The Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC) bantamweight and featherweight titles will both go on the line this Saturday in a double-header of professional title fights at XFC 20.
The event is set to take place as the Mansfield Tavern and will be headlined by Advance Martial Arts fighter Adrian Rodriguez who will be looking at defending his featherweight title against New Zealand fighter Shane Young. In the other title fight, Shantaram Maharaj and Jacob Mahony rematch with the vacant bantamweight title being up for grabs.
Rodriguez captured the featherweight belt back in July where he defeated Muay-Thai practitioner Taylor Harvey. Rodriguez was rocked early but showed enough awareness to get the fight to the ground where he was able to secure the armbar submission to get the first round stoppage. It was Rodriguez’s third straight win in the promotion having defeated both Mark Small and Aden Hawke previously.
Coached by former New Zealand fighter Neil Swailes, Shane Young will be looking at impressing in his first fight outside of New Zealand. The Auckland based fighter brings an unblemished 3-0 professional record to the fight and has also a reported 6-0 record in amateur competition. Young is coming off a first round submission win back in November against fellow countrymen Hayden Watt and no doubt will be looking at making a splash in this bout.
Maharaj and Mahony met previously at Eternal MMA 2 in early 2013 where Mahony was able to catch Maharaj in a guillotine choke to take out the one-night four-man tournament. Mahony went 3-1 in 2013 with his only loss coming in his last outing at Fightworld Cup 15 where the 24 year-old lost a unanimous points decision to Chris Morris. Maharaj finished the year with a 4-2 record, most recently submitting Adam Corbett at Nitro MMA 10. Maharaj is keen to wipe this loss off his record in a bout with two worthy title fighters. The belt was vacated by Michael Tobin.
Also on the card, Tae-Kwon Do specialist Kyle Parmley will bring his flashy kicks to the cage again as he faces James Klingner for a XFC amateur title. Kyle will be joined on the card by his brother Auryn Parmley who faces Jesse Kowran.
Fight Card:
- Adrian Rodriguez (c) vs Shane Young – XFC featherweight title
- Kyle Parmley vs James Klingner
- Shantaram Maharaj vs Jacob Mahony – XFC bantamweight title
- Corey Lynch vs Scott Thorburn
- Damien Sirisomphone vs Justin Wood
- Leirosa Mentha-Patterson vs Bronwyn Noffke
- Alice Romijn vs Terrisa Wall
- Dan White vs Matt Thompson
- Dan O’Rourke vs Aidan Byquar
- Hamish Oldfield vs Ty Duncan
- Jaz Walker vs Sarah Manthey
- Lewis Beattie vs Bernie Smeeton
- Auryn Parmley vs Jesse Kowron
- Eben Cox vs Justin Gallagher
