June 16th isn’t just the night of UFC 72. In Las Vegas the IFL will be closing the season that day with their team sport, but also starting the only MMA playoffs to date. This will mark the second year this IFL league will have a playoff between team fighters. Bas Rutten’s old team the LA Anacondas and the Tokyo Sabres have already reached playoff status. The Anacondas were a good team last year and this comes as no surprise, but the Sabers’ were stinking it up so bad last year that Ken Yasuda fired all of his fighters from the 2006 season. I guess it has proven to be a good move.

The teams left to battle it out for playoff spots are Ken Shamrock’s Lions, Carlos Newton’s Dragons, and Renzo Gracie’s Pitbulls. The Lions will be the underdogs for this shake-out so I will be rooting for them. Plus it would be nice for Ken Shamrock to win with a team he has worked on for two years now. There are a few scenarios that could play out that each team could move up or down pending these matches, but I am content to root for Shamrock. All the other teams did great last year and it would be good to see some fresh faces in the playoffs. With any new team sport you try to level the playing field so that one team doesn’t dominate every year and take the entertainment value out of it. GO LIONS!