Shawn Tompkins revealed this weekend that the International Fight League's Grand Prix Final has undergone some significant changes to the fight card. The IFL will be holding the finals on December 29th from the Mohegan Sun from Uncasville, Connecticut, but without the Wagnney Fabiano vs. Chris Horodecki matchup for the lightweight title. Instead, we will see an exciting rematch between Horodecki and Shad Lierley. This move will opens up the newest division to the IFL, the featherweight division. Wagnney will drop to 145 lbs. and fight for a vacant featherweight title for the IFL. It seems that the IFL is now making a claim to produce an exciting featherweight division much like what the WEC seems to be pushing as well. This might seem like a snag to most fans, but I present this question, does this benefit the IFL Grand Prix Finals and the IFL in general?

New division, new matchup

I'll be the first person to say that I was looking forward to Fabiano-Horodecki for a number of reasons. We haven't seen Horodecki against a super slick ground tactician like Fabiano and I was hoping to get a glimpse as to how Horodecki's takedown defense could withstand Fabiano's shoots. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing that fight. Is this an IFL protection tactic? It seems like it to me, but from what Tompkins seems to have stated in the article, he believes Fabiano is a 145 lb. fighter and should become champion of the new division in the IFL.

Is the IFL protecting its undefeated lightweight from being beaten and being exposed? Considering Chris Horodecki is the face of the IFL in many ways, I wouldn't put it past the IFL to do such a thing. Shad Lierley is no joke, but Chris was able to squeak out a victory over him, much like Bart Palaszewski. The Lierley fight is highly regarded as the best IFL fight of the year, and that may be the sole reason why this fight will happen again. It'll be an explosive standup battle of two strikers, something the IFL seems to want to be seen on national television. If the Matyushenko-Schoenauer fight was any indication, the referees also seem to be under the impression that there is no ground game in the IFL. Lierley vs. Horodecki will fulfill the standup war that the IFL wants.

Will a featherweight division actually benefit the IFL? I believe it will. It is well known that many of the best fights during the year were in the lower weights. The 155 lb. division had an unbelievable year in mixed martial arts. Adding another low weight class to the list may produce some more of those great standup striking battles that the IFL seems to adamant on showing. Wagnney Fabiano will move down to the weight class, but hasn't got an opponent yet. I've already stated that the IFL has a talent problem. They don't seem to have enough fighters to grab in case of injuries. That is exactly what hurt the first Grand Prix event and caused the LHW title bout to be determined in the preliminary event instead of through the tournament. How can they suddenly add a new division?

It seems that either the talent camps that the IFL is holding are causing a bunch of small 155'ers or 145'ers to show up for a contract or they will be trying to bring in some small guys from around the country in other promotions and possibly trying to tap into the Asian market, where small weight classes thrive. It's an interesting proposition for the IFL to be taking on. I look forward to seeing who the IFL will bring in to pump up the new division. The other interesting aspect to all of this is that it makes five main card fights for the IFL Grand Prix Final, adding one to the initial card. For a two hour live event broadcast, five fights seems to be sufficient although it may be short if any of the fights ends quickly.

Does this end up benefiting the IFL?

I want to ask the simple question as to whether the new division will actually benefit the IFL. Will the extra matchup and potential standup war for the lightweight title provide a better Grand Prix event? In my opinion, I think the addition of a 145 lb. division will add some excitement to some of the horrible matchups that they've had in the past that didn't produce great results. I have doubts as to how they will fill it up though, as I still have doubts about the other divisions in the IFL. We haven't heard much as far as the tryouts have been going. There were many fighters who were well known throughout the sport at those events so we could see some veteran fighters stepping over to the IFL from organizations like Bodog.

For the Grand Prix Final, it has been said that the event will be televised live once again except we will get to see two hours of coverage in the States. Good move by the IFL. They added a fifth fight to the mix with the featherweight title. I'm not sure if the IFL will add some other fights at different weights to pad the event with undercard battles. If not, a fifth fight was needed and it's at an exciting weight.

In the long run, I doubt this will help the struggling MMA promotion get out from under the bus but for the short term, it presents some quality fights for the IFL Grand Prix Final. At least for the end of the year, we will have more than one MMA promotion presenting a decent card. The UFC's card will definitely be the headliner of events during that weekend, but the IFL GP will still present a viable option for viewing as well. I don't think it will break rating numbers or surprise many of us as the best card of the IFL season. I think the new weight class can only benefit the sinking ship that is the IFL.