The following is a press release from the IFL:

NEW YORK, November 13, 2007 - The International Fight League, the world’s number one team-based professional mixed martial arts league, and YouTube, the world’s leading video sharing Website, today announced a video sharing partnership designed to expose IFL content to a larger worldwide audience. It is the first partnership YouTube has formed in the sport of mixed martial arts, and follows the path of similar partnerships with the NBA, NHL, CBS and EA Sports among others.

“We are very excited to be able to add YouTube and Google Ads as our partners,” said IFL co-founder and CEO Gareb Shamus. “Compelling content is key to success, and this partnership gives us the opportunity to expose our athletes, coaches and events to a much larger audience than ever before with compelling content we know this demo loves to view.”

The partnership will provide IFL content to thousands of websites around the globe that use Google AdSense and YouTube players. The partnership will also include working with Google and YouTube in a revenue sharing model that would allow the IFL to generate income from advertisements shown in conjunction with its videos. The videos will be available on YouTube as well as other Google AdSense partner sites that cover the sport.

IFL short form videos are already some of the highest volume sports pieces on YouTube, with in excess of over one million views in recent months. This partnership is expected to significantly increase that potential audience.

The first major test of the partnership will occur in the coming week, when the IFL makes the fights from its November 3 World Grand Prix available to the MMA audience for the first time through YouTube. MyNetworkTV showed two of the fights in their live airing on broadcast television; the remaining seven bouts will now be seen for the first time through this partnership.