-By Barry Janoff

The International Fight League, which sought to revolutionize the mixed marshal arts category with a team, rather than man-on-man, concept, has met its match and will be acquired by a rival company or shut down. Sources with knowledge of the situation, however, said Ultimate Fighting Championship would be considered a prime buyer.

According to the UFC, "The UFC has no deal in place at this time to acquire IFL. We have no further comment on this," said Jennifer Wenk, director of public relations at parent company Zuffa, Las Vegas.

"As of July 31 . . . the IFL will be no more as the company goes into its final stage of being sold and closed down," said Joe Favorito, svp-communications at IFL, New York.

Although financial figures were not disclosed, analysts put the IFL's market value at $1 million at best. It also had yet to be revealed how many of the athletes under IFL contract would be signed by UFC and whether current or former IFL marketing partners would seek to align with UFC.

At its height, the IFL, which was founded in 2006, included such sponsors as Microsoft's Xbox, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, Warner Home Video, Sandals Resorts, V2 Vodka, HeadBlade, Fairtex and Cytosport; as well as TV partners FSN and MyNetworkTV. The William Morris Agency, Los Angeles, represented the IFL and its fighters. After an IPO stock offering in late 2006, analysts put IFL's value at more than $500 million.

In late 2007, however, co-founder and CEO Gareb Shamus (who that year was named one of Brandweek's Marketers of the Next Generation) was moved to a role as consultant and was replaced by Jay Larkin, the IFL's president and COO. This year, the IFL's concept of having five-man teams and playoffs was scrapped in favor of "camp" alignments. IFL stock also dropped from a high of $12 per share to about 3 cents.

UFC, Las Vegas, has been the clear leader in the mixed marshal arts category, with powerful numbers in the prime 18-35 male demo in attendance, on Spike TV and via-per-view telecasts.