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IFL on My Network TV – Week 2
By Zach Arnold | March 19, 2007
Post your thoughts in the comments section on this week’s show.
I thought this week’s show was a vast improvement from last week’s effort. There are some glaring flaws that need to be fixed, but it’s off on better footing now.
Jeff Hamlin has more thoughts, most of which I agree with.
Last week, they pushed 9 fights on the show. They were edited down and it became a nightmare to keep track of. This week, they had 11 fights on the 2-hour show.
This is way too many fights. Even if it means giving a guy exposure by showing multiple fighters, you’re asking the viewers at home to pay real close attention to who each fighter is. A better solution – make one hour of the show (the opening hour) a preview of the fights to come in hour two. In hour two, focus on a team vs. team event and show the 5 fights. Keep it simple enough for the people at home to understand who and what they are watching. If you can slow the pace down and build more characters, the IFL could really do some business here.
There were slight improvements (including a My Network TV fight clock for each fighter), but again I thought they didn’t do enough to identify each fighter on the show.
I thought the show did a poor job of putting over the rules of the IFL. They tried to add a screen this week listing what the rules are, but they didn’t bother to list any real rules. It was the usual “win by submission, KO, etc.” list. They didn’t bother telling you that it’s three 4-minute rounds, what’s not allowed, etc. Fans aren’t *that* stupid. You don’t need to tell them to go to ifl.tv to find the rules.
Probably the most interesting thing the IFL did for a ‘hook’ on the TV show was show the fight between Alex Schoenauer and Aaron Stark. It involved a controversial spot where Alex got Aaron in a submission and Bas Rutten appealed heavily that Stark gave up, but the referee broke it. Schoenauer eventually lost the fight. The IFL asked the fans at home to go onto their web site and vote as to whether or not Stark gave up. This actually was a pretty intriguing segment on the show.
I thought hour one was more interesting than hour two (even with Horodecki vs. Palaszewski shown), and I’m wondering how long the IFL can keep the attention span of a fan with a two-hour time block. It’s definitely a work-in-progress, although this week was much better than the debut show. How much damage did the debut show do, however?
Topics: All Topics, IFL, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Didn’t see it. If the comments are positive then I’ll go back to being a fan. I love that cute Lion logo from Shamrock’s team.
I love the IFL production and the business plan of the IFL; however, they need to get more fighters and be known for selling off their rising stars to bigger leagues. Also, the battleground show was a great production and I hope it spreads to more households because college students like me who sit around watching sports channels NEED to be exposed to this phenomenal sport.
As another site said, what can we do when the same fighters fight the same fighters in their respective weight classes, over and over. Anyways, I had a bunch of good ideas but just ran out.
One simple thing they need to add is more replays of finishes. Last week Rothwell hit a flashy high kick KO, this week Alex his that sick leglock. Both should get replays and talk throughs.
I don’t get MyNetwork TV so I’ve yet to see it.
I know this isnt the right spot to put this comment but there’s nowhere else to throw it up.
MMA Weekly’s newest top 10 ranking is out and again has Chuck Liddell as the #1 – 205lb fighter.
He had a win over exactly ONE (1) of the other top 10, while Shogun has FOUR (4) wins over other top 10 fighters…making absolutely ZERO sense again as for why Chuck should be considered #1 other than he’s the UFC LHW Champion.
Jason,
Great comment, very insightful, valuable contribution. Thanks!
Gaijin, we get a look at that. GroundNPound.org is reporting Liddell Vs. Jackson for UFC 71 on May 26. In fact, they had a poster up. Saw it like 30 seconds ago.