In the little more than two months that Jay Larkin has been CEO of the International Fight League, he has worked quietly behind the scenes to take the 2-year-old mixed martial arts promotion in a new direction. Not the least of the significant changes he has presided over is the complete overhauling of the league's team concept.

Recently, in his office at IFL headquarters in New York City, Larkin discussed what lies ahead for the IFL under his direction. More than once referring to the previous team format as "contrived," he recognized that the old system of city-based teams did serve to differentiate the IFL from other promotions. However, Larkin said that the new camp-based system will not only allow the flexibility to make the best possible matches for the fans but also capitalize on one of the IFL's biggest assets -- its coaches. Included among the IFL's coaching ranks are MMA legends Ken Shamrock (Pictures), Matt Lindland (Pictures) and Renzo Gracie (Pictures), to name a few.

Fans and fighters alike have responded favorably to the change, Larkin said. The coaches in particular are excited.

"They love getting their gyms' colors out there, and it adds another element to the competition," Larkin explained. "Will Gracie jiu-jitsu be victorious? Will Miletich Fighting Systems be victorious? They all have an interest in it, and if they win, you know what? It's good for them. It's good for their brand."

Lindland, whose Portland Wolfpack is now Team Quest, is pleased with the switch.

"I never understood why we made up team names when we already had established team names, so [the camp format] makes a lot of sense," Lindland said. "I think it's good for brand awareness because I think that some of the new fans may not understand who a lot of these teams are."

Ken Shamrock (Pictures) leads what is now the Lion's Den team. He echoed Lindland's sentiment, adding, "And it's just a pride thing. When a guy's going out there and fighting and representing your camp, the whole camp is going to get behind him."

The camp-based system will be rolled out at the league's first 2008 event Friday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Team Quest and the Lion's Den will face each other in team competition at the show. An Xtreme Couture team had also been expected to take on Mario Sperry (Pictures)'s World Class Fight Center. However, with the UFC seeking an injunction to prevent the use of Couture's name, the IFL changed the squad to Team Tompkins.

Led by Shawn Tompkins (Pictures), former coach of the IFL Anacondas, the team features fighters who train at Couture's Las Vegas gym, where Tompkins also coaches.

Friday's event will be the second IFL show televised live on HDNet (8-10:30 p.m. PT) and the first aired under a recent multi-event broadcast agreement entered into by the two companies. The new deal calls for the Mark Cuban-owned network to air a minimum of five bouts.

"With HDNet, it's far from turning lemons into lemonade because we're very happy with the HDNet relationship," Larkin said. "Their relatively small distribution helps us. It helps with the Internet, it helps with the DVD sales, it helps us with our sales to [Fox Sports Network] because they're seeing relatively untouched product."

Continued Larkin: "Now would this be my preference? No. My preference would be that MMA, not necessarily IFL, but MMA is available on one of the four or five major broadcast networks -- CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX -- or a large mainstream cable network."