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IFL special on FSN
By Zach Arnold | October 2, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Taped at The Mark of the Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois.
Results review (Silverbacks vs. Pitbulls):
- Lightweights – Bart Palaszewski (Silverbacks) defeated Marcio Feitosa (Pitbulls) after 3R by a 2-1 judges’ decision.
- Welterweights – Rory Markham (Silverbacks) defeated Marcelo Azevedo (Pitbulls) in R1 by referee stoppage.
- Middleweights – Fabio Leopoldo (Pitbulls) defeated Ryan McGivern in R2 in 2’49 with a heel hook.
- Light Heavyweights – Andre Gusmao (Pitbulls) defeated Mike Ciesnolevicz (Silverbacks) in R2 by referee stoppage from punches.
- Heavyweights – Ben Rothwell (Silverbacks) defeated Bryan Vetell (Pitbulls) in R1 by KO from a right punch.
- Special attraction fight – Renzo Gracie (Pitbulls) defeated Pat Miletich (Silverbacks) in R1 with a front neck lock for the submission.
Commentators for the show: Kenny Rice, Bas Rutten, and Stephen Quadros. Ring interviewer: Ron Kruck.
My take on the show
Positives:
There were a lot of guys who had a lot of charisma on this show (Renzo, Miletich, Rutten, Rothwell). There were definitely some fighters who had marketability on display here.
The crowd was good. Much like the Portland crowd was. If the IFL can manage to run shows in small or mid-sized cities and stay out of the bigger areas, they should do just fine. The crowds are receptive to the fighters and the action.
The production values were very good. The documentary-style set-up for Renzo and Miletich was a big plus. The IFL should have done this on the very first show. It really highlights positive traits in the fighters they are putting on TV. The IFL shows on FSN seem to have a much stronger direction than the PRIDE shows on FSN have (the PRIDE shows just air fights with Trigg & Glazer in studio, whereas the IFL seems to be more about marketing the fighters and building up to the fights).
Negatives:
The fight quality for most of the bouts was lower than most UFC fights, although there were some good counters displayed to submissions from various fighters. All of the IFL fighters are perfectly qualified, but the fights at the Moline show were OK. Nothing special, although Ben Rothwell continues to really stand out as a fighter with finishing power.
The IFL needs to spend more time building up all of the teams and presenting graphical charts displaying which teams are in their annual team tournament, who has advanced, and what is next to come. Some continuity could go a long way.
The verdict
Overall, a very positive showing for the IFL on Monday night. I think the IFL could greatly benefit if they could score a weekly show on FSN at night without being pre-empted. They need to run against WWE or run against other sports programming to really get people to take notice of who they are and what they represent.
Topics: All Topics, IFL, MMA, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Can you imagine what it would be like in years to come, with a genuine fight league (not to say this one isn’t genuine – it really is; I mean when this one evolves and grows) signing in big names from home and abroad, building stronger and stronger teams, on TV regularly, international championships, getting national media coverage…
It’s going to be great. Imagine the Yankees or the Manchester United of the IFL…
I won’t go as far as MonkeyMatt, but I was impressed with the show last night.
If IFL can manage to not lose a ton of money, which they may already be doing I could see them carving out a sort of niche as the more sport oriented MMA group. Watching IFL it had more of boxing, real sport feel, which is both a positivie and a negative. As while that may help them gain a certain degree of respect and possibly less mainstream criticism, it also takes away from the drawing power as much of what UFC has sold itself on is spectacle and star power.
Not being a PPV company is similar positive and negative, on the one hand it makes it easier (theoretically), for them to disperse the product. However it also cuts off a major revenue source. To me the idea of IFL being a TV company is going to rely on whether or not they can get a better tv deal. As really they need a better income source than just live gates and FSN isn’t going to pay them.
Watching the show there is plenty to build from. The team concept allows for certain guys to get over as stars but does not require stars as the draw. The idea being that like other team sports people would simply choose a team they support. They did a lot of good character peices on each of the guys although in the end I can’t remember anyone but Rothwell and the one Brazilian 205er who knocked out the Militech guy in front of his girlfriend.
The Fight quality to me is not as much of an issue because the selling point to me of IFL isn’t that it’s got better fighters than the UFC. It’s more that it’s a more realistic sport style atmosphere. Plus as long as the fighters are having boring fights it really doesn’t matter how good or bad the participants are. The only way I could see this hurting them is if all the guys that are seen as top guys in the IFL defect to the UFC and get killed. As that would seriously hurt people’s perception of the IFL in overall standings. But as a stand alone group I don’t really think the quality of fighters will hurt them, as long as there are marketable fighters.
The main event was well built through out the show as you got the idea that these two guys are legitamate stars. The only problem to me was if you’re not a hardcore MMA fan the build up didn’t really sell you on the fight. Casual fans are less likely to be taken in by the two guys who are friends and respect each other but are battling to prove who’s the best. Then again this was free tv not pay per view so it’s not quite such a big deal whether or not people were passionately interested in seeing these two guys fight.
Overall I really like the IFL for being different when most groups would just try to be UFClite. If they can gain some kind of niche, and I think touring is a big part of that. I could see them having a future. But ultimately they need to be on a better channel.