As 2006 comes to a close, there are a bunch of big events happening in the MMA world and we like to hear your thoughts on a couple of them. The IFL closes out the year with the World Team Championships at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, we’d like to know which team you think will win and why. We’d also like your picks for who will win in the UFC’s final show of the year, UFC 66: Liddell Vs. Ortiz. The results of the survey and some of the commentary we receive may appear in the upcoming issue of FCF.

Further evidence to the fact that Team Revolution is quickly becoming one of Canada’s more notable fight teams, was provided last weekend at BodogFight held in Vancouver, British Columbia. In front of the Lower Mainland "hometown" fans, Revolution fighters Todd Gouwenberg and Rob Velek were both victorious, in the only two bouts of the "Team USA vs Team Russia" card that featured Canadian fighters.

Rob Velek made his MMA debut in the cards opening fight of the night, taking on Edmonton fighter Tim Smith. As hundreds of fans continued to file into the PNE Agrdome, Velek thrilled the local audience that were already in their seats, taking Smith promptly to the mat with authority. From there the Revolution lightweight quickly brought the fight to a halt, pounding Smith with strikes for the stoppage at 35 seconds of round 1. The loss for Smith drops his record to 1-3.

BodogFight’s final bout of the night featured highly regarded Canadian lightheavyweight Todd Gouwenberg taking on UFC veteran Ron Faircloth. Gouwenberg had started his MMA career showing a ton of promise, going undefeated in his first 3 fights of his career, a streak that included a TKO stoppage of Icho Larenas at TKO 16 in 2004. On November 26th, 2004, in a TKO 18 Heavyweight title bout against Jacob Concliffe however, Gouwenberg fell short, losing to the Team Tompkins fighter by rear naked choke. A follow up KO loss to Lavar Johnson at last summer’s Freedom Fight event left Gouwenberg’s record at 3-2, and some questioning whether or not the former Team Gibson fighter would re-assert his presence in the Canadian upper rankings.

But Gouwenberg proved many of his detractors wrong at TKO 27 in September. Returning from a one year lay off from MMA, Gouwenberg dropped down to the lightheavyweight division to take on one of TKO’s most highly touted prospects, the 5-0 Martin Desilet. Demonstrating the skills and conditioning that have become synonymous with many of Team Revolution’s fighters, Gouwenberg worked to a unanimous decision victory over his up and coming opponent. Saturday night Gouwenberg only further entrenched his presence in Canada’s LHW circles, picking apart Faircloth with a very precise and lethal striking game, knocking out the Freestyle Fighting Academy fighter at 1:34 of round 1.

The Revolution Fight Team has assembled a rather notable roster of fighters in a relatively short time since the team started up a couple of years ago. Kalib Starnes, Tim Thurston, Tyler Jackson, Kultar Gill, Blake Fredrickson, Bill Mahood, Todd Gouwenberg among others, are just some of the more well known members of the Lower Mainland team. Revolution also forged a partnership a few months ago with one of Vancouver’s more famous Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors, 7th degree black belt Professor Marcus Soares. One of his top students and MMA fighter, brown belt Adam Ryan, also has begun coaching at Revolution as well. Recently the organization opened a second gym in Chilliwack, while the original facility in Port Kells continues to operate.

"J-Rod" To Meet "Suave" at Rumble in the Cage "Season’s Beatings"

Jared "J-Rod" Kilkenny will fight former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco "Suave" Rodriguez at Rumble in the Cage’s New Years Eve "Season Beatings" event. Kilkenny has quickly become on of Canada’s more noted heavyweight prospects, going 7-1 so far to begin his MMA career. Rodriguez has won 4 fights in a row, extending his record to 25-6, a streak that includes a win over Ron Waterman at the WFA 4 card in July. Although no opponents have reportedly been signed yet for them, CMAC standouts JustinTavernini, Jordan Mein, and Jesse Bongfeldt, are all scheduled to compete on the card.

INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE (IFL) RECEIVES APPROVAL FROM NEVADA STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION TO HOLD COMPETITIONS IN THE STATE

"We are very grateful that this process is completed, and that the commission has given us permission to move forward and schedule events," Otto and Shamus said in a joint statement. "It is another important step forward for the IFL as we grow and develop our business model, and its great news for both the fans of the sport and our business partners, since Nevada is the epicenter of all fight sports and the commission is made up of some of the most respected people not only in the fight world, but in all of professional sports."

The approval by the Nevada commission is the latest in a series of solid business developments for the IFL. Other recent announcements in the last week have included:

• The addition of the 12th and final team for 2007 (the Red Bears based in Chicago),
• The announcement of the full 2007 IFL schedule
• The move to make the IFL a publicly-traded company

The 11 date slate will include events in eight different states and begins with four teams, including the Nevada-based Lions (coached by legend Ken Shamrock) facing the San Jose-based Razorclaws (coached by his brother, world champion Frank Shamrock) at the ORACLE Coliseum on Friday January 19 in Oakland, California. Ken Shamrock recently held an open tryout in Reno for team hopefuls, and attracted over 150 competitors to the half-day event.