IFL World Team Championship - Review

I was at the IFL World Team Championship live at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT. Overall, the show left a bad taste in my mouth. I won't get too much into the specifics of each fight. I'm sure you will see them on FSN on 12/31. Here are my general thoughts and observations of the event:

ATTENDENCE: The Mohegan Sun Arena typically seats around 10,000 fans. With the stage setup, the arena probably sat closer to 6,000. The arena appeared to be close to sold out. The majority of the tickets sold were $45. Personally, I had the $45 tickets (and bought them early), and I was center ring, and I was 18 rows up on the side.

START TIME: The show was scheduled to start at 7:30. They had a prelim fight start at 7:15. It looked like an amateur fight, with both fighters being younger. No complaints since it was unadvertised. However, the main fights did not start until after 8pm.

PRELIMINARY FIGHTS: They called them "Super Fights", and they were hardly as such. A casual fan I went with noticed right away how poor the quality of the fights were. If the UFC had put these fights on TV, SpikeTV would have taken them off the air. Erik Owings showed talent for a young fighter. Andre Gusmao had solid striking, with absolutely no defense and left his chin exposed on multiple occasions. Reese Andy was decent, but not at a high level of proficiency. And Mike Whitehead came in at almost 265 lbs, and basically gassed in a 12 minute fight. I had him win on my scorecard, and so did the judges. He was also hated by the fans for putting on such a poor performance.

THE STAND-UP: As is typical with MMA in a ring, if the action gets too close to the ropes on the ground, they stand the fighters up and reset them in the middle of the ring. The first time this was done, the fans had a negative response. It was not well liked at all.

WORLD TEAM COMPETITION: There were a few standouts here. Ben Rothwell, Ryan Schultz, Bart Palaszewski, & Chris Wilson. Actually, the Schultz/Palaszewski fight was the first time all night where I said: "This fight could be in the UFC". Before this, all the rest looked at least two notches below the UFC & Pride level. The Silverbacks won the Team Competition after the first 3 fights. And Bart knocked out Schultz so bad that they had to remove him in a stretcher (he raised his hands later to show he was okay). That really knocked the wind out of the arena. The combination of the long running time, along with 2 more "meaningless" fights coming up had the entire building quiet for a while.

RENZO GRACIE VS. CARLOS NEWTON: Renzo Gracie got a great ovation from the crowd. A large number of fans where wearing Renzo T-Shirts. It only got worse from there. The fight itself was boring. Actually, it was worse then boring. It was horrible. It reminded me of watching watching John McEnroe compete on the "Senior Tour" of tennis. Probably worse. At least McEnroe is still entertaining. Carlos Newton had Renzo Gracie on the ground on multiple occasions. I don't think he threw more then 5 punches the entire time it was on the floor. The crowded was very upset.

At one point in the third round, Renzo Gracie was knocked to the ground by Carlos Newton. Newton wanted the fight back on the feet, and Renzo put out his arm, and Newton helped him to his feet. YES, IT WAS THAT BAD. Renzo Gracie ended up winning a split decision. The decision was so bad that even Renzo loyalists were shaking their heads in disagreement.

Other items about the event:

• The event lasted 4 hours and 45 minutes. At least a third of the crowd left before the main event.
• Between fights, they ran commercials for Superman Returns on DVD and Sandals Resorts. There is nothing worse then watching commercials for an event you paid to see.
• Between the undercard and the team challenge, they had a "pop artist" perform 2 songs.... One on the stage, and one in the ring. Fans were visibly upset.
  
• Merchandise was not sold out. It looked like half of it was sold.

The IFL and the World Team Challenge is best summed up by a casual fan I went to the fights with. They said: "It's all bells and whistles.... No substance."