XFC 13 (12/3/2010)

Back to HDNet Fights for another exciting card. Maybe. This show eminates from Tampa, Florida and features a title fight and one of the best fat men heavyweight bouts ever concieved. The Voice and Guy are the announce crew.

1) Joe Ray vs. Jeremy Smith: Ray is a recent convert to ATT and was ranked among BE's top ten prospects at welterweight. Naturally, he is on the patented ATT diet and is already a middleweight. His opponent is Jeremy Smith, an unheralded fighter from the XFC satellite gym in South Africa.

FIGHT: Smith Split Decision. Close, exciting fight. I had it 29-28 for Smith, two judges saw it 30-27 for him in spite of a closed eye. (2)

Ray: Big issue here - he can't wrestle. He is a decent enough striker and has some degree of submission skill. His work standing should earn him the second round in my book. But his consistent problem is that he's taken down in all rounds. All the damage in the world has the potential of being nullified if you are laid on.

Smith: Lots of heart. His technique is mediocre as far as takedowns are concerned and he just powers through them. He's listed as being primarily a muay thai expert but looks to be the worse striker by some degree.

2) Ian Stephens vs. Joe Heink: Welterweight contest with Stephens being an All American wrestler in college.

FIGHT: Stephens Unanimous Decision. Me and the judges thought it was a clean sweep. Heink couldn't stop Stephens takedown attempts and his Brown Belt in BJJ wasn't on display here. Stephens can't really strike too well - he just rushes with them to the clinch. He throws some low kicks in the third as he gets comfortable, then shoots when he's hit with a jab in the face. Well, no surprise about his instincts. Most of the fight is spent in the half guard or full guard with Stephens on top landing few shots and not really trying too hard to pass to side control or mount. (1)

3) Gabe Salinas-Jones vs. Parker Porter: A heavyweight contest of prospects! Both are heavy. Like, extra 30-40lbs each heavy.

FIGHT: Salinas-Jones Submission Rnd 1. Rear Naked Choke finish for Salinas-Jones, who consistently got takedowns and had a huge throw in this fight. Nothing to write home about in striking as he powers through him with grappling. (0)

In between fights, the XFC president says that they're gonna run three shows in China next year. XFC has that sorta co-promotion "buy a show" deal as King of the Cage or Gladiator Challenge.

4) Marissa Caldwell vs. Marianna Kheyfets: Caldwell was DEMOLISHED by Jessica Eye. Kheyfets demolished Kim Couture. So I guess we still won't know how good Jessica Eye is after this really, but we'll know if she's as good or better than Kheyfets. Right?

FIGHT: Kheyfets Unanimous Decision. So Caldwell is tough as nails. This is determined for sure. My thinking watching this is that Eye is the better fighter between her and Kheyfets. (0)

Kheyfets: Good striking - big repetoire of stuff pulled out in this fight with elbows and spinning hook kicks and stuff. Movement's not bad. Keeps the chin down. BJJ needs work, but her defense is alright and she has some solid takedowns. Punching power though is nonexistent as far as I can tell. Then again, Caldwell got beaten like a drum by Jessica Eye and went the distance too.

Caldwell: Botched a throw that got her put on her back instead. Oops. Not really a BJJ expert at all. Can't wrestle. Is a pretty orthodox striker that tries to keep everything straight, but her hands are so slow. So. Slow.

5) Chris Barnett vs. Mario Rinaldi: Barnett went to Singapore on like two weeks notice weighing 315 and got beat there. Does he have a manager? Note: I will be Barnett's manager if he sends me $50 in the mail and says he'll get me a plane ticket to Sentosa next time he's requested. Rinaldi, meanwhile, is better at everything but has a history of losing to big fat guys when he runs out of gas 4 minutes into a fight. See also: DJ Linderman.

FIGHT: Barnett TKO Rnd 2. (1)

Barnett: Barnett was 18 lbs over the 265 limit. Yikes. He gets taken down and is worked over for 3:15. Then he flips over Rinaldi and takes over. He stops him with strikes in the early part of the second.

Rinaldi: Looks like a KOTC special, as he has Barnett's back like 30 seconds in. But he runs out of gas punching Barnett and ends up on his back later in the round. In the second he gets taken down by Barnett who drops levels in the clinch, pulls a switch, and pounds him out from back control. Sad. Where's Tim Persey when you need him?

6) Jarrod Card vs. Luis Palomino: Featherweight title bout in XFC.

FIGHT: Palomino Unanimous Decision. Wide win for Palomino - I gave him every round. (2)

Palomino: Better in almost every aspect, he also hurts Card with shots in almost every round. He's cut in round 3 by a headbutt, which barely slows him down. Palomino hurts Card badly with low kicks but is afraid to throw them in spite of having Card in serious jeopardy because Card does seem to have a decent takedown. Says in the post fight interview that he doesn't like the cut to 145 and will return to lightweight after winning the title.

Card: Good wrestling, but he's below par everywhere else. Wrestling and control aren't good enough to keep Palomino on his back at will, which means that a lot of energy is expended going towards trying to do that with poor results. By round 3, he's done as far as energy is concerned, and to top it off, he can't properly block low kicks, nor does he adjust stance to move his damaged left leg out of the way of more kicks. One of the more desperate shots in history comes from Card following a low kick that sweeps him off his feet and sends him flying towards Palomino trying for a double. No Jitz.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Ray/Smith

KO OF THE NIGHT: Barnett/Rinaldi

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Salinas-Jones/Porter

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6.5 out of 10. Not the greatest show in the world - the decisions were generally pretty wide but the fighters that lost were at least game and tried. Ray/Smith is a great fight at this level. And I'd gladly say its the best XFC show I've watched. I'm not big on PROMOTIONAL NARRATIVE, and I think bringing in a random guy from Bellator to win your title and immediately say he wants to leave and fight at a different weight class must be a terrible way of doing that, but I'm sure someone will spin it different. Who cares. The fights were good for a change.

D&R RATING: 20%(6/30)

XFC 11 (7/9/10)

Guy Mezger and Kenny Rice are announcing this show for HDNet.

1) Jay White vs. Chris Barnett: White is the definitive sort of journeyman. Barnett is a short chubby guy that throws tornado kicks.

FIGHT: Barnett TKO Rnd 1 (0)

Barnett: The story remains the same. He's a solid wrestler but not a great one. He can hit hard, sure, but he was clearly bothered by Jay White's power when they traded. And Jay White is not a KO artist. He looks too small and too husky to be at heavyweight, much less in the 250 zone. If he keeps this up, we'll be talking about Chris Barnett - the poor man's Terry Martin.

White: White's a talented and skilled big man, but he's not talented enough to break the top 50 of the division, his chin is suspect, etc etc etc. I mean, he's perfect in fights like this to determine whether or not someone deserves to move up the ladder or what they might have for better opposition.

At this point, there is some long thing showing XFC tryouts, which is just legit hilarious for me to see some nobody promotion running.

2) Ryan Dunn vs. Ian Stephens: Welter weight fights between dudes I've never heard of. Dunn fights for ATT's satellite in Danbury, Connecticut. Danbury? They must be recruiting lacrosse players who pop their collars.

FIGHT: Stephens Unanimous Decision (0)

Stephens: Can wrestle. Can punch when on top of guys. That's what we know.

Dunn: Can't wrestle as well as Ian Stephens, can lose an easy submission.

3) Dustin Rhodes vs. Jeremy Smith: Rhodes was a last minute replacement. Like, on 4 hours notice. He's 1-0, Smith 7-0.

FIGHT: Smith TKO Rnd 2 (1)

Rhodes: Rhodes is game and an early takedown in the fight seemed to create the illusion he could win. And then came the wide hooks of Smith. He just battered Rhodes endlessly in the first. There was no standup at all or defense for punches. In the second, another takedown for Rhodes, but Smith climbs the fence and bops him out.

Smith: Wide looping punches that MMA guys love. Minimal takedown defense. No submission game really that I could see. Not a wrestler. Not going anywhere fast.

4) Mike Bernhard vs. Gerardo Julio Gallegos: Gallegos won a fight where he was dominated most of the way but got a guillotine in the second round while being taken down again. Bernhard I don't know. Bernhard was seen on AFL Rock N Rumble 2 being fouled over and over by Ariel Gandulla.

FIGHT: Bernhard TKO 1. Like had happened to Gallegos in his fight at XFC 8, he's taken down at will by Bernhard, loses dominant position, has his back taken, and gets beaten up. Not much of a story to tell in this bout. A KOTC special. Best thing to note was that when Gallegos got back up after the first takedown, he basically got thrown back down with something like a Sakuraba kimura attempt.(1)

5) Marianna Kheyfets vs. Kim Couture: If Kheyfets has the slightest modicum of talent, she blows through Kim.

FIGHT: Kheyfets Submission Rnd 1. Couture is dropped hard with a straight right hand from the kickboxer Kheyfets, who follows her down and gets a triangle. Couture's shots are straighter these days but slow and over thought. She still doesn't belong in a ring. (0)

6) Bruce Connors vs. Micah Miller: Miller's fall out of the WEC was swift, and after that he's looked pretty human in losses to Omigawa and Yoshida Maeda. Connors I watched gas out and get taken down repeatedly by Jarrod Card.

FIGHT: Miller TKO Rnd 1. (2)

Connors: I've seen twice, both times against the best men he's faced, and I cam away thinking he's a not very special mediocre athlete who can be a regional contender/journeyman. This did nothing to change that opinion. He couldn't match Miller anywhere they fought before getting lit up with a brutal KO loss.

