HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - The International Fight League team championships are being held here Thursday night, but bigger news from the upstart mixed martial arts promotion will be announced in coming weeks.

IFL commissioner and co-founder Kurt Otto told FOXSports.com that his group is close to finalizing a television deal for live telecasts in 2008. Weekly IFL shows currently airing on FSN and MyNetwork are taped, which Otto believes has adversely affected the promotion's television ratings.

FOXSports.com also has learned the IFL will add former Showtime boxing senior vice president and executive producer Jay Larkin to a front-office position. Larkin is expected to help with IFL expansion much like Marc Ratner did with the Ultimate Fighting Championship when hired away from his role as executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Otto said the IFL will remain at 12 teams for its 2008 season but locations of several franchises will be changing. Otto said the IFL is weighing team locations in Florida and Las Vegas for a squad that would be headed by MMA veteran Mario Sperry.

*Despite taking a fight on only four days notice, former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez reported in outstanding shape for his Thursday night bout against fellow heavyweight Ben Rothwell. Rodriguez is a late substitute for New York Pitbulls fighter Tom Sauer, who tore his biceps during training last weekend.

Rodriguez, whose MMA career was derailed by substance-abuse issues, reported at a trim 252 1/2 pounds at weigh-ins at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Rothwell, who is considered IFL's marquee fighter with the Quad City Silverbacks, was measured at 264 1/2 pounds.

All but two of the 10 competitors in team championship bouts qualified at weigh-ins. Quad Cities lightweight Bart Palaszewski and light-heavyweight Mike Ciesnolevicz were within 1/4 pound of making weigh for their respective divisions. Both were expected to qualify within the two hours allotted for fighters to make weight after the weigh-ins.

The card will air at various times Sunday on local FOX Sports Net affiliates. Results will be posted Thursday night here at FOXSports.com.

 "Razor" Rob McCullough lived up to his pre-fight prediction during Wednesday night's World Extreme Cagefighting card emanating from Las Vegas.

 After telling FOXSports.com last week that he was going to "destroy" Rich Crunkilton Jr. in the show's main event, McCullough did just that by forcing referee Herb Dean to stop the fight at just 1:29 of the first round. McCullough, the defending WEC lightweight champion, demolished Crunkilton with a series of blows after stopping several takedown attempts.

 The show's other title match saw Chase Beebe withstand an early surge from Rani Yahya en route to a five-round decision to retain his WEC bantamweight title. Beebe used superior wrestling skills to control the bout and surprisingly dominate Yahya, a submission specialist, on the ground.

Perhaps the biggest news coming out of Wednesday night's card was the announcement that WEC had signed a contract extension with Versus Network to telecast 15 future live events. WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber, who is potentially the most marketable of the promotion's stable of fighters, will defend his title on a live December 12 telecast against Jeff Curran.

WEC is the sister company of the UItimate Fighting Championships and places a greater emphasis on younger and lighter fighters.

*Randy Couture defeated Gabriel Gonzaga by TKO at 1:37 of the third round in the main event of Saturday night's UFC 74.

Yes, Gabriel Gonzaga and Father Time both couldn't defeat Randy Couture.

Despite entering the fight as an underdog, the 44-year-old Couture defended his UFC heavyweight championship against a performer 16 years his junior following a flurry of punches that prompted referee Herb Dean to stop the fight.

Couture is not known as a devastating striker like Gonzaga, who floored Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic with a high kick in April to earn Saturday's title shot. But Couture landed far more punches while controlling Gonzaga against the Octagon fence for the majority of the fight, which "The Natural" said was part of his pre-bout strategy.

"I think he just wore down," Couture said in a post-fight interview.

Couture struck his first major blow when busting open Gonzaga's nose on a takedown early in the first round.

"I heard the crunch and saw the blood," Couture said.

Gonzaga almost had lighting strike twice when a high kick just missed connecting with Couture's head at the start of the third round. But that effectively marked the end of Gonzaga's offense, as Couture took him down and landed blow after blow to end the fight.

Couture's next opponent is unknown, although Cro Cop would be a marquee foe provided he defeats Cheick Kongo on Sept. 8 at UFC 75 in London, England.

It was interesting to note that Brock Lesnar came ringside shortly after the fight ended. Lesnar is expected to sign with UFC and is a mainstream name from his days as a World Wrestling Entertainment performer. But with only one mixed martial arts bout to his name, Lesnar may have to prove himself in UFC first before entering the title picture.

*Georges St-Pierre defeated Josh Koscheck by unanimous decision (Judges scorecards were 30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

During pre-fight hype, UFC President Dana White kept asking which St-Pierre would be showing up, the one who defeated the previously invincible Matt Hughes to win the UFC welterweight title or the one who lost that belt to Matt Serra in April.

It was the former.

Koscheck was dominated more than in any other fight during his 13-match UFC career and slammed his fist on the mat in disgust after the bout.

The overwhelming crowd favorite, St-Pierre scored a quick takedown and controlled Koscheck for the next three minutes. Koscheck finally reversed position, but did little on top through the end of the round.

St-Pierre was back on top quickly in Round 2 and dominated the five-minute period. The round ended as St-Pierre was jerking Koscheck's arm in a third unsuccessful attempt at a Kimura (key lock) submission.

"Josh is a very good wrestler and I wanted to put him out of his comfort zone," St-Pierre said in a post-fight interview. "I knew he wasn't very accustomed to fighting on his back."

St-Pierre also proved superior in third-round standup action, bloodying Koscheck's nose with a punch, before again taking charge on the mat.

St-Pierre will now get a 2008 title shot against the winner of the Serra-Hughes bout slated for December 29 on the UFC 79 pay-per-view show emanating from Las Vegas.

*Roger Huerta defeated Alberto Crane by TKO at 1:50 of the third round.

Huerta hasn't been matched with a top-caliber lightweight in his five UFC fights, but this bout showed he can survive a slew of submission attempts. That was about all Crane had to offer in his UFC debut. In the first round, Huerta opened a cut under Crane's left eye, which gradually turned black and blue and closed shut.

At one point with Crane holding a clinch from behind, Huerta was looking up at the Mandalay Bay Events Center video screens to see were to tag his opponent with punches and elbows. The bout was ultimately stopped by referee Steve Mazzagatti, who showed much better decision-making when ending this fight than earlier on the show when he allowed Renato "Babalu" Sobral's pummeling of David Heath to last too long.