Jerry Milani sent along the following:
INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE CAPS RECORD WEEK BY BREAKING ATTENDANCE MARK
IN STATE OF WASHINGTON
World’s Number One Team-Based Mixed Martial Arts League Adds Eight
New Episodes of “IFL Battleground” on MyNetworkTV, Announces
September On-Sale Date For First Warner Home Video and Breaks Washington State
Attendance Mark for Boxing and MMA, Highlighted by 2007’s “Best
Fight” Between Undefeated Rising Stars Chris Horodecki and Shad Lierley
NEW YORK, June 4, 2007 — The International Fight League (OTC.BB:
IFLI), the world’s number one team-based professional mixed martial arts
league, completed one of the busiest weeks in its one-year history with
a number of landmark announcements. Capping the week was a
near-sellout crowd of 6,977 on Friday night at the Everett Events Center just
outside Seattle, the largest crowd ever to see an MMA or boxing event in
state history.
“May will go down as one of the landmark months for the sport of
Mixed Martial Arts, and our outstanding events in Chicago and Everett show
that the IFL brand is growing exponentially, with more to come,” said
Gareb Shamus, IFL co-founder and CEO. “With a growing number of
long-term partners like Warner Home Video, MyNetworkTV, Microsoft Xbox, FSN
and new partner HeadBlade, not to mention our world champion coaches
and outstanding athletes, we are just getting started.”
In addition to record crowd, Friday night saw one of the strongest
fight cards in MMA in 2007, as the Los Angeles Anacondas and Tokyo Sabres
both posted wins to advance to the IFL playoffs August 2 at the
Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The highlight fight
of the night saw the Anacondas’ undefeated lightweight Chris
Horodecki take a decision from the Seattle Tiger Sharks’ previously unbeaten
former New York University wrestler Shad Lierley, a fight which
announcers Stephen Quadros and Bas Rutten both dubbed the best fight of the
year in 2007.
“That fight showed everyone what the IFL is all about,” said
Rutten. “You had two different styles go against each other in a very
competitive weight class, and both athletes traded punches, kicks and
other moves for every second of the three rounds. It is a fight that all
MMA fans who weren’t there will need to see on MyNetworkTV and FSN.
It was the continued emergence of two of the next stars of the sport.”
The IFL has now drawn the largest MMA audience in the states of
Illinois (Moline), Oregon (Portland) and Georgia (Gwinnett) in addition to its
record in Everett, all in the past seven months.
The in- and out-of-the-ring successes in Washington for the IFL were
not the only highlights of the week. Earlier, MyNetworkTV announced that
“IFL Battleground,” hosted by Rutten and Tiffany Fallon, will be a
key anchor for its fall lineup. The show, which has seen the new
network dramatically increase its viewership in the male demo, will add an
additional eight, two-hour episodes in the fall, on top of the original
22. It will continue to be seen Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern and
Pacific/7 p.m. Central, with a re-air at the same time on Saturday nights.
Also, Warner Home Video, the world’s largest distributor of DVD’s,
announced that its first IFL-themed video, “IFL Greatest Knockouts and
Extreme Action,” will hit stores on September 18.
The groundswell of activity is not expected to stop any time soon, as
the IFL moves to Las Vegas for its first-ever event in the state of
Nevada on Saturday, June 16, at the Las Vegas Hilton. The final two
playoff spots, as well as many individual slots in the year-end World Grand
Prix, will be at stake when Renzo Gracie’s New York Pitbulls meet
Carlos Newton’s Toronto Dragons, while Ken Shamrock’s Nevada Lions take
on Don Frye’s Tucson Scorpions.
About the IFL
International Fight League (IFL) is the world’s number one
professional mixed martial arts sports league. IFL has its headquarters in New
York and offices in Las Vegas. For more information about IFL, please
see: www.ifl.tv.
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