Tokyo Sabres
 |
|
| Sport | Mixed martial arts |
|---|---|
| Founded | January 7, 2006 |
| Ceased | July 31, 2008 |
| CEO | Jay Larkin |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Last champion(s) |
New York Pitbulls |
The International Fight League was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion billed as the world's first MMA league. It was founded on January 7, 2006 and closed on July 31, 2008. Instead of the established norm for MMA events, where matchups are strictly one-on-one affairs, each IFL card was a showdown between two camps of at least three fighters, each fighter fighting one match against another in the opposing camps.
The IFL was founded January 7, 2006 by real- estate developer Kurt Otto and Wizard magazine founder Gareb Shamus, two well-financed devotees of mixed martial arts who were inspired by the Mark Kerr documentary The Smashing Machine. With the IFL, they intended to create a system not only to showcase mixed martial arts action but to also provide a business plan that would allow fighters a greater share of profits. In a marked contrast with the rest of the industry, instead of paying fighters only purses after fights, the IFL paid a salary and health benefits to train and fight. The team concept was intended to be conducive for television, where episodes could be regularly produced.
It had been widely speculated that the IFL, with the deep pockets of its founders, television deal and innovative business plan, would become a major circuit for MMA in North America, directly competing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The UFC and IFL had a hostile relationship, as the UFC accused the IFL of and sued them for illegally using proprietary information obtained by hiring executives from the UFC organization. The IFL shot back with their own suit claiming the UFC was threatening potential partners not to work with the IFL, including Fox Sports Net (a deal with Fox Sports was later signed before resolution of the suit ). The tension between the IFL and the UFC worsened with accusations that the IFL has attempted to buy out several top UFC fighters.
The inaugural event was held on April 29, 2006 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey, featuring the Quad City Silverbacks vs the Los Angeles Anacondas and the Seattle Tiger Sharks vs the New York Pitbulls, with a superfight between Jens Pulver and Cole Escovedo.
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