Modern Fighting

In a conference call Thursday afternoon, IFL CEO Jay Larkin announced, among other things, a design change to the IFL’s four-sided fighting surface, from tradtional square to hexagonal. The unique six-sided ring, according to Larkin, will provide the athletes with an area that is larger and more similarly configured to surfaces they’ve gotten used to fighting on in the past.

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It’s hard to say what Jay Hieron’s greatest strength is these days. Once known almost exclusively for his wrestling, the IFL welterweight champion has improved so steadily in every aspect of the sport that when asked what they need to look out for his opponents usually come up with the same answer: everything.

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Like any good title fight, it’s a study in contrasts. In one corner you have Vladimir Matyushenko, the champion. He’s quiet and humble, always uncomfortable in the limelight. Watching him fight sometimes feels like watching a man trudging through his shift at a factory: the end isn’t in question, and it’s just a methodical march to the finish.

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For L.C. Davis, dealing with the first loss of his career was hard enough. The fact that it came on live TV in a fight for the IFL featherweight title, that didn’t help.

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IFL middleweight champ Ryan McGivern is one of the league’s most successful fighters, in no small part because of his formidable wrestling skills. A former standout Iowa Hawkeyes wrestler, McGivern has worked on transitioning from that sport to the full compliment of skills necessary for MMA.

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In just a few years, Carmelo Marrero’s career has already taken its share of twists and turns. He’s gone from the anonymity of the small shows to the bright lights of the big ones. He went from training himself to working out with one of the best MMA camps in the world.

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