International Fighting Championships

International Fighting Championships is an American mixed martial arts organization. Founded in 1996, the IFC was the vision of longtime martial artist and kickboxing promoter, Howard Petschler. Howard recognized that MMA would finally solve a lot of the problems associated with martial arts as a spectator sport, and sought to establish the credibility it needed to be treated as a sport. Rules were established that allowed for the safety of the fighters without detracting from the action. Weight divisions for both men and women were developed, and soon the IFC was working with athletic commissions throughout United States to bring prominence to MMA. The IFC became the first MMA promotion to enact rules that were recognized by a state athletic commission(Mississippi/1996). These rules have since become the basis for the Unified Rules which have now been adapted by most the states and Canada. In Canada, a country that had once banned these events, the IFC rules were adapted by the Province of Québec. IFC shows on the Canadian network, RDS, were the first to be a regularly scheduled MMA weekly network program anywhere in the world.

Today the IFC still works to establish and expand the sport on a global scale.

One thing distinguishing the IFC from other MMA organizations is the fact that it is the first organization to create a cruiserweight division. This new weight class allows smaller heavyweights to compete with people closer to their own size.

After a 2 year hiatus IFC returned on December 8 2012, with Warriors Challenge 29 at Feather Falls Casino, Oroville, California.