A Trans-Tasman rematch between Adrian Rodriguez and Shane Young is set to headline the XFC 22 card scheduled to occur on November 1.
The card which will feature a mixture of amateur and professional bouts takes place at the Mansfield Tavern in Queensland, Australia.
Adrian Rodriguez and Shane Young met back at XFC 20 in February this year, where Rodriguez edged out a majority decision on the judges cards to take his record to an impressive 6-1. Both guys left it all in the cage during their first outing which had the crowd on their feet by the end of the fight.
“I knew it was close, but I knew I scored well with the take downs and finished the fight on top,” Rodriguez told Fight News Australia back in September.
“I’m expecting another tough and entertaining fight and to come out on top again,” he added.
Coached by New Zealand MMA pioneer Neil Swailes, Shane Young will be keen to keep it out of the hands of the judges this time as he attempts to take the title across the Tasman.
“I feel like the fight was a draw at best and that there was some hometown bias in the final decision. I’ve had other judges in NZ look at the fight and they all thought it was a close decision, but the wrong decision,” Young told Fight News Australia back in September when asked about the decision.
“I wasn’t happy with my performance last fight, I shouldn’t have been getting taken down that easily so I went in there with the wrong mindset, maybe a little too aggressive in the wrong way,” Young added.
Rodriguez’s Advance Martial Arts team-mate, Jacob Mahony will be looking to defend his XFC bantamweight title when he comes up against Richie Ivory.
Mahony captured the vacant bantamweight title back in February when he submitted Shantaram Maharaj before successfully defending it with another first-round submission in June against Evander Agnew.
Melbourne based Irishman Richie Ivory will be looking at making a mark on the local scene and will have the legendary Carlson Gracie Jr. in his corner. A BJJ purple belt, Ivory made his MMA debut back in 2008 in his home-country but locally is coming off a unanimous decision loss to the undefeated Jordan Lucas back in May.
Also on the card, former amateur title holder Ben Quarmby will look to keep his impressive form going when he faces Damien Fraser while Integrated MMA fighters Aaron Blackie and Riley Mallett face Advance Martial Arts team-mates Jai Marshall and Mirwais Kakar respectively.
In amateur title fights, Ty Duncas defends his welterweight title against Dan White while Sassom MMA instructor Marcus Collings faces Martin Kerr for the vacant amateur light-heavyweight title. Rounding the title fights off, Gavin Hain and Eben Cox clash for the amateur lightweight title.
The fights kick-off at 7pm with limited standing tickets available at the door.
Fight Card:
- Adrian Rodriguez (c) vs Shane Young – XFC featherweight title
- *Ty Duncan (c) vs Dan White – XFC amateur welterweight title
- Jacob Mahony (c) vs Richie Ivory – XFC bantamweight title
- *Martin Kerr vs Marcus Collings – XFC amateur light-heavyweight title
- *Gavin Hain vs Eben Cox – XFC amateur lightweight title
- Aaron Blackie vs Jai Marshall
- Ben Quarmby vs Damien Fraser
- *Matthew Moore vs Blake Lynch
- Riley Mallett vs Mirwias Kakar
- *Jon Willox vs Carlin Bull
- *Andy Stanway vs Matthew Thompson
- Terissa Wall vs Helen Malone
- *Puru Kavana vs Harley Osgood
- *Joel Fahey vs Kris Mulhall
- *Luther Kruger vs Jordan Rolender
*Amateur bouts (3-minute rounds)
Image courtesy of Mars Video Productions via XFC
