As I sit and wait for tonight’s preliminary fights, it’s clear that the International Fight League (IFL), the world’s first team-based MMA league is growing in popularity.
With a roster of 12 teams, all managed and trained by veteran legends of MMA such as Renzo
Tonight’s midweek attendance peaked at over 7,000, with fans gathered together to watch a great show featuring the defending IFL World Champion, Quad City Silverbacks vs. the Los Angeles Anacondas (led by Shawn Tompkins) and Ken Yasuda’s Tokyo Sabres facing the New York Pitbulls.
Each team will bring in 5 fighters, giving us 10 fights in the main event and 4 preliminaries, which do no count for the teams’ overall scores.
The preliminary fights started at 6:15pm and set the stage for the rest of the night:
LC Davis won his match vs. Conor Heun via unanimous decision; Joe Sampieri, a Muay Thai expert, was submitted at 3:21 of the first round by Jason Palacios; Lyman Good also won via decision against Mike Dolce; Dante Rivera stepped into the IFL ring determined to demonstrate why he’s the CFFC’s 185lbs champion, and he did so with a third round TKO over Nissim Levy.
Both Good and Levy did a great job representing Tiger Schulmann’s Karate, proving that you don’t have to be a 42-year-old mom of three to join their academy.
R1
Schoenauer gets the takedown but Ciesnolevicz is able to get back to his feet.
Ciesnolevicz finds Schoenauer face with his left hand and follows up with a guillotine choke. Schoenauer escapes but finds himself following the pace being set by Ciesnolevicz
Ciesnolevicz has evidently been working hard on his stand up game back in the Miletich camp and shows it by throwing a nice kick to Schoenauer’s body.
R2
Ciesnolevicz pulls guard.
Both fighters try to grapple to an advantageous position to no avail and are ordered to stand up.
Ciesnolevicz once again takes control of the fight by getting into the mount position, which becomes an attempt at a rear naked choke.
Both fighters are back on their feet and Schoenauer delivers a right hand that brings Ciesnolevicz to one knee.
R3
Ciesnolevicz decides he’s better off on the ground for this round. He shoots for the double leg and is able to get Schoenauer in the corner.
Fighters are again split up by the referee.
Schoenauer is showing signs of fatigue but still throwing his heavy hands.
Schoenauer goes for a last take down attempt but the fight ends and he’s obviously tired.
The judges decide Ciesnolevicz is the winner and the Silverbacks are on the way to securing a spot in the IFL finals.
Welterweights Rory Markham (Silverbacks) faces Anaconda’s Chris Clements.
Markham is one of the best stand up fighters in the IFL, looking to end Clements’s five match winning streak.
R1
Clements delivers a solid left, to which Markham responds with a left of his own.
Clements starts to put a combo together but Markham brings him to the ground with a right punch to the chin.
After a couple more punches on the ground the referee stops the fight.
Clements is not pleased but the decision had been made. He lost at 1:17.
Miletich is beginning to wonder if he would look like Mr. T wearing two championship rings at the same time.
Lightweight’s Bart Palaszewski (Silverbacks) vs. Harris Sarmiento (Anacondas).
This is a frustrating situation for the Anacondas. They’re two fights down, and their starting lightweight, Chris Horodecki (10-0) is at ringside.
R1
Both fighters are looking to strike but can’t connect.
Palaszewski shows off his striking combinations, and Sarmiento responds them with his own.
Sarmiento seems to be controlling the pace of the fight and ends the round 1 ahead.
R2
Sarmiento starts the round well, landing a couple of punches before Palaszewski takes him down.
Sarmiento finds that his left hand/right kick technique is proving effective, but Palaszewski sees his game and brings him down again.
Sarmiento stays in half guard until the referee stands them up.
Palaszewski controls round 2 with weak but effective take downs.
R3
Palaszewski keeps his ground game plan by immediately taking Sarmiento down twice.
Palaszewski goes for a guillotine choke and gets the submission via tapout at the 1:06 minute.
The Silverbacks are officially in the finals but there are still two more fights to go.
Middleweights Gerald Harris and Benji Radach are preparing to enter the ring.
Harris is a collegiate wrestler, who previously competed in the IFL for Matt Lindland’s Portland Wolfpack. This is an exception for Miletich, since he normally uses other members of his camp when someone from his team is injured.
R1
Radach is working hard to get the takedown. Harris, who trains with Team Quest, knows his game and shows it by defending and getting a huge slam against Radach.
Radach is able to get back up and sinks in a guillotine. Harris tries to take Radach down but lands on the bottom.
After about 30 seconds the two men are ordered to stand up in the middle of the ring.
Radach is able to land an uppercut that makes Harris collapse.
Radach followed it but the fight was stopped, giving Radach the victory at 3:03.
Another highly anticipated fight of the night is between the heavyweights Ben Rothwell (Silverbacks) and Krzysztof Soszynski (Anacondas).
Ben, who suffered with spinal meningitis as a child, is today one of the best heavyweights in the league.
R1
Soszynski started the round with a right shot, which Rothwell answered with a right hand that promptly brought him to the ground. After a couple more shots on the ground the fight was stopped at 13 seconds, giving Ben the fastest knockout in the league’s history.
The Silverbacks are victorious (4-1) and will be in the finals.
The second half of the night belongs to the New York Pitbulls and the Tokyo Sabres.
The Pitbulls step into the ring with three substitutes due to injuries.
