Andrei Arlovski was in Chicopee, Mass., Saturday night hosting “Pavement Wars.” an MMA event put on by the National Amateur Fight League promotion. The fights were held outside, in a parking lot. This was a night of professional fights, with several fighters from the former Extreme Fighting International promotion on the card.

In the main event, Rhino Fight Team’s Mike Medrano won the vacant National Amateur Fight League welterweight title against local favorite Brenden Weafer by unanimous decision. Weafer, Full Contact Fighter Magazine’s 2007 Rookie of the Year, had his jaw broken by Medrano during the bout but hung on until the final bell.

Both Gusmao and Al-Hussan will be making their UFC debuts. According to the report, no reason was immediately given for Drwal’s absence from the card. This would be the second time in a row now that Drwal has had to pull out of a fight in the UFC. He pulled out of a fight against David Heath in February due to a knee injury but it’s unknown if his absence from the UFC 87 card is at all related to the same injury.

Al-Hussan is a Midwestern prospect who carries an undefeated 5-0 record coming into the fight and four of his five victories have come by way of TKO or submission. Gusmao is also 5-0 in his career with four of his victories coming in the IFL.

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Gusmao, 5-0, previously fought in the IFL, where he holds two career wins over Mike Ciesnolevicz. The 31-year old Brazilian native is known for his strong submission work on the ground, as well as some dynamic striking that he began to display towards the latter part of his IFL tenure.

Drwal, a native of Poland, made his his UFC debut at UFC 75 in London last September, where he lost to Thiago Silva via second round TKO. He has not fought since losing to Silva but boasts a 14-2 lifetime MMA record.

UFC 87 will take place at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. and will feature Georges St. Pierre defending the UFC welterweight title against Jon Fitch. Bouts between Brock Lesnar and Heath Herring as well as Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta are planned as well.

Gusmao’s opponent for the event has yet to be determined, according to Martin.

The UFC had previously attempted to sign Gusmao and it was reported by several news outlets that he would make his UFC debut this past February at UFC 81 against David Heath. However, FiveOuncesOfPain.com broke the news after speaking with IFL officials that the New York-based fight promotion held an exclusive negotiation period in its contract with Gusmao that prevented him from consummating an agreement with another organization.

With that exclusive negotiation period having apparently expired, the Brazilian-born fighter is now an unrestricted free agent and able to sign elsewhere.

Gusmao is undefeated in five pro fights and if reports are accurate, he could join a young nucleus at 205 pounds in the UFC that already includes Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, and Thiago Silva.

Here are the highlights from the call:

- Kurt Angle’s name was brought up towards the end of the call. Otto confirmed that the promotion hosted Angle during the Team Finals in Florida that took place in September and said that he’s had talks with Angle’s manager, Dave Hawk. In response to Angle’s previous statements that he’d be fighting for the IFL in the future, Otto said he thinks that Angle might have experienced “buyer’s remorse” and is having second thoughts after watching the fights up close. He said if Angle wants to compete, he has three guys specifically in mind as potential opponents. When pressed, Otto would not name those three guys. He also indicated that if Angle fought for the IFL, it likely would be in a pay-per-view situation.

- Otto indicated that he and Monte Cox are on speaking terms again and he was also complementary to M-1 Global. He wouldn’t rule out Ben Rothwell re-signing with the IFL and felt that they can make him an attractive offer. However, he didn’t sound overly optimistic. The impression I got, and this is conjecture on my part, is that pretty much everyone is resigned to the fact that Rothwell will be fighting for M-1 in 2008.

- The league will open the ’08 season in Las Vegas on February 29 at the Orleans Center.

- I also posed several questions about Andre Gusmao and the reports that claimed he’d be debuting with the UFC in February and then the subsequent reports that he wouldn’t be. Otto said that someone representing Gusmao gave the UFC a false impression that he was free and clear to negotiate. When the IFL got wind of reports, Otto contacted UFC V.P. of talent relations, Joe Silva. Otto was complementary towards Silva and said the UFC retracted their offer after speaking to the IFL.

The interesting part is that it sounds as though Gusmao is not signed to the IFL for ’08 and could still fight for the UFC next year. What it sounded like to me is that the IFL either has a right of first refusal in Gusmao’s contract and or retains an exclusive negotiation period.

I believe there is definitely a right of first refusal as Otto expressed his belief that the IFL will be able to make the best financial offer for Gusmao’s services. Otto also stated he felt it was interesting that after people had said the UFC wasn’t interested in their fighters that there could be a bidding war over Gusmao that will take place.

