CONDORS, LIONS WIN INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE OPENERS IN OAKLAND
Ken Shamrock’s Squad Tops Brother Frank’s; Marco Ruas’ Southern Calif.-based team also victorious at ORACLE Arena; Horn Wins Superfight Following Team Competition
OAKLAND, Calif., January 19, 2007 — The Condors, based in Southern
California and coached by Marco Ruas, and the Lions, based in Reno, Nev.,
and coached by Ken Shamrock, won their respective season-opening
International Fight League matchups today in front of 5,005 at the ORACLE
Arena in Oakland, Calif. MMA veteran Jeremy Horn (Salt Lake City) won the
Superfight which followed the team bouts, scoring a split decision over
Niko Vitale (Honolulu).
The mixed martial arts competition marked the first of 11 events on the
2007 IFL schedule, the most comprehensive advance schedule in the
history of fight sports. Ruas’ Condors edged the Tiger Sharks, based in
Seattle and coached by Maurice Smith, 3 bouts to 2, while the Lions got
past the Razorclaws by the same 3-2 count.
In the opening matchup, lightweight Shad Lierley (Seattle) got the
Tiger Sharks off to a quick start with a first-round TKO, flooring Adam
Lynn (Pittsburgh) with a series of strikes before the referee stopped the
bout just 44 seconds in. Antoine Jaoude (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) drew
the Condors even with a unanimous decision over Curtis Crawford
(Portland, Ore.) in the heavyweight bout, before Danny Suarez (Redondo Beach,
Calif.) pushed the Condors ahead with a first-round submission win over
Tristan Wit (Seattle) in a battle of lightweights, substituting as
alternates for the regularly-scheduled welterweight bout. Suarez caught
Wit with a triangle choke for the tap-out. Middleweight Jeremy Williams
(Laguna Niguel, Calif.) secured the victory for the Condors, defeating
Bristol Marunde (Sequim, Wash.) with the last of a series of chokes, a
triangle choke which ended by referee stoppage at 1:13 of the first
round. Tiger Sharks light heavyweight Reese Andy (Billings, Mont.)
scored
a unanimous decision over Justin Levens (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) for the
final 3-2 margin.
In the battle between the Shamrocks, lightweight John Gunderson
(Medford, Ore.) tapped out Josh Odom (Tallahassee, Fla.) with a triangle choke
in the last minute of the first round to give Ken’s Lions first
blood. Heavyweight Roy Nelson (Las Vegas) took out Vince Lucero (Casa
Grande, Ariz.) with a barrage of punches following a takedown for a
first-round TKO to extend the Lions’ margin to 2-0. Clint Coronel (San
Jose, Calif.) shaved the Razorclaws’ deficit in half with a second-round
TKO of fellow lightweight Joe Martin (Susanville, Calif.), in which he
used a straight-right to sting Martin, then followed with a barrage of
punches to induce the referee stoppage. Welterweight Pat Healy (St.
Louis) then earned the Lions the victory with a unanimous decision over
Ray Steinbeiss (Phoenix). The Razorclaws’ middleweight Brian Foster
(Moreno Valley, Calif.) completed the scoring with a second-round TKO
of Daniel Molina (Carson City, Nev.), as the Lions took the match, 3-2.
The IFL next moves to Houston, where the Anacondas (Los Angeles) meet
the Silverbacks (Quad Cities) and the Sabres (Tokyo) battle the
Scorpions (Tucson) on February 2 at the Reliant Arena.
The IFL is the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial
arts league. Each of the 12 IFL teams for 2007 will compete in three
regular season events; the teams with the top four overall win-loss team
records will advance to the semi-finals, which will be held on Thursday,
August 2, 2007 at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.
The 2007 IFL Finals will then be held at The Forum in Los Angeles on
Saturday, September 15, 2007.
The 10 venues for the 2007 season (The Forum in Los Angeles will host
two events) will scale to between 7,000 and 13,000 seats, which has been
consistent with the IFL’s plan of managed growth.
About the IFL
International Fight League (IFL) is the world’s first professional
mixed martial arts sports league. IFL has its headquarters in New York, NY and offices in Las Vegas, NV. For more information about IFL,
please see: www.ifl.tv
International Fight League
ORACLE Arena, Oakland, Calif., January 19, 2007
Condors (Southern Calif.) def. Tiger Sharks (Seattle), 3-2
LW/155 lbs.: Shad Lierley, Tiger Sharks, def. Adam Lynn, Condors, via
TKO (strikes), 0:44, 1st round
HW/265 lbs.: Antoine Jaoude, Condors def. Curtis Crawford, Tiger
Sharks, via decision (unanimous) after three rounds
LW/155 lbs. (alt.): Danny Suarez, Condors, def. Tristan Wit, Tiger
Sharks, via submission (triangle choke), 1:44, 1st round
MW/185 lbs.: Jeremy Williams, Condors, def. Bristol Marunde, Tiger
Sharks, via TKO (triangle choke), 1:13, 1st round
LH/205 lbs.: Reese Andy, Tiger Sharks, def. Justin Levens, Condors, via
decision (unanimous) after three rounds
Lions (Reno, Nev.) def. Razorclaws (San Jose, Calif.), 3-2
LW/155 lbs.: John Gunderson, Lions, def. Josh Odom, Razorclaws, via
submission (triangle choke), 3:05, 1st round
HW/265 lbs.: Roy Nelson, Lions, def. Vince Lucero, Razorclaws, via TKO
(ref stoppage), 1:58, 1st round
LW/155 lbs. (alt.): Clint Coronel, Razorclaws, def. Joe Martin, Lions,
via TKO (ref stoppage), 0:45, 2nd round
WW/170 lbs.: Pat Healy, Lions, def. Ray Steinbeiss, Razorclaws, via
decision (unanimous) after three rounds
MW/185 lbs.: Brian Foster, Razorclaws, def. Daniel Molina, Lions, via
TKO (ref stoppage), 2:05, 2nd round
Superfight
190 lbs.: Jeremy Horn def. Niko Vitale, via decision (split), after
five rounds
IFL Standings Through Jan. 19
Team Overall Match
Condors 1-0 3-2
Lions 1-0 3-2
Anacondas 0-0 0-0
Dragons 0-0 0-0
Wolfpack 0-0 0-0
Pitbulls 0-0 0-0
Red Bears 0-0 0-0
Sabres 0-0 0-0
Scorpions 0-0 0-0
Silverbacks 0-0 0-0
Razorclaws 0-1 2-3
Tiger Sharks 0-1 2-3
Special Awards
(Tiger Sharks vs. Condors)
Best KO — Shad Lierley, Tiger Sharks
Best submission — Jeremy Williams, Condors
Fastest finish — Shad Lierley, Tiger Sharks
Most exciting fight — Reese Andy, Tiger Sharks, vs. Justin Levins,
Condors
(Lions vs. Razorclaws)
Best KO –
Best submission — John Gunderson
Fastest Finish — Roy Nelson
Fight of the Night — Dan Molina vs. Brian Foster
Most Valuable Fighter — John Gunderson
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