IFL Los Angeles Results

Homestanding L.A. Squad Earns Sweep over ‘Claws; ‘Adopted’ Angelenos Win 3-2

LOS ANGELES, March 17, 2007 - The Los Angeles-based Anacondas and Tokyo-based Sabres claimed victories at the International Fight League card at The Forum in Los Angeles tonight. The Anacondas (2-0) took over first place in the IFL, the world’s first team-based mixed martial arts league, by virtue of their 5-0 sweep over the Razorclaws, while the Sabres, whose members train in Los Angeles, remained right on their heels with their 3-2 triumph.

Prior to the bout, the Anacondas announced that champion trainer Shawn Tompkins would take over the reigns as the team’s head coach, replacing Bas Rutten, who will take an expanded role in the IFL, including serving as co-host of the weekly “IFL Battleground” television series on MyNetworkTV.

In the first matchup, Brian Ebersole (San Jose, Calif.) of the Razorclaws (0-2) and Alex Schoenauer (Las Vegas) of the Anacondas slugged it out in an action-packed light heavyweight bout, with Schoenauer taking a split decision to give the hometown favorites a 1-0 edge. Middleweight Benji Radach (Coconut Creek, Fla.) made it 2-0 in favor of the Anacondas with a first-round TKO over Brian Foster (Moreno Valley, Calif.) via guillotine choke. Lightweight Chris Horodecki (London, Ontario) then clinched the victory with a workmanlike unanimous decision over Josh Odom (Tallahassee, Fla.). Jay Hieron (Las Vegas) submitted Donnie Liles in a welterweight bout to move the advantage to 4-0, before Krzysztof Soszynski (Winnipeg, Manitoba) finished off the whitewashing with a unanimous verdict over Dan Christison (Las Vegas) in the heavyweight tilt. The sweep was the second in league history, matching the Anacondas’ effort in September 2006.

Lightweight Savant Young (Los Angeles) got the Sabres (2-0) off to a rousing start with an early second-round KO of Adam Lynn (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Antonio McKee (Lakewood, Calif.) took a unanimous welterweight decision over Rodrigo Ruas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) to stake the Sabres to a 2-0 advantage. After Jeremy Williams (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) executed a first-round triangle choke of Kazuhiro Hamanaka (Tokyo) to cut the Condors’ (1-1) deficit in half with the TKO win, Vladimir Matyushenko (Belarus) secured the Sabres’ team win with a first-round TKO of Justin Levens (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) in the light heavyweight matchup. Condors heavyweight Antoine Jaoude (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) turned the tables on Wayne Cole (Oklahoma City) with a second-round KO for the final 3-2 margin.

In the preliminary bouts which featured the alternate fighters for each team, Conor Heun of the Anacondas defeated Clint Coronel of the Razorclaws by split decision, while Zac George of the Sabres topped Danny Suarez of the Condors in a unanimous decision.

The IFL next visits Moline, Ill., on April 7, with the Tiger Sharks taking a Each of the 12 IFL teams for 2007 will compete in three regular season events; the teams with the top four overall win-loss team records will advance to the semi-finals, which will be held on Thursday, August 2, at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. The 2007 IFL Finals will then be held at The Forum on Saturday, September 15.

The 10 venues for the 2007 season (The Forum will host two events) will scale to between 7,000 and 13,000 seats, which has been consistent with the IFL’s plan of managed growth.