After a long season for the IFL, it has finally come down to the Finals in Hollywood, Florida at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Renzo Gracie’s Pitbulls will be facing Pat Miletich’s Silverbacks in the finals, which presents a possible second championship for Pat Miletich, solidifying his reign in the IFL and for Miletich Fighting Systems.
As of late, I haven’t been following the IFL. The IFL has had some pretty lackluster performances in some of their matchups during the year. The finals actually have some pretty good fights on the card, and the addition of Ricco Rodriguez to the card is definitely a great matchup for Ben Rothwell to prove he belongs with better competition. Let’s take an in-depth look at the IFL Finals.
The Breakdown: IFL Finals
Ben Rothwell vs. Ricco Rodriguez
Ben Rothwell has an extensive record of 26-5, but he hasn’t really fought a top-level fighter. He’s fought Mike Whitehead, Ultimate Fighter contestant, and lost, and also fought Tim Sylvia way back in late 2001 and lost by decision. Other than that, he hasn’t fought a big name heavyweight in a long time. This is that big name heavyweight battle. Will Rothwell step up his game and pull out a victory? It's definitely a possibility, but from what I've been hearing about Ricco Rodriguez, I'm leaning toward a loss for Ben Rothwell.
Ricco Rodriguez is a submission/wrestling fighter with some significant standup skills. According to TAGGRadio’s Tuesday edition this week, Ricco has been getting in shape and may possibly be down to 250-255 lbs., which is great for him. The better shape he is in, the tougher it will be for Rothwell to really beat Rodriguez. He has superior ground skills by far in this matchup. After all the big wins and big losses in Rodriguez’s career, I think this is a fight he can take to the ground and with a little luck, he can grab a win. Out on a limb, I'll take a more in-shape Ricco Rodriguez by 2nd round submission.
Ryan McGivern vs. Fabio Leopoldo
Although Ryan McGivern is definitely one of the best in-shape athletes in the IFL, he has had some poor performances. He has no real knockout power and isn't a pick to finish a fight. All of his wins have been via decision while he has been in the IFL. He was beaten by Brock Larson and Joe Doerkson outside of the IFL easily in the 1st round by both fighters. He has some weak submission defense, which will play a big role in this bout.
Fabio and McGivern fought previously at IFL – Gracie vs. Miletich in September of last year. Fabio showed his superior ground game against McGivern and sunk in a vicious kneebar that ended the fight 2:49 into the 2nd round. I don’t see anything that McGivern could have learned from the experience. He has shown in fights following that he is still susceptible to the ground game, and I see the Brazilian ju-jitsu fighter in Fabio taking McGivern out for a second time. Leopoldo via submission in the 2nd round.
Bart Palaszewski vs. Deividas Taurosevicius
Bart has a fairly impressive 28-8 record, only losing once in the IFL to the undefeated Chris Horodecki, and only by a close split decision. He has some notable wins over Ivan Menjivar, John Gunderson, and Harris Sarmiento. He has some finishing power, as he’s knocked out John Strawn, Ryan Schultz, and Steve Bruno in the IFL. He also has a loss to Clay Guida in XFO back in June 2005, and has actually fought “JZ” Calvancanti in an Ironheart Crown event in Indiana. Calvancanti steamrolled him, but he’s fought some of the best talent out there around his weight class all despite starting his career with a 0-4 streak.
Deividas is a Lithuanian submission fighter with an 8-2 record. He fought in the IFL Semifinals, pulling out a decision win over Savant Young. This will be a classic case of a striker vs. a ground fighter. Can Deividas control Bart on the ground? Probably not. Bart's experience will play big in this fight. He's seen more submission type fighters on the other side of the ring going against him, and I think it'll help him avoid being beaten. I think Bart is going to win this via decision.
Ryan Schultz vs. Aaron Riley
Schultz is a wrestler training out of Team Quest. He’s coming into this bout with a 2 win streak, winning over Savant Young and Joe Sampieri. He was knocked out by Bart Palaszewski and Chris Horodecki in his two previous bouts to that win streak. Obviously, both those guys are knockout mainstays in the IFL. I’m not impressed with Schultz since he doesn’t have a tough chin, and he’s been susceptible to submission on the ground even though he has a great base of wrestling.
Riley, on the other hand, has had two big losses in his last two fights. He fought a beast in Eddie Alvarez of BodogFight, and Spencer Fisher in the UFC. Both were 1st round TKO/KO’s, the Fisher fight being an actual doctor’s stoppage. Riley has fought some of the best in the business, and mainly was outstruck by his last two opponents. I think when he comes into a fight against a guy who is really looking to go to the ground, Riley has a good chance at winning. He won’t have to worry heavily on a standup match happening, and he can really use his ground and pound to win this one. Riley via 2nd round TKO.
