The International Fight League is once again in the news again. This time, their coveted Grand Prix event is in danger of becoming a flop card after it's been promoted a bit with some of the big stars in the IFL. The IFL Grand Prix is scheduled to go on November 3rd at the Sears Center in Chicago, IL and apparently will have one hour of the event live on television. A couple of fights that won't be making the television portion are the matchups involving Ben Rothwell (27-5) and Mike Whitehead (19-5). Both fighters were dropped from the Grand Prix's fight card due to contractual issues. Jay Hieron (12-4) was also in danger of being dropped from the card, but was re-signed for the 2008 IFL season at the last second. All of this going on along with a couple of injuries that have really downgraded this card to a lot of fans caring a whole lot less about the outcomes. Compiling all of these problems with the Grand Prix, it made me realize that my stance on how the IFL could potentially rebound and put some quality cards on for the fans and possibly obtain a good following in the States is looking less and less likely. These contractual problems, injuries, and the possibility of losing some of the quality fighters that have made the organization have some exciting events almost convince me that the IFL may have some hard times ahead of them.
Contract issues causing big concerns
The first issue concerning the contracts involves how the IFL handled both fighters. Both Rothwell and Whitehead apparently needed to sign for the 2008 IFL Season before the Grand Prix. From the sound of it, the IFL signs fighters per season, not for a number of fights. The big problem with that is that it locks in a timeframe that can't be controlled by the organization. For instance, the UFC signs a fighter to a 4 fight deal and is then able to control when that fighter can fight. Since they can control that aspect of his contract, they can literally hijack your career until you either sign back with the organization after a lengthy contract negotiation, or you can simply tell them you are leaving and tell them to schedule your last bout. Obviously, the UFC has much more appeal and can use those kinds of tactics. Also, fighters probably don't want to the leave the UFC due to it being the pinnacle of the mixed martial arts universe. A fighter will want to negotiate and re-sign with the UFC where IFL fighters may be looking for a more premier organization. The UFC has the right idea though. Instead of scheduling a fight and then trying to get some kind of committment from them before the event, the UFC sidelines a fighter until they re-sign. That way of thinking may have us all bitching and moaning because one of the better fighters in the UFC isn't fighting, but it protects them from wasting money promoting a matchup that may not happen. The IFL should have done the same thing.
If the IFL sets up the number of fights before the season begins and signs those fighters to a number of fights deal, the same applies. Why didn't they just sideline that fighter until he either re-signed or left the organization? Not only would they not let down the fans, they could save themselves the pain of wasting money promoting a particular matchup and promote a fight that will actually happen like the Horodecki matchup.
The season format gets in the way of this a bit as well. Once the season's events are over, there is a playoff, finals, and a grand prix event. The finals and Grand Prix happen toward the end of the year and are the most important events of the year for the IFL. It also happens to be the time when contracts are up for renewal. This causes a conflict in that the most important events of the year for the organization have the potential to have a number of matchups replaced with B-level fights.
Stable of fighters and contracts can lead to bad events, injuries lead to poor fallback matchups
Since the IFL's stable of fighters isn't as premier or as big as that of bigger promotions, they have little to fall back on when contractual issues occur or a marquee fighter is injured. Obviously, the UFC has a number of great fighters willing to step up if an injury occurs. They also have the ability to create a fill-in matchup that isn't horrible if a fight is cancelled. The IFL doesn't have this luxury. With that said, Rothwell has been replaced by Bryan Vetell and now we will see the Vetell vs. Antoine Jaoude in the heavyweight matchup. Whitehead was dropped and now the light heavyweight matchup will be Roy Nelson vs. Reese Andy. While the Nelson vs. Andy fight somewhat intrigues me, Vetell vs. Jaoude isn't a matchup that is overly exciting.
The light heavyweight GP became completey hijacked by injuries. FIrst it was Mike Ciesnolevicz, who was then replaced by Andre Gusmao. Gusmao knocked out Ciesnolevicz in the IFL Finals, putting him on suspension due to the knockout. Gusmao is a big up and coming fighter in the IFL who has some buzz circulating around him. Unfortunately, he also became injured. Mike Whitehead was dropped from the IFL, as previously mentioned, and his alternate, Jamal Patterson, was also injured. So instead of having a great LHW Grand Prix, we have one LHW matchup for the title, an uninteresting lopsided battle between veteran grappler Vladmir Matsuyshenko and Ultimate Fighter Season 1 contestant Alex Schoenauer. You may remember Alex from his Ultimate Fighter Finale fight in which he lasted :20 seconds against Mike Swick. He is a decent grappler, but nowhere near the skill of the Russian. Four fighters injured shouldn't bury the Grand Prix, but it did.
As for contracts, the issues previously stated are only one part of the problem. The IFL is breeding the next generation of fighters. The next generation will most likely move on to the top organizations in the world and the IFL will be left in their dust. If that's their goal, you can stop reading. But if they plan on trying to really make a run at becoming one of the U.S.'s premier MMA organizations, what can they do as far as contracts go and convincing fighters to stick with the organization? There really isn't much they can do. They don't have the roster of fighters to create overly challenging matchups to guys like Rothwell. Bringing in Ricco Rodriguez was a classic example of something the IFL should keep doing, but other than signing free agent fighters for a few fights, you won't see too much more. The IFL still has financial problems that need to be solved, and I wouldn't predict that increasing pay will be one of the options that they have to keep some of these fighters with the IFL.
