Report: UFC to Buy the IFL

by Luke Thomas on Jul 17, 2008 10:16 AM EDT in News Comment 8 comments

A Senior Producer at HDNet's Inside MMA tells MMAPayout.com that the IFL will be bought by the UFC.

MMAPayout.com has confirmed talks between the IFL and UFC. More details as they become available.

They've already signed a ton of their talent, so this would be a very smart move to keep EliteXC and Affliction from building their divisions. I doubt the UFC will keep everyone, but this allows them to get first dibs on who they want to keep and give the leftovers to the competitors.

Say what you want about the IFL, but they had a lot of very talented competitors on their rosters. And I'm guessing the asking price at this point is pretty low. Well done, Dana.

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There are some good names in there,
Nelson, Matyushenko, Schultz, Fabiano, Horodecki, Kennedy, Miller that I’d like to see in the UFC or the WEC. I sure hope it’s true even though it will suck to not see the IFL in HD on HDNET for free.

by pr0cs on Jul 17, 2008 10:26 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Fabiano will prolly goto the WEC in the FW division…..Heiron and Matyushenko are former UFC fighters anyway…Schultz, Horodecki, Kennedy, Miller are good options as mentioned.

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by Tha Realness on Jul 17, 2008 10:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That bring up a good point. Perhaps part of this aquisition, or atleast an added bonus for the UFC, is the fact that this in some way hurts Cuban and HDNet.

by Eugene Schelfaut on Jul 17, 2008 10:38 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

In a way, I’m happy about that. Cuban may want to fill the void left by IFL’s departure.

Hopefully, they will do so with WVR.

by Brett Jones on Jul 17, 2008 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The only fighter I would want

The only fighter worth anything on their roster is Wagney Fabiano in my opinion. With the proper build up a fight between him and Uriah would be a superfight. Matyushenko is a UFC washout, and although talented, does not look improved from his last stint in the UFC. I would not expect to much from him. Nelson would be a nice addition to the Heavyweight division.

by Nick Travaglini on Jul 17, 2008 10:54 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Wag is boring. They need to for sure get Nelson. He is a huge (no pun) favorite with the fans. He is like a talented common man.

by MrNiceGuyMMA on Jul 17, 2008 12:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I guess I really don’t care about the deal. The only way it would have been good, is if the IFL would have kept operating, they had some of the best shows of the year that nobody saw.

As for the fighters, they do have some good talent that can add to the UFC roster, especially Nelson. That guy is legit and the fans love him.

Buy your IFL gear while you can, lol.

"They said you was hung!!"

"And they was RIGHT!"

by BJJDenver on Jul 17, 2008 12:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The only way it would have been good, is if the IFL would have kept operating…

I don’t think spreading talent across three brands is a good decision. Now, conceivably, Zuffa can flesh out the higher weight divisions in the WEC with guys they don’t feel are ready for the UFC. Instead of one strong organization, one organization that’s half strong and half (really) weak, and a third organization that no one cares about, you can have two strong organizations.

Not that any of this will necessarily happen, but if it does, I will be excited.

by Brett Jones on Jul 17, 2008 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs