(Photo: Facebook.com)
In a closely contested bout, Advance Martial Arts fighter Adrian Rodriguez successfully defended his Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC) featherweight title in main event bout at XFC 20 on Saturday night.
The event was held at the Mansfield Tavern and headlined by two professional title fights.
As the main event fight began, both Rodriguez and Young looked to judge their distance by popping out their jabs before a takedown attempt from Young was stuffed by Rodriguez. On their feet though it was Young who would get the better punches off early, in particular landing some uppercuts. The shots forced Rodriguez to go for a takedown which he succeeded with, only for Young to sweep while attacking a kimura from his back. Rodriguez worked back to his feet and landed a big knee in the clinch. As the round ended, a cut had opened up on Young.
In the second, Young landed an early combination before Rodriguez secured another takedown. Young worked back to his feet and immediately went on the front foot again. Rodriguez though was doing well covering up, and countering with hooks and solid leg kicks. Young though rocked Rodriguez with a trio of straights and looked to capitalise. Rodriguez did well to cover-up and secured the takedown. Rodriguez controlled the action against the cage for a bit before Young escaped just as the round ended.
With arguably a round each going into the last, both fighters opened up early with Young pushing the action and Rodriguez countering with back towards the cage. Young landed a pair of knees while Rodriguez started to open up with more leg kicks. With 30-seconds both fighters exchanged heavy shots, with Rodriguez’s mouth-guard coming out. The fight was halted and as it restarted, Rodriguez immediately capitalised by securing a takedown from which he landed some ground-and-pound until the buzzer.
That takedown from Rodriguez may have been the difference on the judges scorecards as two judges awarded the fight 29-28 to Rodriguez while the other scored it a draw 29-29. Both fighters put it all on the line in an entertaining battle.
With the win, ‘Road Rage’ Rodriguez defends his XFC featherweight title which he first captured in July 2013 by submitting Taylor Harvey.
In a fight for the vacant XFC bantamweight title, Jacob Mahony was able to again submit Shantaram Maharaj to take home the belt.
It was a cautious start from both before Maharaj closed the distance and secured the takedown. The two had an technical battle on the ground before Mahony escaped back to his feet. Mahony immediately looked for a takedown of his own, and was able to take the back and secure the rear-naked choke submission, forcing Maharaj to tap, 3:40 into the fight.
The two first met back in May 2013 as part of the final of the Eternal MMA 2 four-man bantamweight tournament. Mahony submitted Maharaj with a guillotine choke, only 2:13 into the fight. It was a successful night for Advance Martial Arts, with Mahony being a team-mate of main event winner Adrian Rodriguez.
In an XFC amateur welterweight title, James Klingner made quick-work of up-and-coming fighter and former title holder Kyle Parmley. Klingner took down the fighter and submitting him with a rear-naked choke after taking his back and flattening him out. The end came only 54-seconds into the fight.
Corey Lynch from C4 MMA came up against Scott Thorburn from the Core Strength Fitness gym in a clash for the XFC amateur featherweight title. Lynch got an early double-leg takedown slam however Thorburn wasted no time in getting back to his feet and from there started to take control, which including dropping his opponent with a knee to the mid-section. Thorburn began the second round landing some big punches with the Sunshine Coast based fighter ending up on top of Lynch. The punishment continued as Lynch attempted to turn with referee Cameron Quinn deciding he had seen enough, stopping the contest 2:50 into the second-round.
In an entertaining and very technical fight, Sassom MMA fighter Justin Wood captured the XFC amateur flyweight title with a unanimous points decision against Damien Sirisomphone from KMA in Sydney. It looked to be an early night for Wood, as he dropped his opponent in the first exchange and again in the second exchange. Sirisomphone looked to secure a leg for a takedown, but Wood showed good balance to get mount. Wood landed big strikes from there and looked for the rear-naked choke unsuccessfully before ending the round looking to secure an armbar from the bottom. In the second-round, Wood secured an early takedown, where he again moved to mount to land some short strikes. Sirisomphone this time though was able to escape and finish the round on top. A nice series of ground scrambles started the third-round with Sirisomphone later in the round looking to take the back only for Wood to slip out and finish the round on top. Wood secured the early takedown in both the fourth and fifth rounds as Sirisomphone doing enough to stay in the game, but being one step behind Wood and in the end all three judges unanimous gave Wood the decision.
Also on the card, the wife of Victorian fighter Nick Patteron, Leirosa Mentha-Patterson fought to a majority draw against Bronwyn Noffke while Teresa Wall scored a second-round TKO over Alice Romijn.
A charity auction for the Chasing Hope Foundation had also raised over $5,000 from a combination of donations and an auction of Bec Rawling’s (formerly Hyatt) signed glove. Jaz Walker, who is Chase’s aunty also fought on the night, and secured the quickest finish of the night, stopping Sarah Manthey with punches only 14-seconds into the fight.
Official Results (Pro – 3×5 mins):
- Adrian Rodriguez (c) def Shane Young via Decision (Majority) – XFC featherweight title
- Jacob Mahony def Shantaram Maharaj via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 3:40 – XFC bantamweight title
Official Results (Amateur – Title Fights 5×3 mins/ Others 3×3 mins):
- James Klingner def Kyle Parmley via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 0:54 – XFC amateur welterweight title
- Scott Thorburn def Corey Lynch via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 2:50 – XFC amateur featherweight title
- Justin Wood def Damien Sirisomphone via Decision (Unanimous) – XFC amateur flyweight title
- Leirosa Mentha-Patterson MAJORITY DRAW Bronwyn Noffke
- Terrisa Wall def Alice Romijn via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 2:15
- Dan White def Matt Thompson via TKO (Punches), Rd 3, 2:11
- Dan O’Rourke def Aidan Byquar via KO, Rd 1, 2:24
- Ty Duncan def Hamish Oldfield via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 2:32
- Jaz Walker def Sarah Manthey via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 0:14
- Lewis Beattie def Bernie Smeaton via Verbal Submission (Punches), Rd 2, 1:05
- Auryn Parmley def Jesse Kowran via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 2:06
- Eben Cox def Justin Gallagher via KO (Head Kick & Punches), Rd 3, 1:54
Promotional Awards:
- Fight of the Night: Adrian Rodriguez vs Shane Young
- KO of the Night: Eben Cox
- Submission of the Night: James Klingner
