IFL In Final Stage of Being “Sold and/or Closed Down”
In an recent email to members of the media International Fight League senior vice president of communications Joe Favorito announced that the MMA promotion is in the final stages of being “sold and/or closed down”:
“…The IFL will be no more as the company goes into its final stage of being sold and/or closed down. Â We are very proud of what we did here in just over two years, building a brand from nothing into something that people in the industry and outside of the industry actually noticed. At the end of the day sometimes the finances don’t make sense, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.”
Though no official announcement has yet been made regarding a potential sale, it has been widely reported that the UFC will purchase select assets from the IFL, likely including its fight video library and remaining fighter contracts.
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Well, that’s been coming for about 2 years.
its not like people didnt predict this
same thing will happen 2 affliction
DAMN!!!! The IFL was my favorite promotion. They were stacked with talent and the idea of changing to the ring to a hexagon cage had me pumped. F! I’m not even watching MMA anymore if the IFL isn’t around!
I liked the way the IFL brought their fights in a team format. However, they should have done the team Name differently from the beginning. It cost them the entire promotion. There was good talent there and they provided fighter health insurance and decent salaries for the fighters. All around great idea…poorly executed.
The last IFL final was actually a really good show so I hope the fighters find a new home.
Affliction will not suffer the same fate as the IFL, neither will EliteXC. There is enough monetary backing for each promotion to last 3-5 years which is longer than IFL.
Affliction may be around for 7-9 years and even longer if they can get some solid talent. How long did the UFC lose money before the TUF show? Trump understands you gotta lose money to make money.
yea wit out trump tim sylvias not gettin 800 grand a fight but i digress from the clothing company i think thered b enough money to keep it a float wit out trump atleast for a lil while i really hope that if affliction takes off they buy out trump cuz we all kno the gimmicky crap(the oversized ring megadeath preformance *the commercial to promote the event*) was the donalds idea now i put an asterisk next to that because i kno y they didnt have a normal commercial that shows the fighters highlights but punchin the flamin heavybag or breakin glass wit ur head was a lil bit over the top
The IFL had a decent run. It delivered a unique format (with teams), and produced some good talent. If the UFC hadn’t come out with TUF, then the IFL would be in a much better spot. Without a larger financial backing, most of these promotions are doomed in the long run anyway
They burned through all that money…Man I wonder what the Affliction team is thinking right now?
heurtaroger,
$800 grand to Tim is totally f-n ridiculous. The Donald has ZERO clue what he’s doing. You have a good point about the clothing bringing in money but I do not think it’s enough to put on an event and pay fighter’s the ridiculous amounts of money they did in the first event.
To make it clear……
I do feel fighters should be paid more but the guys Affliction gave big pay days to, I DISAGREE. Fedor was definitely deserving of more for doing the hardcore fans a favor and destroying Tim Lazy Sylvia. Whitehead, Sobral, Bunetello and Goodridge among a few others were extremely over paid in my opinion. More power to them but…..bad move on Affliction’s part. The way Affliction is goin about paying their fighters is going to cause a single fighter to get a big head and think he is bigger than the sport. (Tito Ortiz)
i agree that donald doesnt kno wat hes doin which is y uve got the gimmicks and i totally agree that affliction is payin jerkoffs like doofy tim sylvia way too much but speakin of tito wats his payday from affliction gonna b 3000000000 since hes friends wit the donald mayb hell even get some stock options or hell b a member of the board
Huerta,
I hope for the great world of MMA fans, Tito doesn’t step foot aboard the top of any promotion. Tito was a great fighter at one time and now his career is dwindling down. The man is truly not very bright. I’ve read things he has written and heard him speak. His actions are not much more classy than his words. Tito is the type of guy I want to BBQ and drink beer with. I wouldn’t mind watching him fight but he has no place or business running a promotion with his thought process.
(How can I F Dana and the UFC all the while looking smart and cool?)<<<<<<<Tito’s thought process.
I am sure they will have first picks
I want the fighters to be paid and insured against a tragedy and an arguement can be made for retaining at least some likeness rights, but the big payday fight brings with it the fight that is bigger then the evening. Its like what Dana described in the CNBC piece where he said the boxing fan always felt cheated by the big ppv but knew they got a night of fights with a UFc ticket.The sport should transcend the fighters…
lol does the ufc get the plans for the hex, maybe they could hold one last show and use the dam thing
Use the Hex for retirement bouts… Or Send the hex to TNA for a ppv…:)
Fedor’s challengers should get the same money for dancing with death…lol