At about 1:30 p.m. MST on Thursday, MMA America received the following partially heartbreaking, partially strange email from a man named Joe Favorito, who was apparently the Senior Vice President of Communications with the International Fight League. We've never heard of Mr. Favorito before, but assume this message was mailed out en masse to all the folks who used to receive the IFL's press releases, and we were on that list.

Due to its nature, and the "mass mail" method of its delivery, we feel OK about posting it here, with Mr. Favorito's personal information edited out. It came under the subject line "Turnin' out the lights," and seems to confirm what we've known for a long time -- the IFL is done. The first parragraph puts a positive spin on the entire IFL experience. The second parrragraph is sort of a plea for further employment. It makes us sad, but we can't say we didn't see this coming. Sorry, IFL, we feel like you never really had a chance. 

"Good afternoon,

I apologize for this mass email but I wanted to take a second to let you know that as of July 31 my role at the IFL will be no more as the company goes into its final stage of being sold and/or closed down.  We are very proud of what we did here in just over two years, building a brand from nothing into something that people in the industry and outside of the industry actually noticed, and I enjoyed working with so many different people and helped tell some great stories.  At the end of the day sometimes the finances don't make sense, but it certainly wasn't for lack of trying.  The good news is I think we have gotten all our good junior people placed in some great spots, so we are pretty proud of that.  Even our interns landed in good places.

Anyway I am unsure of my next move at this point, and am very much open to ideas, suggestions and opportunities real or conceptual on the strategic planning, communications and branding sides both in and out of sports and entertainment, so if you hear of anything or would like to see my CV or pass it along I would appreciate the help.  The great thing about the IFL is that opened up so many more doors for me professionally, and gave me the opportunity to successfully manage digital campaigns, unique branding opportunities, investor relations and a host of other things on the broadcast side that hopefully will assist me with what's next.  Now "what's next" is the big question for me...lol.

Thank you again and if you have any ideas or thoughts I would welcome them.