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FiveOuncesOfPain.com (www.FiveOuncesOfPain.com) has learned that those reports are incorrect, as the IFL has a contract option to retain Gusmao for the 2008 season and will be exercising that option.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS STORY ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG

Heath is coming off an infamous defeat at the hands of Renato Sobral via Anaconda choke at UFC 74 while Andre Gusmao is a UFC newcomer and IFL veteran with a 5-0 record. UFC 81 is scheduled for February 2nd, 2008 at the MGM Arena. Other matchups scheduled for UFC 81 are:

• Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir
• Tyson Griffin vs. Gleison Tibau
• Thales Leites vs. Nathan Marquardt
• Alan Belcher vs. Ricardo Almeida

Kudos to reader Jeremy for the heads up.

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IFL co-founder and commissioner Kurt Otto made the formal announcement. He also praised the company for hiring Jay Larkin full-time and believes Larkin will be a key figure in helping the company turn the corner.

Other notes:

- Matches that will be televised were not announced but I think we all know that Chris Horodecki vs. Bart Palaszewski will somehow find its way on the broadcast. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben Rothwell was also in the other match.

- It sounds as though they do not have a TV contract with MyNetworkTV signed for 2008. I might be taking liberties here, but I think the Nov. 3 show and its ratings will have huge implications on the IFL’s future with MyNetworkTV. In a separate statement, Otto said he feels they need live TV to be competitive. Well, if they don’t get live TV for ’08 then what does that mean?

- In a lot of ways, Nov. 3 will be a proving ground or a test. They are optimistic they will go live for the Dec. 29 World Grand Prix finals (going up against UFC 79 on PPV) but that a deal has not been worked out.

- Otto tried to put a positive spin on the loss of the three hours of TV time on MyNetworkTV. He cited various reasons why it’s not all bad: they don’t have to go up against the NFL; they have fewer shows right now due to their regular season being over; lower production costs; they’ve always rather the FSN show be two hours and the MNTV show be one hour; it’s less total TV time for them to produce so they can show the best matches; they will be sandwiched in between the UFC Wired and NFL Network TV shows, which obviously is perfect for their demo.

- Mike Ciesnolevicz is out of the light heavyweight portion of the World Grand Prix on Nov. 3, as he’s been suspended for six weeks due to a broken nose. The man who beat him and broke his nose at the IFL team finals last Thursday, Andre Gusmao (5-0), has moved into the WGP as the fourth seed. Alex Schoenauer is now the three seed and Mike Whitehead number four with Vladimir Matyushenko remaining number one.

- Two coaches are definitely out of the IFL and existing teams will be moved and some fighters will be changing rosters. Those announcements will be made in the upcoming weeks (I reported last week that Krzysztof Soszynski will likely be fighting for Matt Lindland at 205 lbs. next year).

- Two of next year’s new coaches have been confirmed as Ian Hamilton and Mario Sperry. I can also tell you that Sperry could be relocating to the U.S. and opening a school here.

- Fighters who underperformed this past season have been let go. Some of their roster spots will be filled through what the IFL is billing as a “2008 IFL Draft” that will be held in conjunction with LA Boxing. They will have three tryouts: Oct. 13 in LA; Oct. 20 in NY; and Oct. 27 in Chicago. Go to IFL.tv to register for the tryouts. It sounds like they prefer you have pro or amateur experience under your belt but it sounds like anyone who is serious will be given a chance to try out. Otto reminded everyone that John Gunderson was discovered through their tryouts a year ago so it looks like they expect to find a few hidden gems.

These tryouts are just one of the reasons why I want the IFL to stick around. I train MMA and have met some awesome fighters nobody has ever heard of. These guys  in some cases work 1-2 jobs that they hate but they find time to train MMA because they love it so much. Well, some of these guys will be able to go to these tryouts and possibly walk away with a full-time job in MMA. How can you not appreciate the IFL for that?

- Otto was critical of both ex-Anacondas head coach Shawn Tompkins and ex-Sabers welterweight Antonio McKee. Said he was just disappointed how things worked out with Tompkins and wasn’t happy that McKee didn’t bother to read his contract and took the liberty of signing with another promotion and being advertised on their web site when he was exclusive to the IFL. Otto confirmed that McKee is not only out of the WGP but that he’s also out of the IFL. I also believe that McKee is no longer booked for the San Francisco show at the Cow Palace in October. Ouch.