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The International Fight League was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion billed as the world's first MMA sports league, league. It was founded on January 7, 2006, and closed on July 31, 2008.Zuffa Purchases IFL
Instead of the established norm for MMA events, where matchups are strictly one-on-one affairs, each IFL card was a showdown between two camps of at least three fighters, each fighter fighting one match against another in the opposing camps.


History

The IFL was founded January 7, 2006 by real- estate developer Kurt Otto and ''Wizard (magazine), Wizard'' magazine founder Gareb Shamus, two well-financed devotees of mixed martial arts who were inspired by the Mark Kerr (fighter), Mark Kerr documentary ''The Smashing Machine''. With the IFL, they intended to create a ...
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Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. The first documented use of the term ''mixed martial arts'' was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993. The question of who actually coined the term is subject to debate. During the early 20th century, various interstylistic contests took place throughout Japan and in the countries of the Four Asian Tigers. In Brazil, there was the sport of Vale Tudo, in which The Gracie family was known to promote Vale Tudo matches as a way to promote their own Brazilian jiu-jitsu style. A precursor to modern MMA was the 1976 Ali vs. Inoki exhibition bout (which ended in a draw after 15 rounds), fought between boxer Muhammad Ali and wrestler Antonio ...
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Cole Escovedo
Coleman Ruben Escovedo (born August 30, 1981) is an American former mixed martial artist from Fresno, California. He was the inaugural WEC Featherweight Champion. Mixed martial arts career Health issues Escovedo was forced into a well documented semi-retirement in 2007 from a serious staph infection that left him partially paralyzed and in need of spinal surgery. Then, after a nearly three years hiatus from mixed martial arts action, he returned on May 8, 2009, at a Palace Fighting Championship event at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California. Escovedo's comeback to MMA was his first fight in the 135 lb Bantamweight division. Ultimate Fighting Championship Escodevo made his UFC debut against Renan Barão on May 25, 2011, at UFC 130. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Escovedo faced Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 135. He was knocked out by Mizugaki at 4:30 in the second round, giving him two consecutive losses in the UFC. Escovedo faced Alex Caceres on No ...
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Fabiano Scherner
Fabiano Scherner (born June 30, 1972) is a German-Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. He has fought in Cage Rage, IFL and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Scherner is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor who won multiple championships on an international and world stage in senior and master divisions, although not in the adult divisions. Background Scherner was born in Tres Passos on June 30, 1972. In 1999, Scherner started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil with Carlson Gracie student Murilo Rupp. There he was introduced to Mario Sperry, Murilo Bustamante, and Luis Roberto "Bebeo" Duarte. Bebeo was one of the founding members of the Brazilian Top Team (BTT) academy and invited Scherner to train with BTT. Scherner received his black belt in a very fast three years and nine months. Shortly following this, Ricardo Liborio invited Scherner to start training MMA and teaching BJJ in Olympia, Washington. While in O ...
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Roy Nelson (fighter)
Roy Nelson (born June 20, 1976) is a retired American mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 2004, he formerly competed for the UFC, EliteXC, the IFL, BodogFIGHT, and most recently for Bellator MMA. In the UFC, Nelson was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights and achieved success as a top 10 UFC Heavyweight. Nelson is also the former IFL Heavyweight Champion, competing under Ken Shamrock and the Lion's Den. He holds notable victories over Mirko Cro Cop, Cheick Kongo, and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. Background Nelson was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and attended Cimarron-Memorial High School, where he competed in wrestling, football, and baseball. Nelson briefly trained in karate and began training in Ark Wong's Ng Ga Kuen Shaolin Kung Fu when he was 15 years old. Nelson worked briefly as a warehouse worker in 1999. Nelson originally began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under UFC veteran John Lewis in 20 ...
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Matt Horwich
Matthew Peter Horwich (born October 2, 1978) is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 2003, Horwich has fought in BAMMA, Strikeforce, Bellator, the UFC, and for the Seattle Tiger Sharks of the IFL where he was the IFL Middleweight Champion. Background Horwich was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He watched many Bruce Lee films growing up and entered Dojo Kai Korean traditional martial arts classes. Growing up, Horwich had little interest in school due to low opinions of his teachers. Unmotivated, lost and without a concrete path to embark on, he began to experiment with drugs and alcohol. He then garnered interest for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) at the age of 17 and saved up enough money to learn from none other than Royce Gracie himself. After that, he reluctantly made an unwise decision and was placed in jail for thirty days for fighting and breaking windows. He served his time and chose t ...
