IFL: A Sinking Ship

I may be one of the last writers to have covered an International Fight League event, as rumors are swirling that the IFL may be going under.

There is truth to these rumors since the IFL cancelled its August event where they were going to unveil there new ring the HEX.

From the IFL's beginning I was never a big fan of the team concept. MMA like boxing is an individual sport. A fighter wins a title, a team should be only the fighters that train with that fighter.

This year the IFL went from a team concept to having fighters represent camps. This change was probably done a little too late.

One positive thing about the IFL is that when it was featured on 60 Minutes the price of its stock soared. I really wish I could have been one of the investors that cashed in my profits that week. Now that stock is worthless.

I hope Bas Rutten can sign with Affliction and be their broadcaster for the July 19th card.

Here is what UFC President Dana White said about the IFL I got this from Mark Chalifoux:

Dana White: I’m doing it Tuesday. Let me tell you how out of [expletive deleted] control that thing is. I was talking to ESPN and [the reporter] was talking about competition and I said, ‘Let me tell you what. People have been trying to compete with the UFC for years, even before we bought it. The last big one everyone thought was a big threat ... was the IFL. They went public, raised 800-[expletive deleted] million dollars, then they were talking about doing fighter benefits and stuff. They got the first network deal and those other guys weren’t the first on. They got time on 60 Minutes with us when 60 Minutes did their piece on us, and now the IFL is gone. They are [expletive deleted] down, their stock is worth half a cent (Editor's note: IFLI closed today at $0.02). That’s what we were talking about that day and I said I’m going to make an announcement to my employees that shows everyone exactly where this business is going in the next couple years.

Now that the IFL is going under and at first glance it looks like this is true, Roy Nelson one of the IFL's bigger fighters, could fight Kimbo Slice or Brett Rogers.