Archive for August, 2012

The XFC lightweight title picture became crystal clear after Nick Newell’s stunning first round knockout of David Mays at XFC 19 in Charlotte, NC on Saturday night. Having grown tired of being labeled a wrestler Newell shut up the critics with a perfectly placed knee that sent Hays to the ground two minutes into the fight.

“A lot of people say I can’t strike, well guess what? Here’s Nick Newell the striker,” boasted Newell, in the post-fight interview. “I noticed he kind of leans down and throws the overhand, and I expected him to think he could take advantage of my left side. So I just waited for the knee or the uppercut.”

Now with a perfect 7-0 record Newell will move on to face Eric Reynolds in December for the XFC lightweight belt.

“Last night in Charlotte we established a pecking order in our lightweight divisions,” exclaimed XFC President John Prisco. “Nick Newell continues to shine everytime he steps into the cage and he will face our other top ranked 155er, Eric Reynolds for the XFC lightweight title later this year.”

In the main event which could have future title implications Nicolae Cury came away with a unanimous decision over Roger Carroll in the main event. Carroll, who clearly had the hometown crowd in his back pocket gave Cury all he wanted for fifteen minutes and in the post-fight interview Cury admitted he was fortunate to come out on top. “He doesn’t get tired,” explained Cury. “If I won the fight, I won it in the second and third rounds. It was a very close fight.”

With the win at XFC 19 Cury hopes to earn a fight with Cory Hill, who he called out during the post-fight interview. The two men were scheduled to fight each other earlier this year but an injury to Hill caused the bout to be scrapped.

Felice Herrig continued her winning ways with her second straight win the XFC cage against Simona Soukupova. Herrig used superior muay thai and clinch game to keep Soukupova off of her gameplan en route to a unanimous decision win.

“Felice just keeps getting better and better,” said Prisco. “Her striking is off the charts and she really outclassed one of the top women mixed martial artist in the UK. I’m going to work on getting her a really big fight for later this year. She’s earned that opportunity.”

Following his masterful performance at the XFC Open Fighter Tryout earlier this summer Jason Hicks had all eyes on him in his first outing in the XFC cage. During a back and forth first round Shane Crenshaw used his superior wrestling to keep Hicks guessing. In the second round Crenshaw again used his wrestling to keep Hicks on his back but late in the round Hicks latched onto an arm forcing the North Carolina native to tap to an armbar picking up his first XFC victory in the process.

In what could be considered the comeback of the year Johnny Buck knocked out previously undefeated Ricky Rainey in the opening bout on AXS TV. Rainey broke Buck’s nose early in the first round and dominated the first five minutes both on the feet and standing. A minute into the second round after getting the best of some exchanges Rainey inexplicably dropped his hands momentarily and that’s all Buck needed to land a combination that sent Rainey to the mat. After a few more punches on the ground the ref stepped in and Buck had pulled off one of the most impressive comebacks in XFC history.

“XFC 19 was a success,” said Prisco. “We had some slick submission, highlight reel knockouts, and some 3 round wars. The fans in Charlotte were eating it up and I’ve heard we have a ton of positive feedback from the viewers on AXS TV from social media. I couldn’t be happier with the fighters and their performances and I can’t wait for our next show. We’ll be headed back to Knoxville in September and we’ll be releasing some of those matchups very soon.”

Full results:
Nicolae Cury defeated Roger Carroll unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Felice Herrig defeated Simona Soukupova unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Nick Newell defeated David Mays KO Rd 1
Kevin Forant defeated Joe Elmore unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Keith Richardson defeated Lawson McClure submission Rd 1
Jason Hicks defeated Shane Crenshaw submission Rd 2
Johnny Buck defeated Ricky Rainey KO Rd 2
Joey Carroll defeated Jeff Tharington TKO Rd 1
Zach Klouse defeated Tony Scarlett TKO Rd 1
Carlos Vivas defeated Brian Karmolinski TKO Rd 1