The IFL held a conference call on Wednesday that was hosted by league commissioner and co-founder, Kurt Otto. The call was scheduled to alert the media about the league's plans for the 2008 season.

Here are the highlights from the call:

- Kurt Angle's name was brought up towards the end of the call. Otto confirmed that the promotion hosted Angle during the Team Finals in Florida that took place in September and said that he's had talks with Angle's manager, Dave Hawk. In response to Angle's previous statements that he'd be fighting for the IFL in the future, Otto said he thinks that Angle might have experienced "buyer's remorse" and is having second thoughts after watching the fights up close. He said if Angle wants to compete, he has three guys specifically in mind as potential opponents. When pressed, Otto would not name those three guys. He also indicated that if Angle fought for the IFL, it likely would be in a pay-per-view situation.

- Otto indicated that he and Monte Cox are on speaking terms again and he was also complementary to M-1 Global. He wouldn't rule out Ben Rothwell re-signing with the IFL and felt that they can make him an attractive offer. However, he didn't sound overly optimistic. The impression I got, and this is conjecture on my part, is that pretty much everyone is resigned to the fact that Rothwell will be fighting for M-1 in 2008.

- The league will open the '08 season in Las Vegas on February 29 at the Orleans Center.

- I also posed several questions about Andre Gusmao and the reports that claimed he'd be debuting with the UFC in February and then the subsequent reports that he wouldn't be. Otto said that someone representing Gusmao gave the UFC a false impression that he was free and clear to negotiate. When the IFL got wind of reports, Otto contacted UFC V.P. of talent relations, Joe Silva. Otto was complementary towards Silva and said the UFC retracted their offer after speaking to the IFL.

The interesting part is that it sounds as though Gusmao is not signed to the IFL for '08 and could still fight for the UFC next year. What it sounded like to me is that the IFL either has a right of first refusal in Gusmao's contract and or retains an exclusive negotiation period.

I believe there is definitely a right of first refusal as Otto expressed his belief that the IFL will be able to make the best financial offer for Gusmao's services. Otto also stated he felt it was interesting that after people had said the UFC wasn't interested in their fighters that there could be a bidding war over Gusmao that will take place.

Maybe I was reading too much into things, but at one point it sounded like Otto was trying to minimize Gusmao's spot in the league by saying that he was an alternate. If that's what the intent was, I'm not sure that's a good approach because most people know that Gusmao is one of the top prospects in the world at 205 lbs.

- The league will be contracting to nine full-time teams, down from 12 in '07. Ian Freeman and Mario Sperry have been confirmed as new coaches for next year. Freeman's team will be based out of the U.K. while Sperry will be based in Vegas. In addition to nine full-time teams, teams from the outside will be able to compete in '08 as well. For example, Otto said the league now has flexibility to work with Tito Ortiz's Team Punisher, Randy Couture's Xtreme Couture, or the Red Devil fight team in one-off situations. Otto was clear to point out that he was using the names of those camps as examples and that deals with them for '08 are not in place.

- The fight-day roster of each team will usually consist of three fighters, down from five in '07. Again, Otto is giving the league flexibility by saying that on special occasions a team could field more than three fighters. By using smaller fight-day rosters, Otto believes it will allow camps to rotate guys in and out so that they can combat injuries better. Also, there will be no pre-determined conditions when it comes to weight classes. You could see two welterweight matches take place in a three-fight set between camps.

- There will be four teams competing at each event with the goal to have two title fights on each card. That's a total of eight fights per show with the plan to provide five fights per each live telecast. Otto did not rule out the possibility of having six teams represented on a fight card with the number of matches obviously increasing from eight.

- I posed a question about team standings in '08 and whether they will still be tracked. I'm not sure I received a definitive answer. My take is that they will still determine a top camp at the end of the '08 season but that the team standings aspect won't be as prominent as it was this past season.

- Also, the league is only committing to eight fight cards in '08 but Otto yet again would not rule out the possibility of the schedule being expanded. Right now the plan is to rotate cards between venues in Uncasville, Connecticut (Mohegan Sun), East Rutherford, New Jersey the former Continental Airlines Arena), and Las Vegas (at the Orleans Center).

- The only TV deal in place for '08 is Fox Sports Net but I don't believe it includes a live television package. Otto mentioned that negotiations are ongoing with MyNetworkTV. He wouldn't get into specifics, but he said they were speaking with other potential TV partners as well.

- It does not sound as though the World Grand Prix concept will be back in '08. Otto's take was that with the title fights next year, the whole season will be a WGP.

- Otto was asked about the decision to move Wagnney Fabiano from the lightweight WGP final to the featherweight final. It was a drawn out answer, but while he acknowledged injuries, he supported the decision and felt that since featherweight was Fabiano's long-term weight class, why have him compete for the lightweight title?

- Free agents will be allowed to fight for the IFL next year and compete in one-off situations. They can also compete for titles but it sounded as though that they'd have to agree to a multi-fight option if that was the case.

- Team rosters could be made public shortly after the new year.

- He said that while he won't rule out having female MMA matches in the future, it's not in their immediate plans.

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com