MMA Cult (Fighter Apparel)

Pick up your Premium Quality MMA Apparel . Show your allegiance for the sport and support of The MMA Digest and get your’s today.

Category: IFL

Birthday Beat: Ryan “The Lion” Schultz

On July 4, 1977 Ryan “The Lion” Schultz was born in North Platte, Nebraska.

_____________

Keep Fighting Apparel available here

UFC officially announces James Irvin vs Anderson Silva

Las Vegas, NV ( USA ) — UFC® middleweight champion Anderson Silva, arguably the best mixed martial arts fighter in the world, pound-for-pound, will move up in weight class for the first time when he jumps from middleweight to light heavyweight to fight James “The Sandman” Irvin ( 14-4-1 ) on Saturday, July 19 at The Pearl at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

Silva will square off against the hard-hitting Irvin, who knocked out Houston Alexander in a record-tying eight seconds this past April. Silva vs. Irvin will air LIVE – for the first time ever – on the East and West coast on Spike TV. The fight will be seen at 9:00pm ET and 6:00pm PT, free on Spike TV.

“There has never been a better time to be a mixed martial arts fan,” said Dana White, UFC President. “You get to see Anderson Silva fight for the first time ever as a light heavyweight against James “The Sandman” Irvin, who just tied the record for fastest KO in UFC history with his destruction of Houston Alexander and whose flying knee KO of Terry Martin is an all-time highlight. Silva has been unstoppable in the middleweight division, and now he is looking to test the waters in the light heavyweight division. Fight fans on the West and East coast can see Silva vs. Irvin and a full lineup of great live matchups free on Spike TV Saturday, July 19.”

Tickets for UFC® Fight Night™ Silva vs. Irvin are priced at $450.00, $300.00, $200.00, plus any additional box office or service fees, and are on sale now. Please visit any Ticketmaster location, call 702-474-4000 or visit www.ticketmaster.com to purchase tickets.

Anderson “The Spider” Silva burst onto the UFC scene with a devastating knockout of Chris Leben in June, 2006 which was seen live on Spike TV. A native of Curitiba, Brazil, Silva became UFC Middleweight champ with an impressive TKO over Rich Franklin at UFC 64 in October of 2006, and he has since made four title successful title defenses, with all victories coming via TKO or submission, including a recent win over former PRIDE champion Dan Henderson at UFC 82 in March. Silva, considered by many as the most dominant force the UFC middleweight division has ever seen, is now moving up in weight class to fight the dangerous knockout artist, James Irvin.

Nicknamed “The Sandman,” Irvin, has a propensity for putting his opponents to sleep in dynamic fashion. His flying knee against Terry Martin at UFC 54 in August of 2005 is legendary, and his aforementioned knockout of Alexander tied the record for fastest knockout in UFC history. Fighting out of Sacramento, CA, Irvin has won four out his last five UFC bouts, and a victory over the undefeated Silva would certainly be the career highlight thus far for the 29 year-old slugger.

On the undercard, it’s a battle of two of the rising stars in the heavyweight division as former Purdue University wrestler Jake O’Brien takes on Yuma, Arizona native Cain Velasquez. In January of 2007, O’Brien ( 10-1 ) spoiled the UFC debut of former PRIDE star Heath Herring with a third round decision victory telecast live on Spike TV. Now the skilled grappler from Indianapolis looks to spoil Velasquez’s national television debut on Spike. Velasquez ( 3-0 ) made a triumphant UFC debut in April with an impressive first round knockout of Brad Morris at UFC 83. A victory over O’Brien on Spike’s high-profile fight card will elevate his status among the sport’s top heavyweights.

Brandon “The Truth” Vera ( 8-2 ), fighting out of San Diego, CA, will be moving down in weight from heavyweight to light heavyweight ( 205 lbs ) to fight Reese Andy, who is making his UFC debut. A victory over former UFC champ Frank Mir at UFC 65 in November of 2006 placed Vera in the upper echelon of the heavyweight division. However, a decision loss against Tim Sylvia and a controversial defeat to Fabricio Werdum this past June at UFC 85 have triggered the 30 year-old to drop in weight class to fight at 205 lbs, where he will take on the University of Wyoming’s three-time All American wrestler and former IFL fighter Reese Andy ( 7-1 ). The Seattle native is on a four-fight winning streak and looks continue his winning ways against the veteran Vera.

