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| POSTED BY: Complete on 10/30/2007 09:19:06 |
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SCHOENAUER HAS 12 MINUTES TO AN IFL BELT
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
- by Mick Hammond - MMAWeekly.com
Alex
Schoenauer’s three-season tenure in the International Fight League has
been much like a rollercoaster ride, punctuated by impressive highs and
disheartening lows.
Wins over Travis Wiuff, Kazuhiro Hamanaka
and Allan Goes have been offset by nearly alternating losses to Jamal
Patterson, Aaron Stark and Mike Ciesnolevicz (twice). So it’s
understandable if people wonder which Schoenauer will show up each time
he steps into the ring.
While consistency has eluded him to this
point with the promotion, he did manage to win enough fights in the
regular season to qualify in the light heavyweight division for this
weekend’s IFL Grand Prix in Chicago.
Due to injuries and
contractual issues, unlike the other four weight classes – which will
host the first round of their respective four-man tournaments –
Schoenauer steps directly into a final round championship bout with
this season’s most consistent 205-pound fighter, Vladimir Matyushenko.
“Originally
I was supposed to fight Matyushenko to begin with in the (semi-final)
fight,” said Schoenauer of this weekend’s match-up. “There was a bunch
of stuff that happened and then I was supposed to fight (Mike)
Whitehead, and then some changes happened, so it was me and Vladdy
again.
“So great, it’s just one fight for the belt. Hell yeah, I’ll take that.”
With everything that he’s put in during training, stylistically, Schoenauer feels this fight could play into his favor.
“He’s
got a lot of fights under his belt. He’s old school, but he doesn’t
have anybody to really push him, I don’t think,” he explained.
“(Watching) his last fight I was able to pick apart his game a little
bit and see (his approach).
“He’s basically a strong wrestler.
I’ve been facing wrestlers all season. So I’m going to work my
jiu-jitsu on him and my stand-up. He’s not going to want to stand with
me. If he does, great, that’s what the fans want to see, but other than
that I think it’s going to be a great fight.”
It currently
appears that Schoenauer will be returning to the IFL’s Anacondas next
year, however, he’s unsure who will coach the team and where they will
be based in the 2008 season. The league is considering realignment and
the addition of two international teams.
Even with that uncertainty, he remains focused on the fight ahead.
“I
think it’s up in the air, everything’s always changing around,” he said
of the upcoming Anacondas 2008 campaign. “I’m just concentrating on my
big fight coming up and then I’ll have a little bit of a break before
the season begins in January, so we’ll just see what happens.”
Schoenauer’s
uncompromising attentiveness to this weekend’s match-up is
understandable considering what’s at stake not only in the fight
itself, but also for his career so far.
“I’ve been in the sport
competing professionally for about four years now and this is a dream
come true to fight for a belt,” he explained. “It’s not a small show
belt, it’s an IFL belt, and it means a lot because there’s a lot of
competition in the league for it.
“I’ve been training hard and
do everything I can to be ready for it 300%. When it comes down to it,
it’s twelve minutes to go in there and prove that I earned that belt
and that I deserve it.”
With the first round of the IFL Grand
Prix to be broadcast live on MyNetworkTV, Schoenauer may just get the
opportunity to prove to the world who he truly is as a fighter and
where he is headed in the upcoming year.
“To all the fans, come
out and support the IFL,” he said in closing. “There’s going to be some
great fights on the card and the 205-pound belt will be on the line as
well.
“I want to thank MMA Authentic, Bob La Grata, Tapout, Bas Rutten, and Kevin Randleman for helping me out with my wrestling.”
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