Miller: Miller is a better fighter than needing to take bouts like this, but when they present themselves? I guess he has to take them. Better than Connors at everything, bigger than Connors, etc.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: White/Barnett

KO OF THE NIGHT: Miller/Connors

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Kheyfets/Couture

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. I swear I've watched XFC 9, but I must not have reviewed it here and the opinionz 4 u sit in a notebook. In any case, XFC sells a decent number of tickets to mostly bad fights with the sort of booking that KOTC was famous for out west. When you really break it down, this was a show sold off of two things: 1) It was cage fighting. 2) Micah Miller, a guy who was in undercard fights for a promotion watched by 6 people and who demonstrably cannot win at the international level. Most of the fights here are lousy featuring guys who aren't going to win fights against the big boys. Obviously Miller isn't going to, otherwise he would have already. Kim Couture sucks. Mike Bernhard is the second best fighter on the show. Jeremy Smith will be someone's highlight reel win in the UFC. Chris Barnett is a middleweight pretending to be a heavyweight. None of this matters though. You know what matters to most MMA writers? XFC probably sold 4500 tickets. Establishing the narrative, whatever the hell that means. Building the local fanbase like the old days of territories. You know, the usual.

D&R Rating: 13% (4/30)

XFC 8 (4/25/09)

XFC is a regional promotion from Florida looking to expand and looking to expand NOW. So here they are in Tennessee and its a card full of something or other! Hooooray. Guy Mezger is playing the role of Bas for Kenny Rice. Big stupid ramp with compressed air shooters.

1) CHRIS BARNETT vs. JONATHAN IVEY: Heavyweights. Barnett has a TKD background. This will come into play. Meanwhile, Ivey is the best fat man in MMA today, and the only fighter with a successful shoot Rock Bottom.

Barnett throws spinning kicks and it is glorious throughout this fight. He lands a tornado back kick but it does zero damage. Mad lulz. Ivey rolls for a couple kneebars and only comes close in round 1. Final strike stats were like 110 for Barnett and 6 for Ivey. Total domination from Barnett en route to his first pro win. He's not a bad wrestler either, but he really needs to lose a few pounds (1) for all the awesome kicks. 

2) JASON WOOD vs. DEREK SCHIFFER: Wood is from TN, Schiffer from FL. Both are 2-0, and lightweights.

Really good fight with Wood going for some wild submission attempts like an inverted triangle and Schiffer being extremely game and fighting through it. Schiffer looks like he's in control early in the second with a flying knee that breaks Wood's nose, but Wood fights through it and wins with a comeback off the overhand right. (1) for the gutty performance.

3) OMBEY MOBLEY vs. OVINCE ST. PREUX: Mobley is a standup guy; as a boxer, he's 0-2-2, with 4 fights over about a 13 year period. Light heavyweights and Mobley is debuting. St. Preux has a bunch of amateur fights supposedly and a loss to Ray Lizama. Oh geez.

Decent action in this fight, though both are, well, sloppy, amateurish, and altogether not all that good. St. Preux wins with a Calf Slicer and it looks really cool. that is the best thing to say about it. (1)

4) GERARDO JULIO GALLEGOS vs. C.T. TURNER: No idea who they are, frankly. 

Turner has a big takedown on the "high school wrestling star". Such credentials and such bad tats for Gallegos. Turner easily wins the round, taking his back and basically controlling the first. Turner is on his way to winning the fight, and then he shoots and gets caught in a guillotine in the second. Oops! Can't say I'm excited about Gallegos. (0)

5) RAFAELLO OLIVERA vs. JOHN MAHLOW: Mahlow is so mediocre its not funny.

Olivera takes down Mahlow over and over in the first and punches him a lot. Then, in the second, he takes down Mahlow over and over and punches him a lot. Mahlow tries for sloppy submissions and then gets punched in the face. Mahlow gets to be on top in the third round  and does very little with it. Then he is swept. This fight I did not care for so much. Olivera could be a serious threat if he ever learns to be a striker, otherwise he's a very poor man's Arona. (1)

6) JARROD CARD vs. BRUCE CONNORS: I really don't know these guys. Its for a 145lb title of no relevance.

Card is a good wrestler and gets a big takedown and tries for a d'arce to start, but it doesn't work, so its time for CONTROL! God, that's such a gay term. Like Connors is a sub and Card is the dom making him shave him or something. Its quite clear after the second or third takedown that this is all Card brings to the table, and luckily, Connors has no answer. In fact, when the fight is back vertical for the second, he swings wildly. Nothing else. Card then rides him down to the mat the entire round except when he is able to get Connors' back or the mount. 

Connors, however, makes an adjustment. He knows how he can win: GUILLOTINE when the opposition shoots. But the arm is in and instead all he does is build lactic acid in his muscles. So Card then beats him up a lot and nearly sinks an RNC with 10 seconds left in the third. Connors then enters Plan C, which is to be a Liddell-lite. Problem: He is gassed and throwing arm punches. Guess what happens? Card doesn't exploit his advantage and shoot, but instead blocks punches and lands the very occasional shot. With about 90 seconds left its Card landing the bombs. Connors can't win standing or on the mat, yet this drags on. I'm all about title fights at lower levels, but I'd prefer good fighters in them. The final round is anticlimactic: Connors still has nothing to give and Card refuses to take his gassed opposition down and finish the fight, instead hoping for a highlight reel KO that never comes. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Wood/Schiffer

KO OF THE NIGHT: Wood/Schiffer

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Mobley/St. Preux

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. As bad as many bad KOTC shows. The main event was where title fights go all wrong.

D&R Rating: 16% (5/30 )