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John Gunderson
John Edward Gunderson (born May 1, 1980) is a retired American mixed martial artist. He used to fight with the UFC and SCC also numerous other organizations being a champion or fighting for the championship in many of them. Once he was a top 10 lightweight outside the UFC Gunderson is also an International Fight League veteran who fought out of Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den and was a member of the Nevada Lions alongside The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights winner Roy Nelson. He is currently training with Xtreme Couture and TapouT. a coach out of Syndicate MMA Mixed martial arts career Ultimate Fighting Championship Gunderson made his UFC debut at UFC 108 against Rafaello Oliveira with 12 days notice on January 2, 2010. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Gunderson was supposed to make his next appearance against Paul Taylor at UFC 112, but the fight was canceled last minute due to Taylor not being medically cleared. Gunderson was scheduled to face Taylor at The Ultim ...
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Ryan Schultz
Ryan James Schultz (born July 4, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist who last competed in 2013. A professional since 2003, he has competed in the WEC, IFL, and Japan's World Victory Road. He was the last International Fight League Lightweight Champion, competing for Matt Lindland's Portland Wolfpack. Biography Schultz was born and raised in North Platte, Nebraska. He was a member of his high school wrestling team, graduating in 1996. Schultz has a degree in criminal justice from the University of Nebraska, where he continued to compete in wrestling, coached by Matt Lindland. After graduation, Ryan worked as an apprentice plumber in Colorado, before embarking on his MMA career. Schultz is a member of Team Quest, training with his former wrestling coach and former UFC veteran Matt Lindland. Mixed martial arts career Early career Schultz was entered into his first MMA fight by a friend. The fight took place at Dan Severn's promotion Dangerzone, in April 2004, in North Dakota ...
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Team Quest
Team Quest is a mixed martial arts training camp founded by Randy Couture and Dan Henderson with facilities located in Gresham, Oregon; Murrieta, California; Encinitas, California; Redding, California; Hemet, California; and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Notable fighters that have trained at the Oregon facility are Matt Lindland, Dave Jansen, Nathan Coy, and Chael Sonnen. The California facility hosts teammates, former two division PRIDE & Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Dan Henderson, as well as Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Krzysztof Soszynski, and Jesse Taylor. The majority of fighters at Team Quest come from a background in wrestling. The Redding location in Northern California is headed by BJJ Black Belt Carlos Zapata and is home to Muay Thai Kru Josh Hernandez. The location was shutdown for undisclosed reasons. Team Quest's Pat Healy has spent time in China, helping MMA fighters and conducting training sessions with Legend's FC fighters. Healy has hosted some BJJ seminars in H ...
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Lion's Den (mixed Martial Arts)
The Lion's Den is an American mixed martial arts team and training facility that was based out of Lodi, California and San Diego, California but has recently moved its headquarters to Reno, Nevada. The team was founded in the early 1990s by UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock, and was the most dominant fight camp in the early UFC. It featured fighters such as Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Vernon "Tiger" White, Jerry Bohlander, Tra Telligman, Pete Williams, and Mikey Burnett. The Lion's Den now features many new training facilities, including Lion's Den Arizona, Lion's Den Connecticut, and Lion's Den Reno. Establishment The team was founded out of necessity, as the then-new sport of mixed martial arts began to take off in the early-to-mid 1990s. Shamrock, who had fought at ''UFC 1'', had trouble finding adequate sparring partners to prepare for fights. Shamrock attracted the attention of American fighters Vernon White and Guy Mezger early on, and formed the first ever mixed martial ...
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Team Tompkins
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to information, resources, knowledge and skills and who seek to combine their efforts to achieve a common goal". A group does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Naresh Jain (2009) claims: Team members need to learn how to help one another, help other team members realize their true potential, and create an environment that allows everyone to go beyond their limitations. While academic research on teams and teamwork has grown consistently and has shown a sharp increase over the past recent 40 years, the societal diffusion of teams and teamwork actually follow ...
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Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife. The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serves as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its luxurious and extremely large casino-hotels together with their associated activities. It is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any other city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one ...
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Orleans Arena
Orleans Arena is a 9,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley. It is located at the Orleans Hotel and Casino and is operated by Coast Casinos, a subsidiary of Boyd Gaming Corporation. The arena is the home to the Vegas Rollers of World TeamTennis since 2019. It is also an occasional home for the UNLV Rebels basketball team when the Thomas & Mack Center is in use. The arena was the home of the Las Vegas Wranglers ice hockey team from 2003 to 2014, the Las Vegas Gladiators arena football team in 2007, as well as the Las Vegas Sin women's football team. In 2020, the Vegas Golden Knights announced it was purchasing and relocating an American Hockey League (AHL) franchise. The Henderson Silver Knights play at Orleans Arena while the club's new 6,000-seat arena is constructed in Henderson, Nevada. Notable events * On July 12, 2003, Ricardo Mayorga retained The Ring welterweight championship with a majority decision over Vernon Forrest, and Zab ...
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