IFL Debut, a new era in Mixed Martial Arts?

Just finished watching the International Fight League TV debut on FSN and it was very entertaining. Tonight's match featured Team Anaconda led by Bas Rutten vs. The Silverbacks coached by Pat Miletich.

There were 5 fights on the card for the inaugural event. One of the more notable match ups of the event was Bart Palaszewski vs. John Shackelford in the lightweight category.

Round one went down with Palaszewski pressing the action with good striking and being the aggressor for the entire round. Round 2 opened up with more of the same and as the seconds ticked by I got the clear impression that Shackelford was outmatched by the more experienced Palaszewski.

Palaszewski kept coming on hard and caught Shackelford with a right uppercut followed closely by a left hook that sent Shackelford to the mat for the KO and a win for the Silverbacks.

Another good (and short) fight was between Welterweight fighters Mike Pyle for the Anacondas and Rory Markham for the Silverbacks.

Rory came in strong and had Pyle on the defensive immediately. Markham then landed a nice right hand sending Pyle down, Rory quickly took advantage of the knockdown and commenced pounding Pyle for a moment before the fight was stopped by the referee. Markham and the Silverbacks ended the night with a decisive victory that should have the other team Welteweights thinking.

Overall a great opening event for the International Fight League and team based MMA, I'll definitely be tuning in for more. Stay tuned for more IFL fights on 5-28 & 6-4 set your Tivo's and DVR's!

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)