Jerry Milani sent along the following:
INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE AND USA WRESTLING ENTER INTO STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIP TO GROW AWARENESS OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS AND USA WRESTLING
PROGRAMS
Grassroots events programs and clinics, joint promotional opportunities
part of initial focus
NEW YORK and COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., April 12, 2007 — The
International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based
professional mixed martial arts league, and USA Wrestling, the National
Governing Body for wrestling in the United States, today announced a
strategic partnership between the two organizations aimed at increasing the
awareness level and creating unique grassroots programs and branding
opportunities for both groups.
“This is a great day for the IFL and for the sports of Mixed Martial
Arts and wrestling,” said IFL Commissioner and Co-Founder Kurt Otto.
“This partnership will give us the platform to reach a very
passionate demo with one of the most respected National Governing Bodies. This
cooperative program will help us further our mission to expose these
great IFL athletes to a larger audience and show how they can use their
wrestling skills as part of MMA.”
“USA Wrestling is proud to partner with the IFL in this project,”
said Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director. “Wrestling is a
core discipline of MMA and many of the greatest athletes in the sport
have a strong wrestling background. This will help us expose wrestling
fans and athletes to a much larger audience and grow this Olympic sport
by reaching an expanded audience.”
Currently no less than 30% of IFL coaches and athletes come from a
wrestling background, many with international and college success. They
include Olympic medalist Matt Lindland (Nebraska), two-time Olympian Dan
Henderson, past national champion Don Frye (Arizona State) and current
athletes Wayne Cole (Oklahoma), Jay Hieron (Nassau Community College
and Hofstra University), Ryan McGivern (Iowa), Mike Whitehead (Missouri),
Aaron Stark (Wisconsin), Ryan Schultz (Nebraska), Reese Andy (Wyoming),
Shad Lierley (NYU) and others.
The partnership will include joint USA Wrestling/IFL clinics and
information sessions featuring IFL athletes and coaches and USA Wrestling
staff in strategic locations, beginning with the Fan Festival held
alongside the USA Wrestling World Team Trials in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 9-10.
This event will determine the U.S. teams for the 2008 World
Championships in the Olympic disciplines of men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle
and men’s Greco-Roman wrestling, as well as the newly recognized
discipline of Grappling.
More details concerning the World Team Trials clinic will be published
shortly.
Also in the planning process is a multimedia awareness campaign
developed to promote both organizations as well as a discount program for USA
Wrestling members to attend IFL events nationwide.
Each of the nine regular season IFL events will consist of four teams
— each with an athlete in all five weight classes competing — for a
minimum of 10 bouts per card. The team that wins the best three of
five match setup will be declared the team winner for the match, similar
to collegiate and high school wrestling dual meets. The IFL also
differs from other MMA organizations in that the bouts are held in an
oversized five-rope boxing ring with three, four-minute rounds, designed to
create the most compelling in-arena experience for local fans.
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,
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.
About USA Wrestling
USA Wrestling is the National Governing Body for wrestling in the
United States, and is a member organization of the U.S. Olympic Committee
and the international wrestling federation FILA. USA Wrestling conducts
events and programs for wrestling at all levels. Its membership includes
athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers and fans all across the
nation.
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.
