Vegas show has fans buzzing with anticipation, as serious stakes are in play. The lineup features the main event of John “The Natural” Alessio vs. Carlos Condit in a battle for the vacant WEC Welterweight crown. The card also presents WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah “The California Kid” Faber, aiming to make his second title defense against tough scrapper Dominic Cruz. In the third title tilt, fans finally get to see the sensational striker from Houston, WEC Bantamweight Champion Eddie Wineland collide with tough Chase Beebe. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, February 21, 2007- The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, and television partner Fox Sports Net will begin its 2007 Friday night schedule this Friday, February 23, with the season-opening matchup from Oakland, Calif., between the Tiger Sharks, coached by MMA and kickboxing world champion Maurice Smith and based in Seattle, and the Condors, led by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA champion Marco Ruas and based in Southern California. It will be the first of 22 one-hour shows to be seen on FSN.

Start time for the show is 11 p.m. in most markets. The February FSN schedule, with dates and times on each Regional FSN network, can be seen at http://www.ifl.tv/TV-Schedule.html. Viewers can also check their local schedule at http://msn.foxsports.com/tv/schedule. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, February 20, 2007- The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, announced today that Joel Ehrlich has been named to the newly-created position of Chief Marketing Officer and President of Sales. Ehrlich, one of the most well-known and respected brand builders in the industry for over 25 years, will begin the new full-time position immediately. He will oversee and coordinate all of the sales efforts as well as creating, identifying and implementing new strategic relationships with IFL partners.

“We are elated that Joel has decided to join the IFL,” said IFL co-founder and CEO Gareb Shamus. “His limitless contacts and stellar reputation as one of the most creative minds in the marketing industry will be a huge asset both to the IFL and to the fast-growing sport of Mixed Martial Arts.” Read the rest of this entry »

SANTA ANA, California (February 19, 2007) – The highest purse ever offered in the history of Mixed Martial Arts competition — $1,000,000 – could be on the line for the winner of the New Era Fighting-promoted “World’s Toughest Man” contest.

New Era Fighting (NEF), the internationally booming mixed martial arts organization combining the raw brutality of UFC with the entertainment value of WWE, will hold a series of international level tryouts, tentatively scheduled to begin June 15-17, at a venue in Orange Country, California. Read the rest of this entry »

MIAMI and BOCA RATON, Fla., February 19, 2007 – Ben Rothwell let out a primal scream, one to which fans of the International Fight League Silverbacks’ star have become accustomed. But this time, instead of occurring in the ring with one of the league’s other heavyweights on the business end, the venue was a Boca Raton, Fla., television studio with a heavy bag and the MyNetworkTV cameras in the firing line.

That scene wrapped two days of intensive activity in several studio and outdoor venues, as 11 of the top IFL athletes served as subjects in interviews, green-screen shoots, titles, interstitials and promos, all key elements of “IFL Battleground,” the exciting new series which will debut on March 12 on MyNetworkTV affiliates across the country. The two-hour program, which will air at 8 p.m. ET/PT and 7 p.m. CT/MT, will cover the stories of each of the athletes both in and out of the ring, bringing fans all of the event and behind the scenes action of the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league. Segments will take viewers up close during the competition and also into the locker rooms, training routines, and home lives of this diverse set of athletes who are a part of the world’s fastest growing professional and recreational sport. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK and ATLANTA, February 14, 2007 – The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, today announced the updated 11-bout card for its first event in the Southeast, on Friday, February 23, at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga., beginning at 7:30 p.m. The matchups at The Arena at Gwinnett Center will include the Portland, Ore., based Wolfpack, coached by Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland, taking on the Dragons, based in Toronto and coached by world champion Carlos Newton. The second team matchup will feature the New York-based Pitbulls, coached by world jiu-jitsu champion Renzo Gracie, taking on the Chicago-based Red Bears, led by Russian MMA standout Igor Zinoviev. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, February 7, 2007- The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, announced today that it will move its Friday, April 13, event from Lakeland, Florida, to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, and that the event will be shown the same night on Fox Sports Net at 11 p.m. in all markets. The live show at Mohegan Sun will begin at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets will be available starting February 10 through www.ifl.tv or via Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com, by telephone or at Ticketmaster outlets. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, February 7, 2007- The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, and television partner Fox Sports Net (FSN) today announced the first segment of its weekly national schedule of IFL programming to primarily air on Fridays at 11 p.m. local time, beginning February 23. The series begins with the 2007 season-opening matchup from Oakland, Calif., between the Seattle-based Tiger Sharks, coached by MMA and kickboxing world champion Maurice Smith, and the Condors of Southern California led by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA champion Marco Ruas. Read the rest of this entry »

SANTA ANA, California (February 6, 2007) – New Era Fighting (NEF), the evolving mixed martial arts organization combining the raw brutality of UFC with the entertainment value of WWE, will promote the “World’s Toughest Man” contest, NEF president Ron Kort announced today.

NEF will hold a series of international level tryouts, tentatively scheduled to begin June 15-17,at a venue in Orange Country, California. Each tryout in the proposed series will be conducted during a three-day tournament. Combat fighters selected will advance to the next round, where they will fight each other in a tournament format to determine 10 survivors. Read the rest of this entry »

HOUSTON, February 2, 2007- The Tokyo-based Sabres, led by Ken Yasuda and Los Angeles-based Anacondas, coached by Bas Rutten, won their respective season-opening International Fight League matchups today in front of 4,531 at Reliant Arena in Houston. Matt Lindland, coach of the Portland-based Wolfpack submitted Carlos Newton, Toronto-based Dragons’ coach in the “Superfight” which followed the team matchups.

The Sabres won, 3-2, over the Scorpions, coached by Don Frye and based in Tucson, while the Anacondas upended the defending IFL World Team Champion Silverbacks, led by Pat Miletich, by the same 3-2 count. Read the rest of this entry »

Las Vegas, NV ��” The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization today announced that it will take Ultimate Fighting® to a whole new level of action with the launch of UFC pay-per-view events broadcast in High-Definition Television (HD). UFC 67: ALL OR NOTHING, which takes place this Saturday, Feb. 3 live from Mandalay Bay, will be the first UFC event available to fight fans in HD.

“We are very excited to bring UFC fans a new, more intense UFC experience by presenting all of our UFC pay-per-view events in HD,” said Dana White, UFC President. “We are committed to giving fans new ways to enjoy the UFC, and offering our events in HD is going to make viewers at home feel like they’re sitting Octagon™-side at every fight.” Read the rest of this entry »

Las Vegas, Nevada(February 1, 2007)– “Slick” Nick Sampson & Macke Roberts of Sin City Boxing Management proudly announce the signing of lightweight MMA fighter & welterweight pro boxer Khristian “The Sandman” Geraci to an exclusive management contract. Sampson & Roberts say with his seek and destroy aggressive fight style, Geraci is pure excitement in the boxing ring and the MMA Cage. The native of Pittsburgh, PA, has not been discouraged by some of his previous losses. “Geraci says he’s giving his future opponents some solid advice. Don’t let my record fool you. I have a lot of talent and ability inside the ring or the cage and my opponents have two options when they fight me either tap out or pass out.” Read the rest of this entry »