Also on the card, two highly regarded lightweights will engage in a potential “Fight of the Night” candidate as Hermes Franca takes on Frankie Edgar. Franca ( 19-6 ), a 33 year old Brazilian fighting out of Florida, has won eight of his last nine bouts, including wins over Nate Diaz and Spencer Fisher.

Standing in Franca’s way is Frankie Edgar ( 8-1 ), a superb wrestler from New Jersey who stormed into the UFC with three straight wins in 2007 against highly regarded lightweights Tyson Griffin at UFC 67, Mark Bocek at UFC 74, and Spencer Fisher at UFC 78. Edgar’s last bout was a hard fought defeat at the hands of Gray
Maynard in April, but with the lessons he learned in that bout, Edgar expects to be better than ever on July 18th.

In welterweight action, Anthony Johnson ( 5-1 ) looks to continue his rise up the division ladder as he squares off against Kevin Burns.

Johnson, an incredibly athletic striker from Dublin, GA, is coming off a devastating knockout win over “The Ultimate Fighter 6” finalist Tommy Speer in the first round of their bout this past April in Broomfield, CO. His other win in the UFC was a stunning 13-second knockout of Chad Reiner in June 2007, a fight he took on less than a week’s notice.

Burns ( 7-1 ) made his UFC debut as a late replacement for Ryo Chonan earlier this month at UFC 85 in London. The Iowa native upset veteran Roan Carneiro and earned “Submission of the Night” with his impressive triangle choke.

Spike TV is available in 96.1 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom ( NYSE: VIA, VIA.B ), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

About The Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN Entertainment, Shaw Pay-Per-View, Bell ExpressVU, Viewers Choice, SaskTel Max™ and via the Internet worldwide on Yahoo! Sports, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. In addition to its North American distribution, UFC programming is distributed in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world. For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or ufcespanol.com.

Ultimate Fighting Championship, Ultimate Fighting, UFC, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, Zuffa™, The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, trademarks, trade dress or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC or other respective owners.

IFL financial problems continue to loom over company

Posted 20 Jun 2008 in IFL, IFLI, MMA, Mixed Martial Arts

The IFL’s stock is hovering just under 2 cents at the moment. From Yahoo Finance:

INTL FIGHT LEAGUE

(OTC BB: IFLI.OB)

Last Trade: 0.0195
Trade Time: 11:14AM ET
Change: Down 0.0005 (2.50%)
Prev Close: 0.02
Open: 0.02
Bid: 0.0185 x 5000
Ask: 0.0192 x 5000
Day’s Range: 0.01920.0200
52wk Range: 0.02 – 1.14
Volume: 113,200
Avg Vol (3m): 269,098
Market Cap: 1.54M
P/E (ttm): N/A
EPS (ttm): -0.236

IFL Cancels August 15 Event

Posted 10 Jun 2008 in IFL, MMA, Mixed Martial Arts

NEW YORK, June 10, 2008: The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI ) today announced that it has canceled its scheduled August 15 event at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in light of the company’s current financial condition.  IFL continues to explore options for maximizing shareholder value.  However, if the IFL is unable to successfully leverage any of those options, the company may seek protection from its creditors through a court proceeding.

The IFL is working with other top MMA organizations to keep its top fighters active in the sport and showcase their talent, while it pursues options that may enable it to continue its MMA operations.  Several IFL athletes will compete on the Adrenaline MMA card in Chicago on June 14, and announcements with other promoters working with IFL athletes are expected in the near future.  The IFL will also continue to downsize its staff to reduce costs.

IFL CEO on Elite XC’s CBS ratings

Posted 04 Jun 2008 in Elite XC, IFL, Jay Larkin

Below is a statement from IFL CEO and longtime television executive Jay Larkin regarding Saturday’s CBS/EliteXC event.

“Saturday’s ratings success of ProElite’s show on CBS again shows that the market for the sport in the mainstream is growing, and we at the the International Fight League are very excited to be one of the industry leaders that can help grow the sport of Mixed Martial Arts collectively. We look forward to continuing our work both independently with our great roster of young, marketable athletes, and with other promotions, to help make exciting fights and encourage further growth of the sport to a larger audience.”
-Jay Larkin, longtime TV executive at Showtime and CEO of the International Fight League

IFL to add social networking feature to website

Posted 29 May 2008 in IFL

Leader in sports social media and one of the world’s leaders in Mixed Martial Arts join forces to enhance IFL.tv

NEW YORK, May 29, 2008: The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI ) and SportsGist.com, a leading sports social media site, today announced a strategic relationship whereby IFL will add SportsGist social media functionality to its Website (www.ifl.tv) and enable athletes, coaches and fans to build a robust community around their passion for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.

