INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE (IFL) MOVES APRIL 13 EVENT TO MOHEGAN SUN FOR FIRST-EVER SAME NIGHT TELEVISED TEAM COMPETITION
Fox Sports Net to show team matchup between Renzo Gracie’s Pitbulls and Matt Lindland’s Wolfpack same night at 11 p.m.
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.
“We are very excited that FSN has agreed to give us a window to show our product the same night, and we felt that in order to produce the best event possible we needed to move to a site and an area which we have already had success and know very well,” said IFL Co-founder and Commissioner Kurt Otto. “As we have said all along, 2007 will be the year for us to test many things to see what works best, and although we know how strong the MMA following is in Florida and that we will be there at some point, we felt the best site for our first same-night broadcast would be Mohegan Sun.”
Mohegan Sun hosted the finals of the IFL “World Team Championships” on December 29, 2006, and in front of a near-capacity crowd, Pat Miletich’s Silverbacks defeated Matt Lindland’s Wolfpack for the title.
The matchups at Mohegan Sun will include the Tucson-based Scorpions, coached by MMA legend Don Frye, taking on the Toronto-based Dragons, coached by MMA world champion Carlos “The Ronin” Newton. The Portland-based Wolfpack, led by world champion and Olympic wrestling Silver Medalist Matt Lindland, will take on the New York-based Pitbulls, led by world jiu-jitsu champion Renzo Gracie.
Each of the nine regular season IFL events will consist of four teams – each with an athlete in all five weight classes competing – along with a special Superfight, for a minimum of 11 bouts per card. The team that wins the best three of five match setup will be declared the team winner for the match, similar to collegiate and high school wrestling meets. The IFL also differs from other MMA organizations in that the bouts are held in an oversized five-rope boxing ring with three, four-minute rounds, each designed to create the most compelling in-arena experience for local fans.
Each of the 12 IFL teams for 2007 will compete in three regular season events; the teams with the top four overall win-loss team records will advance to the semi-finals, which will be held on Thursday, August 2, at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. The 2007 IFL Finals will then be held at The Forum in Los Angeles on Saturday, September 15.
About the IFL
International Fight League™ (IFL) is the world’s first professional mixed martial arts sports league. IFL has its headquarters in New York, NY and offices in Las Vegas, NV. For more information about IFL, please see: www.ifl.tv