Should they stick to being a feeder organization?
It's a question that many people already have comments on. Most fans would say "Isn't the IFL already a feeder league?". I don't think the IFL sees it that way. With the news that they plan to air the Grand Prix for one hour LIVE, I think they plan on making a go at getting some excitement and live MMA out to the fans that have been calling for it for quite some time. The IFL has some things going for it that many other MMA organizations don't have going for them. Television deals. Not only do they have a great deal worked out with MyNetworkTV, but they also have shows on Fox Sports Net. Both channels are nationwide in the U.S. and also international. With that kind of exposure, there are potential ratings boosts out there to consider.
Take for instance the latest news about the Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott fight being cancelled. With IFL's television deals, why not grab up that type of fight and air it as a preliminary bout to the Grand Prix as purely an entertainment bout? Not only would I tune in, but I'd be a bit excited about at least seeing the fight live. Should the IFL try to grab up some of these entertainment type bouts? It may be a good move to add some ratings, some profit, and some type of hype around events that have been literally destroyed by all of the recent issues. One of the better things the IFL did was sign Ricco Rodriguez to fight Ben Rothwell in the IFL Finals. As a hardcore MMA fan, I had been hearing rumors that Ricco was cleaning up, weighing a lot less, and really training hard. I was very excited to see how he had progressed and that type of fight actually made me want to see the IFL Battleground show that recapped the Finals. Sure, fights like Kimbo vs. Tank have no bearing or impact in the MMA world, but the casual fan of fighting flipping through the channels may be interested enough to boost ratings and possibly lock up some extra advertising dollars due to the ratings increase.
Along the same lines, the IFL's Kurt Otto has also been discussing the signing of Kurt Angle to a deal. Kurt Angle is the pro-wrestling star and Olympic gold medal wrestler. The idea, I believe, is to have the WWE and pro-wrestling crowd crossover to tune in for Kurt Angle fights during IFL shows. I think this is a brilliant move as far as revenue goes. If the deal happens, events featuring Kurt Angle could receive big boosts. Ok.. so Kurt Angle in MMA may not have the biggest impact, if any impact at all in the MMA scene. But if you are a huge WWE fan, you will be tuning in to see him fight. IFL's financial problems mean they need to turn a profit. Spending money to get Angle to fight in the IFL may actually be a good deal.
Things aren't so bad
With all the injuries, contract issues, low amount of fighters on their roster, and financial problems, the IFL isn't getting better as I had previously thought. The financial problems can be attributed to the simple principle that it takes money to make money, but they need to concentrate more on obtaining more talent. The IFL did announce that they would be holding tryouts, and adding new coaches from different areas of the world, notably England and Brazil. These are all good things that the IFL has done to at least make an attempt at creating a better organization.
There are some new stories that have been released that implicate some big changes for the good. First, the production of IFL events will hopefully become LIVE very soon. The Grand Prix will be broadcast LIVE for one-hour of the event, and we will supposedly be getting Chris Horodecki vs. Bart Palaszewski, Benji Radach vs. Brent Beauparlant, and the Schoenauer vs. Matyushenko title fight. Not a bad lineup, and I'm definitely interested in the lightweight GP. If the IFL wants to begin improving upon their horrible .24 rating of Friday Night telecasts, LIVE events is the way to go.
The IFL also hired Jay Larkin, former Showtime boxing and entertainment head, who has in the past negotiated some of the bigger boxing matchups, television deals, and deals with artists in the entertainment industry. He's a veteran to negotiating deals in the television business as well as a man who's been around the production aspect of events for a very long time. He has been working with the IFL as a consultant, but now has the full-time job of trying to help the IFL get to the plateau they are trying to reach.
The IFL also still has some great up-and-coming fighters. Chris Horodecki and Andre Gusmao definitely spark my interest. Gusmao has been impressive in both of his battles with Mike Ciesnolevicz. Delson Heleno is a great grappler who has proved his worth in the IFL, and we saw some unbelievable fight from Deividas Taurosevicius. I'm not sure if he was just a late fill in, but the IFL needs to sign him for the '08 season. Rolles Gracie could pan out to be a fine acquisition as well, making his MMA debut at the IFL Finals.
Mixed results
My feeling about the IFL is now mixed. I was an optimist in their wake of great news involving the live television deals. With the recent contractual issues they've had happen and the freak number of injuries we seem to hear about every other week with the Grand Prix event, it surely isn't helping sell the event. Their upcoming 2008 goals include LIVE events, adding new talent, and hopefully putting on some great fight cards. I think their goals are definitely in the right direction, but with the UFC looming above them, it's only a matter of time before they begin losing talent to the UFC. I look for them to do better in 2008, but I only see them doubling that .24 rating. I also think they will continue to stay in the shell as a feeder league to the UFC, and I doubt that will ever change. The IFL has the potential with television deals and advertising dollars to at least turn a profit and regain some of their losses. Other than that, look for some of the talent in the IFL to start jumping ship during the end of the year next season.
**UPDATE**
It seems more problems are sprouting up. Comments from Monte Cox in an interview with Sam Caplan of Five Ounces of Pain and ProElite.com have told some stories of IFL's Soprano-like meeting in a car to try to sign Jay Hieron behind Cox's back, and there tactics regarding the Grand Prix that wasn't included on Rothwell, Whitehead, or Hieron's contracts. Check it out.