IFL President and COO Jay Larkin made himself available to the media during a conference call to promote Saturday's World Grand Prix event in Chicago at the Sears Center. The event will mark the promotion's first-ever live telecast with matches between Chris Horodecki vs. Bart Palaszewski and Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Alex Schoenauer scheduled to air on MyNetworkTV at 9 p.m. ET.

Larkin made some notable revelations during the conference call, with the most newsworthy being that there will be changes to the league's format in 2008.

The former Showtime executive stated that the product fans will see in March of 2008 will be different then what they will see in November of 2007. When asked if that meant that the league will be abandoning its team format, Larkin said they are committed to the team-based concept but hinted that teams will no longer be affiliated with geographical locations.

Calling the city-affiliations "contrived," Larkin said the team concept will focus more on the identity of each team's head coach and their camp's reputation. A common theme expressed by Larkin was that it was confusing to have a team from one city fight a team from another city in a city that had no ties to either team.

Larkin also cited an example of how a fighter from Xtreme Couture might be competing for a coach from a completely different camp. He remarked that the new team concept they have planned for next year will allow more flexibility when it comes to the scheduling of matches.

Larkin was also asked if the league had any interest in adding Randy Couture as a head coach following his resignation from the UFC. He cited Couture's current contractual ties to the UFC and some other gray areas in his ability to negotiate with other promotions as reasons why he'd like to take a step back and allow the dust settle in regard to any possible future relationship with the current UFC heavyweight champ. However, he also had words of praise for Couture and said he'd love to have him involved if it makes sense from both a business and legal perspective.

Other Notes:

- Larkin said the league is still working on finalizing a contract with MyNetworkTV for 2008. He described the process as being a situation of needing to "dot the i's and cross the t's." There is no agreement in place to televise the World Grand Prix finals live on Dec. 29 but the possibility exists.

- Larkin confirmed that there have been preliminary discussions of discontinuing the heavyweight division in favor of adding a featherweight division but said that it was something that isn't imminent as of yet.

- The IFL is expected to announce tomorrow a deal with a Canadian TV outlet to televise two hours of Saturday's World Grand Prix event.

- Larkin revealed that he's had what he termed as "preliminary" and "very casual" talks with HBO in regard to televising the IFL. Larkin, who will not be at the IFL's WGP this Saturday due to a previous committment to produce a overseas boxing event for HBO, plans to have some more informal talks with HBO this weekend while he's away. He also added that he's only heard rumors about why the UFC and HBO deal fell through but said whoever is responsible made a major mistake. Larkin felt that a deal with HBO for MMA would have done wonders for its credibility and that whoever dropped the ball on it did the sport a major "disservice."

- The topic of Kurt Angle was brought up and Larkin was quick to state that the promotion had nothing new to share in regard to the one-time Olympic gold medalist and current TNA wrestler. Larkin did say he has an overiding fiscal responsibility, which almost came off as a cryptic message that Angle may or may not fit into their cost structure.

- The league has no plans to get away from the ring. Personally, Larkin doesn't like the cage, citing the difficulties from a television standpoint in producing a show. He said he understood that the cage has become an industry standard and that most fighters are used to the cage at this point. However, he does like the fact that the ring makes their product different from the competition.

- Larkin said the "waters have calmed" when it comes to the IFL's rocky relationship with agent and M-1 Global President and CEO Monte Cox. He went on to say that Ben Rothwell is still a part of the IFL and that he will be ringside in Chicago for the World Grand Prix. Larkin said the negotiations between the IFL and Cox should have never made it to the press. He went on to say that he wants Cox and M-1 to succeed because it makes for a healthier sport.

- Talked about UFC president Dana White's criticism in the past of major boxing figures getting involved with mixed martial arts and while he said White is right to be concerned, also pointed out that the UFC hired a trusted name in boxing, former NSAC executive director Marc Ratner, to head up their regulatory efforts. Larkin asserted that some of the people coming into MMA from boxing that White has been critical of, such as EliteXC live events president Gary Shaw, are very formidable promoters and that White has had the benefit of operating for many years now without strong competition.

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com