The two new teams in the IFL, Condors and Lions, upset the razorclaws and tiger sharks and came out winners on January 19th in Oakland.
The Condors, based in Southern California and coached by Marco Ruas, and the Lions, based in Reno, Nev., and coached by Ken Shamrock, won their respective season-opening International Fight League matchups today in front of 5,005 at the ORACLE Arena in Oakland, Calif. MMA veteran Jeremy Horn (Salt Lake City) won the Superfight which followed the team bouts, scoring a split decision over Niko Vitale (Honolulu).
The mixed martial arts competition marked the first of 11 events on the 2007 IFL schedule, the most comprehensive advance schedule in the history of fight sports. Ruas' Condors edged the Tiger Sharks, based in Seattle and coached by Maurice Smith, 3 bouts to 2, while the Lions got past the Razorclaws by the same 3-2 count.
In the opening matchup, lightweight Shad Lierley (Seattle) got the Tiger Sharks off to a quick start with a first-round TKO, flooring Adam Lynn (Pittsburgh) with a series of strikes before the referee stopped the bout just 44 seconds in. Antoine Jaoude (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) drew the Condors even with a unanimous decision over Curtis Crawford (Portland, Ore.) in the heavyweight bout, before Danny Suarez (Redondo Beach, Calif.) pushed the Condors ahead with a first-round submission win over Tristan Wit (Seattle) in a battle of lightweights, substituting as alternates for the regularly-scheduled welterweight bout. Suarez caught Wit with a triangle choke for the tap-out. Middleweight Jeremy Williams (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) secured the victory for the Condors, defeating Bristol Marunde (Sequim, Wash.) with the last of a series of chokes, a triangle choke which ended by referee stoppage at 1:13 of the first round. Tiger Sharks light heavyweight Reese Andy (Billings, Mont.) scored a unanimous decision over Justin Levens (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) for the final 3-2 margin.
In the battle between the Shamrocks, lightweight John Gunderson (Medford, Ore.) tapped out Josh Odom (Tallahassee, Fla.) with a triangle choke in the last minute of the first round to give Ken's Lions first blood. Heavyweight Roy Nelson (Las Vegas) took out Vince Lucero (Casa Grande, Ariz.) with a barrage of punches following a takedown for a first-round TKO to extend the Lions' margin to 2-0. Clint Coronel (San Jose, Calif.) shaved the Razorclaws' deficit in half with a second-round TKO of fellow lightweight Joe Martin (Susanville, Calif.), in which he used a straight-right to sting Martin, then followed with a barrage of punches to induce the referee stoppage. Welterweight Pat Healy (St. Louis) then earned the Lions the victory with a unanimous decision over Ray Steinbeiss (Phoenix). The Razorclaws' middleweight Brian Foster (Moreno Valley, Calif.) completed the scoring with a second-round TKO of Daniel Molina (Carson City, Nev.), as the Lions took the match, 3-2.
The IFL next moves to Houston, where the Anacondas (Los Angeles) meet the Silverbacks (Quad Cities) and the Sabres (Tokyo) battle the Scorpions (Tucson) on February 2 at the Reliant Arena.