“SportsGist.com is delighted to collaborate with the IFL on a dynamic new way for athletes and fans to engage with each other,” said SportsGist Chairman Brian Donaghy. “Given the passion of the followers of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, and the affinity that the demo has for online communication, we anticipate spirited dialogue and the very rapid development of this vibrant community.”

“We are always looking for new avenues in the digital space to connect our fans with our legendary coaches and our group of young, emerging athletes, and partnering with a leader like SportsGist is the next logical step,” said IFL CEO Jay Larkin.  “This will give everyone the  tools that will make publishing content, sharing information and communicating with each other simple.”

IFL athletes will be able to create their own individual profiles and open up direct athlete-fan communications to make the sport even more immediate and personal. Individual fan groups will have the option of maintaining group privacy or being open to each other. The site will allow for the posting of video, photos, audio clips, blogs, articles and other information.

SportsGist.com provides a social media extension for sports league, association and team Websites.  SportsGist is building an online community where athletes, fans and experts share ideas, insider information, video, digital photos, and audio clips which enhance the sports experience. (www.sportsgist.com)

This is the latest in a series of landmark online partnerships that the IFL has forged for the brand and the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.  Other groundbreaking partnerships include IFL content and programming share deals with YouTube, Break.com and PalTalk, among other industry leaders.  IFL content is among the most viewed original MMA content in the new media space.

IFL Fight Night

Posted 23 Apr 2008 in IFL

The first-ever International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI) individual title bout between light heavyweights stars Vladimir Matyushenko (Belarus) and Alex Schoenauer (Las Vegas) and IFL World Grand Prix semifinal contests featuring stars Jay Hieron (Las Vegas), Delson Heleno (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Roy Nelson (Las Vegas) will be among those featured in the next edition of “IFL Fight Night” on Fox Sports Net (FSN).  The episode debuts on Saturday, April 26, at midnight local time in most markets.

IFL Camp Trainer and Author Martin Rooney Takes MMA Skills to the NFL

Posted 14 Apr 2008 in IFL, Martin Rooney

As the International Fight League (IFL)
readies for its next event at Mohegan Sun Arena on May 16, IFL Camp Trainer
Martin Rooney has his eyes set on several additional goals, including
the top of the sports bestseller list and the top picks in the NFL
Draft.  The Fair Lawn, N.J., resident, one of the most sought-after fitness
professionals in the world, has spent a good part of his non-IFL
training work this winter readying many of the potential top picks for the
upcoming NFL Draft (including potential top pick Chris Long and Rutgers
standout Ray Rice) for selection weekend, as well as promoting his
MMA-style workout book Training For Warriors, which has rocketed up the
sports best seller list (it was at No. 7 this week on ESPN’s list).

Rooney, who was a member of the United States Bobsled Team from
1995-1997 and in 2000, and a four-time All Conference MVP performer in Track
and Field at Furman University, is also a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu
Jitsu under Ricardo Almeida and a black belt in Kodokan Judo under
Sensei Matsumura and Olympian Teimoc Johnston-Ono of the prestigious New
York Athletic Club.  He has used all that training to perfect hand-eye
coordination conditioning tactics that many of the elite MMA athletes in
the world (including top IFL athletes and coaches like Renzo Gracie,
Jamal Patterson, Delson Heleno, and many UFC and PRIDE MMA stars) and now
apply them to the elite athlete, especially those in the NFL and top
collegiate programs.

“The mental discipline, quickness and flexibility training that makes
Mixed Martial Arts the phenomenon that is has become and has helped
forge so many recent successes like the athletes from Renzo Gracie’s
New York-based Academy are skills that we have seen translate very well
to other sports, especially football,” Rooney said.  “It has been
great to see how the MMA success story, through a book like Training For
Warriors, can help make so many elite athletes even better.”

