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(1 vote)
Report from IFL Draft in New York (viewed 638 times)
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I promise I will have my post-UFC 77 thoughts later today. I'm running behind because I attended to IFL draft tryouts in New York on Saturday. It was a full day of MMA for me between the IFL and UFC 77, but I had a blast.
I was covering the draft cover for CBSSports.com and I will post my professional, third-person feature-style article for CBS later this week. In the meantime I wanted to post my free-form, first-person account here.
As a point of clarification, while the IFL is labeling their three-city tryouts as the "IFL Draft," I would say that scouting combine would be a more apt description. My understanding is that fighters will be evaluated during the tryouts and then when the tryouts are over and the IFL has verified that these guys aren't contracted to other promotions, the teams will then be able to choose who they want to join their team.
Overall, I had a lot of fun at this event. It was really great and it is definitely something that should be opened up to the public next year whether it be in a bigger venue or building a webcast around the event.
The tryout process was about as fair as it can be given the circumstances (i.e. a lot of fighters and little time). The fighters were broken down into groups of four and then went through the opening round that consisted of 1:30 of takedowns, a 1:30 of rolling/submission grappling with no closed guard, and 1:30 of standup sparring. Sometimes there were additional rounds if the coaches wanted to see some of the matchups changed. The fighters were told up front not to feel each other out and to get down to business. Most heeded the advice but some did not. Some of the fighters got quick hooks if they were warned to pick up the pace and then didn't.
Some of the negatives were that you're only going to look as good as bad as your opponent is. From a sentence structure standpoint, I guess the latter sentence is confusing (and grammatically incorrect). The point I'm trying to convey is that if you were a BJJ black belt rolling with another BJJ black belt, you might not look as good as the blue belt who was tapping out a white belt at will. The league tried to compensate by rotating guys within their four man groups but even that wasn't a true fix as some groups were head and shoulders above others.
After the opening round, fighters then stood before the judges (consisting of IFL commissioner Kurt Otto, Toronto Dragons head coach Carlos Newton, and IFL commentator Bas Rutten) and the fighters that were chosen to advance to the second round were announced before everyone. Sometimes three guys from a group made it and sometimes none made it.
The second round consisted of what I would describe as full contact MMA sparring. MMA is illegal in New York so the IFL had to walk a fine line but the sparring sessions were highly competitive and a lot of fun to watch. I was actually surprised by the quality of a lot of the bouts. We were packed into a tiny LA Boxing gym in Long Island so the atmosphere was really good. The crowd, comprised mostly of fighters, was pretty into the fights.
If a fighter showed enough during his sparring session, he got the immediate thumbs up after the fight as to whether he would be added to the IFL draft list of entrants.
This was not a PR stunt for the league because after talking with Otto he made it clear they have a lot of spots to fill. In addition to looking for guys to fight full-time on the teams, the IFL is looking to bolster their alternate program. They are also looking to bring fighters into the fold that may not be immediately affiliated with teams but will get to compete on undercards as the league looks to develop them over time.
I was surprised when I saw the list of the registered fighters because there were some established guys there. Matt Lee and James "Binky" Jones from BodogFIGHT were both amongst a group of hopefuls that I would estimate to include 140 fighters. In talking to Matt and Binky separately, they indicated they are still under contract to Bodog and neither expressed any dissatisfaction with the promotion. But both only have one more fight left on their current respective Bodog deals and are looking for as many opportunities as possible. Lee, who fought Eddie Alvarez during Bodog's Trenton show this past summer and against Jorge Masvidal during the Strikeforce Playboy show in a Bodog sponsored bout, will be fighting in Russia for Bodog in November.
Two other legit guys that I was pleased to see there were Jim Bova and Matthew Brown.
I saw Jim win the Combat in the Cage lightweight title against Mark Geto in Trenton two weeks ago. He trains out of the Anthracite Combat Club with Jon Murphy, Shane Ott, and Diego Jimenez. Ott, who fights for the New York Pitbulls, came up to support Jimenez and Bova but ended up reffing a lot of the sparring sessions. Diego is a true 145 pounder but is a game fighter and came up to compete. He made it to the finals but his name was not on the list of guys that will be included in the IFL draft pool. However, just because a guy isn't eligible for the draft mean he'll never fight for the IFL. All the finalists had their photos taken and the tryouts were filmed. The IFL now has all these guys on file. My understanding is that if there are injury issues next year that some of the guys who didn't make it could still be contacted. Also, if some of these guys go back to the shows and go on a winning streak, the IFL now knows the face to go with the name.
Brown is a well-rounded fighter who has fought against top guys such as Chris Lytle and Pete Spratt. He formerly trained with Team Jorge Gurgel and at times was a sparring partner of Rich Franklin's. He no longer trains at Gurgel's because he's now living in New York. He looked very good at the tryouts and is definitely a guy who I think is worthy of a starting spot at 170 lbs. in the IFL next season.
While there were some known guys that came out, there were also some sleepers who really came out of nowhere.
