After viewing the 2002 documentary The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, two businessmen got the idea to establish the International Fight League.
Gareb Shamus, founder of Wizard magazine and real estate developer Kurt Otto announced the MMA league in 2006 with the idea of making MMA a team sport with different franchises.
There was also the goal of making sure fighters got more out of the sport by receiving salaries as well as healthcare.
The International Fight League Starts
IFL’s formula was interesting in promos. We’d seen UFC and PRIDE FC for several years by 2006, so events featuring team fights and maybe a super fight were something new and exciting.
It was a shake-up in how mixed martial arts competitions were shown. The league’s first season featured five teams: San Jose Razorclaws, Tokyo Sabres, Seattle Tiger Sharks, Toronto Dragons, and Tuscon Scorpions.
I’m not sure how the teams were decided or if the International Fight League just established teams where they could. What I do know is that in the league’s first year, there was a lot of beef with the UFC over several executives jumping ship.
It was believed that these execs gave the IFL information about how the UFC operates.
Another thing that caused a kerfuffle with the International Fight League was that it was heavily focused on team competition and a number of MMA enthusiasts wanted more one-on-one competitions.
Now, it wasn’t like IFL just had fighters on the apron to tag in mid-fight or whatever. Fights were set up by weight class—as expected—but moved from fight to fight.
This meant that any fight card was basically filled and super fights were peppered in. What stood out about the IFL’s structure is that it was TV-ready MMA.
While viewers wouldn’t see some of their favorite fighters every week, they would see in-ring action regularly via IFL Battleground on Fox Sports and MyNetwork TV.
IFL’s Death Knell
In its final year, the 2008 season switched from teams to established training camps. Events also featured more super fights with singles championships—with all except for the Light Heavyweight title being crowned at the December 29, 2007 events.
The International Fight League had already started to lose steam a little over a year into its run. By late 2008, the organization fell prey to what took out so many other MMA organizations: financial issues.
Yes, the IFL was basically out of money to actually organize shows and cover contracts. It was a wrap for the League and it pretty much served as confirmation about why a team sport approach won’t work for MMA at a pro-level.
As with any radical concept, you can always find a way where it could work but that’s always hindsight. Could IFL work thirteen years after its fall? Possibly but you have to look at it like the XFL’s first run.
Leagues only work long term when franchises or teams have people investing in them and there’s a whole infrastructure in the office to manage things.
That would mean teams having rosters that are close in size to the rosters of smaller organizations and team investors.
Remember to stay up to date with the latest news on TheOvertimer. Don’t forget to visit Screenstinger for great videos, news, and gameplay!