Dan Miller, a veteran of Reality Fighting and CFFC, will likely show some of his submissions skills in this fight.
R1
The fight starts with Miller throwing punches.
Phillips gets the guard, and applies a beautiful arm bar.
Miller slams Phillips on the ground, allowing him to escape.
As Phillips gets back on his feet, Miller sinks in a standing guillotine choke and holds it until Phillips, who never tapped out, passes out.
There’s a huge party on Renzo Gracie’s corner and the energy in the arena is boiling.
The heavyweights are ready to take their places. Wayne Cole (Sabres) is a skilled striker and an All-American wrestler who will likely look for a knockout out of Bryan Vetell. Vetell, a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, will certainly use his weight and skill to keep control of his opponent.
The introductions are made and Vetell rolls his eyes when his nickname is mentioned over the speakers. Out of all the names the IFL could’ve given a man his size, they went with Bryan “the Philosopher” Vetell. Good one.
R1
Cole comes to fight lean and mean. He’s fast, but Vetell is able to pin him against the ropes. After throwing a few knees, Vetell goes for a take down, but Cole is able to escape and delivers several hammer punches.
Vetell gets back up on his feet and they start to exchange punches.
Vetell once again pins Cole in the corner, and works with short punches and knees to the legs Cole’s legs.
R2
Vetell pushes Cole into the corner, and Cole can’t get away from him.
Cole makes little attempts to escape from this position, but Vetell weight and size begin to exhaust Cole.
R3
Vetell starts the round with a kick to Cole’s leg which makes Cole lose his balance.
Not surprising, Cole looks tired. He just spent 6 minutes trying to fight off a mammoth of a man.
Vetell capitalizes on Cole’s estate, and again gets him against the ropes.
He alternates knees to the leg and to the head on the outside.
Late in the round Cole gets the takedown and the full mount but before he can do much damage, the bell rings, and the fight’s over.
Vetell wins via decision. The Pitbulls are one step closer to the finals.
Renzo Gracie, who normally picks up the winning fighter in celebration, congratulates Bryan with a hug instead.
Savant Young (Sabres) and Deividas Taurosevicius (Pitbulls sub), lightweights, prepare to face off.
Young looks like a small giant. With his small stature his muscles look almost disproportional. Taurosevicius, another veteran of CFFC and jiu Jitsu expert, has a big challenge in his hands.
R1
Taurosevicius opens the round with leg kicks.
Young retaliates and is able to bring Taurosevicius to the ground with a right hook.
While in the guard of his opponent, Young attempts to land some heavy punches, his deliberate attacks almost became costly when Taurosevicius nearly had his arm for a submission a couple
Taurosevicius appears to have outsmarted Young in the ground and standing up
R2
Taurosevicius opens the round (again) with leg kicks.
He’s comfortable in the ring and it shows.
After a nice takedown, Taurosevicius goes for the mount, and ends up with Young’s back.
Young does a great job defending his neck and arms, but knows there is no way he can accumulate points from this position.
The round ends with Taurosevicius trying to pry Young’s hands apart, so he could get the arm bar from the top.
R3
Young goes for a quick right, but Taurosevicius is fast and gets out of the way. He switches to the southpaw stance, using Muay Thai to keep Young, who’s looking for the knockout, at bay.
Taurosevicius gets a couple of take downs and is never in much danger.
The round ends and the judges award Taurosevicius the victory. The Pitbulls are going to the finals, and two of their subs have shown they have what it takes to be starters.
The “main event” is next. Welterweights Antonio McKee (Sabres) and Delson Heleno (Pitbulls) step into the ring.
R1
The fighters measure each other for what it seems like an eternity. Punches are thrown but nothing lands.
On Heleno’s second takedown attempt McKee is able to switch and get the double legs.
Heleno has the guard but his position in the corner makes it hard for him to shift his hips and legs for a sweep or submission.
R2
Heleno gets the takedown, but doesn’t capitalize on it on the ground.
The referee stands them up and they go into a clinch.
Heleno knees the inside of McKee’s legs, but eventually accidentally hits him in the groin. No points are taken since Heleno clearly was not aiming for it.
R3
McKee goes for a takedown, but Heleno lands on top.
Heleno throws punch after punch until the bell sounded.
The judges gave the split decision to McKee.
The announcement is made for the last fight of the night. The light heavyweights are in their corners, waiting for the fight to begin.
Vladimir “the janitor” Matyushenko (Sabres) will be facing Tim Boetsch (Pitbulls), whose last fight was only 4 days ago.
R1
Boetsch gets the takedown and goes for a guillotine. Matyushenko escapes.
Boetsch gets another takedown. Matyushenko escapes again and they’re back on their feet.
Matyushenko gets the takedown this time and starts the ground and pound. Boetsch gets on his feet is and able to land some heavy fists on Matyushenko.
R2
Boetsch lands a big right hand. Matyushenko retaliates with punches, and gets a takedown, followed by side control. He tries for an arm bar, but Boetsch is able to get on his feet.
Boetsch goes for a guillotine, but can’t find it.
Matyushenko is controlling the pace of the fight.
R3
Matyushenko gets the takedown. Eventually the referee stands them up.
Boetsch is looking for a fight, but Matyushenko is content just holding him in the corner.
Matyushenko tries for a takedown. Boetsch tries another guillotine.
Matyushenko is able to escape and wins the unanimous decision.
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