Torrance Taylor is a 20-year old student out of Ohio who really turned some heads. Taylor has incorporated a lot of traditional martial arts into his game and looked like Cung Le at times. He made it to the second round and then into the final IFL draft pool after his sparring session was stopped when he landed a beautiful axe kick that essentially TKO'd his opponent.
Taylor is definitely someone to watch but I think the biggest story to come out of the tryouts was Levon Maynard. Levon and his girlfriend drove up to the tryouts from Virginia Beach on Friday. A civilian contractor for the Air Force, Levon wanted to save some money so him and his girlfriend slept in their car overnight. Maynard showed good submissions, impressive standup, and outstanding cardio. He also happens to be a really nice guy. Basically, he's the total package. I think he's still a little raw but if he gets drafted (and I'm positive he will) as a welterweight and starts training with one of the IFL teams, I think he's going to really hit his stride and emerge as a star.
After seeing the number of talented prospects try out in the lighter weight divisions and a lack of viable options at heavyweight, one thing I think the IFL should consider in '08 is dropping their heavyweight division and replacing it with a featherweight division. Right now there just aren't enough good prospects at heavyweight while there's an abundance of 145 pounders. With Ben Rothwell likely not returning and Kryzsztof Soszynski expected to drop to 205 lbs., the IFL heavyweight division is going to take a hit. Unless they are willing to spend some money and sign some established guys, it's going to be real hard to re-stock it because there just aren't a lot of good young big men out there right now.
Some of the current heavyweights could follow in Soszynski's footsteps and drop to 205 lbs. For instance, Reese Andy probably weighs 206 lbs. Unfortunately, cutting to light heavyweight isn't an option for a natural heavyweight like Roy Nelson so the IFL would have to say goodbye to some good fighters that have become fixtures in the league. While it wouldn't be an easy decision, in the end, I think dropping the heavyweight division for the featherweight division would make for a better product.
For instance, the deepest division in the IFL is the 155 lbs. division and it's very hard to break into right now. With the creation of a featherweight division, you'd give some good 155 lbs. fighters that can't get a regular spot at lightweight another option. The IFL would then also be able to go out and recruit some of the top established featherweights out there. And overall, the 145's deliver better fights than the heavyweights. The IFL has positioned itself as a league that's more about sport than spectacle, and featherweight just has a lot more to offer than heavyweight right now.
Retiring the heavyweight division would also minimize the impact of the potential loss of Rothwell.
Time to get back on topic: the IFL draft in New York. Again, I had a great time. I not only got a future CBS article out of it for this week but I was able to expand my knowledge-base in regard to some of MMA's top prospects.
--
Sam Caplan
Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com
SamCaplan.ProElite.com
I was covering the draft cover for CBSSports.com and I will post my professional, third-person feature-style article for CBS later this week. In the meantime I wanted to post my free-form, first-person account here.
As a point of clarification, while the IFL is labeling their three-city tryouts as the "IFL Draft," I would say that scouting combine would be a more apt description. My understanding is that fighters will be evaluated during the tryouts and then when the tryouts are over and the IFL has verified that these guys aren't contracted to other promotions, the teams will then be able to choose who they want to join their team.
Overall, I had a lot of fun at this event. It was really great and it is definitely something that should be opened up to the public next year whether it be in a bigger venue or building a webcast around the event.
The tryout process was about as fair as it can be given the circumstances (i.e. a lot of fighters and little time). The fighters were broken down into groups of four and then went through the opening round that consisted of 1:30 of takedowns, a 1:30 of rolling/submission grappling with no closed guard, and 1:30 of standup sparring. Sometimes there were additional rounds if the coaches wanted to see some of the matchups changed. The fighters were told up front not to feel each other out and to get down to business. Most heeded the advice but some did not. Some of the fighters got quick hooks if they were warned to pick up the pace and then didn't.
Some of the negatives were that you're only going to look as good as bad as your opponent is. From a sentence structure standpoint, I guess the latter sentence is confusing (and grammatically incorrect). The point I'm trying to convey is that if you were a BJJ black belt rolling with another BJJ black belt, you might not look as good as the blue belt who was tapping out a white belt at will. The league tried to compensate by rotating guys within their four man groups but even that wasn't a true fix as some groups were head and shoulders above others.
After the opening round, fighters then stood before the judges (consisting of IFL commissioner Kurt Otto, Toronto Dragons head coach Carlos Newton, and IFL commentator Bas Rutten) and the fighters that were chosen to advance to the second round were announced before everyone. Sometimes three guys from a group made it and sometimes none made it.
The second round consisted of what I would describe as full contact MMA sparring. MMA is illegal in New York so the IFL had to walk a fine line but the sparring sessions were highly competitive and a lot of fun to watch. I was actually surprised by the quality of a lot of the bouts. We were packed into a tiny LA Boxing gym in Long Island so the atmosphere was really good. The crowd, comprised mostly of fighters, was pretty into the fights.
If a fighter showed enough during his sparring session, he got the immediate thumbs up after the fight as to whether he would be added to the IFL draft list of entrants.