Brad “Bad” Blackburn vs. Travis Cox
This is the matchup of bad fighters, in my opinion. Blackburn is coming off a surprise TKO of Jay Hieron. The deal with Blackburn is that he’s a straight one dimensional fighter. He’s a Pankration fighter, and if you don’t know what Pankration is, it’s a Greek form of fighting that heavily relies on boxing and wrestling. Blackburn relies on his power to knockout opponents, plain and simple. He’s susceptible to the knockout punch, and he’s weak to a submission. His power allows him to really get himself out of bad situations on the ground at times. I will say this about Blackburn, he’s only lost by TKO/KO to better strikers, and has mainly lost decisions. This somewhat tells me that he may have a conditioning problem because he can’t push the late rounds to pull out a win.
Cox is currently 4-4. He’s very weak in his ground game, losing 3 out of his 4 losses via submission by choke and one by kimura. A lot of these guys he has fought recently are fairly new fighters, and not exactly the cream of the crop. He hasn’t faced anyone with Blackburn’s power and wrestling ability. Weak chin and susceptible ground game aside, Blackburn is going to knockout Travis Cox because I think Cox is going to stick with what he wins with and that’s his fists. Blackburn vs. Cox in a standup fight, I’ll take the power in Blackburn’s hands.
Jake Ellenberger vs. Delson “Pe de Chumbo” Heleno
This is actually a very good matchup. Jake Ellenberger is 15-2 with straight knockout devastation. He has 10 (T)KO’s in 15 wins. He was stopped only by the veteran Jay Hieron and Derrick Noble in Bodog Fight – St. Petersburg. Many of Jake’s knockout fights haven’t gotten out of the first round. When they have, he’s had enough of a ground game to submit his opponent later in the match. I think it’s going to be very tough for Delson Heleno to really compete with Ellenberger’s power, but Heleno's skills on the ground have been revered in the IFL this seaosn.
Heleno is a ju-jitsu fighter who really has a big problem finishing fights. He has 5 decisions in 11 wins, some of them via split decision. He can’t really afford to let this fight go the distance. Ellenberger’s standup game is much better than Heleno’s, and Ellenberger does have some ground skills to counter Heleno’s ground game. The longer this fight lasts, the more likely it is that Heleno gets caught with a ground and pound beating or knockout punch. Heleno's ju-jitsu is a main factor in this fight. Heleno's gameplan in each of his fights has been relatively the same, run out, take the opponent down, and use his ju-jitsu skills to attempt submissions or set up ground and pound. Ellenberger has had some trouble with other wrestlers and ground fighters in the past, and Heleno has had excellent success over strikers in the past. I'm going to take Heleno by decision.
Mike Ciesnolevicz vs. Andre Gusmao
A very interesting bout. On paper, you’d think Ciesnolevicz was a clear favorite, but in only his 2nd MMA bout, Gusmao TKO’d Mike Ciesnolevicz and won the matchup at IFL – Gracie vs. Miletich. Gusmao went on to win his next two fights, now standing at a 4-0 record. Cieznolevicz went on to win 5 straight fights, leading up to their next showdown in the IFL finals. So who will win this time around? It’s hard to tell.
Gusmao is from Brazil, and he really only has 4 professional fights to really pick him apart from. He has some decent striking, but being from Brazil, has a brown belt in ju-jitsu. Gusmao seems to love to strike though. For Mike Cieznolevicz, he should really love the fact that Gusmao wants to strike, until you factor in the loss he took from Gusmao. Gusmao will come in with the reach advantage, a height advantage, and he has surprisingly good striking. I’m going to pick Gusmao over Mike Cieznolevicz again based on the fact he has great training (Renzo Gracie, Erik Owings, Joe Sampieri) and he has fantastic striking, as well as some hidden ground tactics he has yet to unleash.
Jamal Patterson vs. Chris Baten
I’m not a fan of Jamal Patterson’s style or fighting, but I think he takes Chris Baten in this fight. Patterson is susceptible to the shot to the head that could knock him out, but he loves to take people down and submit them. Look for the same thing to happen in this preliminary matchup. Patterson via submission… 1st round.
Rolles Gracie vs. Sam Holloway
Runner up in the over 99kg ADCC 2007 division, Rolles Gracie better run over Sam Holloway in this bout. Holloway is mostly a striker, but Gracie has excellent ju-jitsu credentials. He’s also the son of the legendary Rolles Gracie Sr., 5th degree black belt, and a legend in the ju-jitsu world. I’m taking Rolles by submission, 2nd round.
IFL up and coming?
This year's finals definitely has some matchups that MMA fans should be looking forward to see. Heleno, Gracie, Bart, McGivern, and Leopoldo all have very good matchups that could show some of the improved skills each fighter has been working on, as well as showcasing the IFL fighters in general. Gracie is coming into his first MMA fight, so it will be interesting to see if he can follow in the footsteps of the legendary Gracie family. The biggest news is the return of Ricco Rodriguez. Ricco has the potential to be something great, especially with the reports that he is in great shape for this battle. It'll be interesting to see all of these stories unfold, and all of them under the IFL flag. I believe this card will be shown on television on Sunday, but the event will be live on Thursday. Fox Sports Net is reportedly showing the Finals on Sept. 23, but check the IFL website for further information. Looks to be a decent card, and a definite must for MMA fans on a Sunday night.