In addition to his draft training and his work with the IFL, Rooney has
been the martial arts consultant for the New York Giants and New York
Jets and is a speed and conditioning consultant to a host of colleges
and many athletes from the NFL, MLB, NBA and WNBA. He has also trained
numerous Olympians, including one gold and four silver medalists.

Currently, Martin is COO and director of training of the Parisi Speed
School. The Parisi Speed School is launching its national franchise
opportunity under Martin’s leadership, and there are already over thirty
franchises in twenty states across the country sold in addition to five
company-owned stores in New Jersey.

NEULION PACKS A PUNCH WITH THE IFL

Posted 07 Apr 2008 in IFL, Neulion

International Fight League Partners With IPTV Service Provider NeuLion
For Its End-To-End Service
Plainview, NY & East Rutherford, NJ – April 7, 2008 – IPTV service provider NeuLion and the International
Fight League (IFL) announce today a new partnership to deliver The IFL Network to fans worldwide.
The International Fight League is one of the world’s premier Mixed Martial Arts fighting organizations,
currently in its second year of operation.
The new IFL Network brings fans closer to the action and is the next best thing to being ringside. The IFL
Network is free to viewers and has already attracted many top advertisers. Through its iPTV service,
NeuLion will also provide the IFL with complete billing services to support pay-per-view, registration, and
future subscriptions. The IFL will be able to offer live events and video on demand showing the preparation
fighters endure before going inside the ring.
This announcement follows the successful launch of NeuLion iPTV networks for the National Hockey
League, New York Knicks, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Toronto Maple Leafs regional sports network, New
York Dragons, Cuban Baseball and others.
“NeuLion Sport Networks continue to grow. We are excited to have the IFL as a new network and partner.
It gives fans the opportunity to watch the best IFL content as never seen before. Consumers prefer to have a
choice in watching sports on either the TV or the PC and that is something we specialize in, since our
platform can deliver to either device,” said Chris Wagner, executive vice president and co-founder of
NeuLion.
“We have had some of our greatest success, both internationally and domestically, on the television and
digital platforms, and partnering with an industry trailblazer such as NeuLion gives us another piece to the
new media puzzle that others don’t have,” said IFL CEO Jay Larkin. “The future of MMA lies in growing
the sport and telling the stories of our young and dynamic athletes and coaches, and this will be a great stage
to further reach that goal.”
The IFL Network is now live and can be accessed by visiting http://www.ifl.tv/Video.html. Viewers can
watch high quality video right from their web browser and have the option of sharing videos through
NeuLion’s syndication features. Other social networking IFL opportunities for online chat, text messaging,
and Fantasy Fighters will be added to the service in the future.
Leveraging NeuLion’s iPTV platform to broadcast content, the IFL Network is user friendly and can be
accessed anywhere, anytime. The IFL Network features elements such as: What’s New, Behind the Ropes,
Live Events, IFL on TV, Championship bouts and much more.
The IFL is currently televised in the United States on Fox Sports Net and HDNet and in over 70 countries
worldwide. This exciting video player caters to the growing fan base and gives consumers one central place
to access all things IFL and watch the latest content not available anywhere else.

Rear Naked Choke IFL radio show

Posted 01 Apr 2008 in IFL

“The Rear Naked Choke, Featuring Joe & Ted,” an Internet radio
program which focuses on the International Fight League (IFL)
in delivering a unique perspective and insight into the
entertaining culture of the burgeoning world of mixed martial
arts (MMA), will broadcast a live two-hour program from
ringside at the IFL event at the Izod Center in E. Rutherford,
N.J., on April 4, beginning at 5 p.m.  Listeners can tune in
at www.joeted.com.

The program, which will feature a variety of IFL athletes and
coaches and other MMA personalities, concludes a week of
IFL-themed programs. Hosts Joe Rizzo and Ted Takvorian will
also air special Rear Naked Choke episodes on Wednesday and
Thursday evenings.

The Rear Naked Choke broadcasts weekly on Mondays at 9:30 p.m.
ET (6:30 p.m. PT).  Focusing on the IFL, Joe & Ted provide the
inside scoop for the fans and the pros.  The RNC offers
fighters, coaches and legends of the sport a break from the
rigors of training and a place to kick back for a few laughs,
riff about what makes them interesting, and maybe even talk
some trash.  All shows stream live, feature an interactive
chat room, and are available for listening or downloading
any time through www.joeted.com.