IFL History

The International fight league (IFL) was formed in January of 2006. The idea behind the IFL was to introduce the first team event based mixed martial arts where rather than fighting as individuals teams competed against each other for the title. The founders of IFL were Gareb Shamus and Kurt Otto. They inspiration came from the documentary “The Smashing Machine” and wanted to elevate the standards of earnings of mixed martial arts practioners. The IFL attempted to create a system where the fighters were paid a salary as well fight bonuses to increase their earning potential as well as allowing them to have a consistent income. The business model introduced allowed the fighters to share some of the profits of the show. In a stark contrast with the rest of the mixed martial arts industry, instead of paying MMA fighters only purses after fights, they are paid a wage and given health benefits to train and fight. In addition, the concept of team sports was also more favorable viewing as it allowed continued storyline development.

Even though the IFL event spans only a year in duration it has seen a staggering growth in such as short time. Some mainstream critics have suggested that in the near future it may even rival or supersede the Ultimate fighting Championships (UFC). Due to the similarities of the sport, there has been a lot of hostility between the two events and their prospective owners.  Both the UFC and the IFL have regularly compiled law suits against each other. The hostility has further been increased with the recent accusation of the UFC that the IFL has attempted to buy out several top UFC fighters for them to fight in their league.

The first even of the International Fight league was held in April of 2006 in the venue Trump Taj Mahal which is situated in Atlantic City. This event saw four main teams go against each other which are as follows:

Seattle Tiger Sharks      Vs         New York Pitbulls
Quad City Silverbacks   Vs        Los Angeles Anacondas

The value of the company has skyrocketed with the last year. The IFL went public and floated on the stock exchange which ascertained its value at approximately 150 million US Dollars. No one can argue that is quite an accomplishment. It is evident with the fact that its ever growing exposure on the television has established it as the main mixed martial arts fight league in the world.

In summation the International Fight League (IFL) is a unique competition within the mixed martial arts circuit as it is team based and thus separates it from competition. It can be argued that in relation to its growth in the past year, one can estimate that there are bigger and better things to come.