This was not a PR stunt for the league because after talking with Otto he made it clear they have a lot of spots to fill. In addition to looking for guys to fight full-time on the teams, the IFL is looking to bolster their alternate program. They are also looking to bring fighters into the fold that may not be immediately affiliated with teams but will get to compete on undercards as the league looks to develop them over time.
I was surprised when I saw the list of the registered fighters because there were some established guys there. Matt Lee and James "Binky" Jones from BodogFIGHT were both amongst a group of hopefuls that I would estimate to include 140 fighters. In talking to Matt and Binky separately, they indicated they are still under contract to Bodog and neither expressed any dissatisfaction with the promotion. But both only have one more fight left on their current respective Bodog deals and are looking for as many opportunities as possible. Lee, who fought Eddie Alvarez during Bodog's Trenton show this past summer and against Jorge Masvidal during the Strikeforce Playboy show in a Bodog sponsored bout, will be fighting in Russia for Bodog in November.
Two other legit guys that I was pleased to see there were Jim Bova and Matthew Brown.
I saw Jim win the Combat in the Cage lightweight title against Mark Geto in Trenton two weeks ago. He trains out of the Anthracite Combat Club with Jon Murphy, Shane Ott, and Diego Jimenez. Ott, who fights for the New York Pitbulls, came up to support Jimenez and Bova but ended up reffing a lot of the sparring sessions. Diego is a true 145 pounder but is a game fighter and came up to compete. He made it to the finals but his name was not on the list of guys that will be included in the IFL draft pool. However, just because a guy isn't eligible for the draft mean he'll never fight for the IFL. All the finalists had their photos taken and the tryouts were filmed. The IFL now has all these guys on file. My understanding is that if there are injury issues next year that some of the guys who didn't make it could still be contacted. Also, if some of these guys go back to the shows and go on a winning streak, the IFL now knows the face to go with the name.
Brown is a well-rounded fighter who has fought against top guys such as Chris Lytle and Pete Spratt. He formerly trained with Team Jorge Gurgel and at times was a sparring partner of Rich Franklin's. He no longer trains at Gurgel's because he's now living in New York. He looked very good at the tryouts and is definitely a guy who I think is worthy of a starting spot at 170 lbs. in the IFL next season.
While there were some known guys that came out, there were also some sleepers who really came out of nowhere.
Torrance Taylor is a 20-year old student out of Ohio who really turned some heads. Taylor has incorporated a lot of traditional martial arts into his game and looked like Cung Le at times. He made it to the second round and then into the final IFL draft pool after his sparring session was stopped when he landed a beautiful axe kick that essentially TKO'd his opponent.
Taylor is definitely someone to watch but I think the biggest story to come out of the tryouts was Levon Maynard. Levon and his girlfriend drove up to the tryouts from Virginia Beach on Friday. A civilian contractor for the Air Force, Levon wanted to save some money so him and his girlfriend slept in their car overnight. Maynard showed good submissions, impressive standup, and outstanding cardio. He also happens to be a really nice guy. Basically, he's the total package. I think he's still a little raw but if he gets drafted (and I'm positive he will) as a welterweight and starts training with one of the IFL teams, I think he's going to really hit his stride and emerge as a star.
After seeing the number of talented prospects try out in the lighter weight divisions and a lack of viable options at heavyweight, one thing I think the IFL should consider in '08 is dropping their heavyweight division and replacing it with a featherweight division. Right now there just aren't enough good prospects at heavyweight while there's an abundance of 145 pounders. With Ben Rothwell likely not returning and Kryzsztof Soszynski expected to drop to 205 lbs., the IFL heavyweight division is going to take a hit. Unless they are willing to spend some money and sign some established guys, it's going to be real hard to re-stock it because there just aren't a lot of good young big men out there right now.
Some of the current heavyweights could follow in Soszynski's footsteps and drop to 205 lbs. For instance, Reese Andy probably weighs 206 lbs. Unfortunately, cutting to light heavyweight isn't an option for a natural heavyweight like Roy Nelson so the IFL would have to say goodbye to some good fighters that have become fixtures in the league. While it wouldn't be an easy decision, in the end, I think dropping the heavyweight division for the featherweight division would make for a better product.
For instance, the deepest division in the IFL is the 155 lbs. division and it's very hard to break into right now. With the creation of a featherweight division, you'd give some good 155 lbs. fighters that can't get a regular spot at lightweight another option. The IFL would then also be able to go out and recruit some of the top established featherweights out there. And overall, the 145's deliver better fights than the heavyweights. The IFL has positioned itself as a league that's more about sport than spectacle, and featherweight just has a lot more to offer than heavyweight right now.
Retiring the heavyweight division would also minimize the impact of the potential loss of Rothwell.
Time to get back on topic: the IFL draft in New York. Again, I had a great time. I not only got a future CBS article out of it for this week but I was able to expand my knowledge-base in regard to some of MMA's top prospects.
--
Sam Caplan
Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com
SamCaplan.ProElite.com