IFL: Mario Sperry and Ian Freeman to be Added to the Pantheon of Coaches

The International Fight League has been in negotiation with MMA legend, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt and former BTT fighter and coach Mario "The Zen Machine" Sperry about the possibility of coaching a team. Sperry has seemed very excited about coaching, and said

"As a coach, I can fight in this organization. The IFL's president himself told me he would like to see me against another coach."

Sperry's jiu-jitsu would prove interesting, and I think it'd make an interesting matchup with the already jiu-jitsu based Pitbulls, coached by Renzo Gracie.

As far as Sperry's personal fighting goes, he could make an interesting matchup with any of the larger coaches, which seem to be divided into the smaller fighters (Gracie, Pat Miletich and Carlos Newton) and the heavier fighters (Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock and Ken Yasuda).

Sperry would probably join the heavier coaches, which could give some intersting matchups. While he'd probably be dominated by Frank Shamrock, the possibility of a matchup with Yasuda (who has yet to fight in the IFL) or Ken Shamrock might be intersting.

There is also the possibility of him fighting the coaches more in the middle as far as weight, namely Matt Lindland and Igor Zinoviev.

The other coach recently announced is Ian "The Machine" Freeman. Freeman is a legend in British MMA and will spread around the international base, hopefully bringing the British audience into the IFL.

Freeman was announced a while ago, but his team was put on hold for the season when

"I had one light heavyweight rejected by the IFL on account of his fight record and his age. They weren’t too excited by the fact that he was forty years old and only had two fights, which I can understand. What they didn’t take into account was his boxing career, but that’s by the bye. Now I found the perfect light heavyweight, so I have my full team."

Freeman has expressed some desire to fight as well, and would join the heavier ranks of the division (he would be, physically, one of the largest coaches), and I would personally like to see him fight Ken Shamrock or even commentator Bas Rutten. His history in the sport and the way he has legitimized British MMA, both as a coach and a fighter, is something that I'm sure the IFL will be looking to capitalize on.

Hopefully, Sperry and Freeman will be able to bring new dimensions to the league, both as coaches and as fighters.