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By Kelsey Mowatt This week's Northern Touch takes a close look at this past Saturday's Extreme Fighting Challenge (XFC) event. Full Contact Fighter caught up with Richard Nancoo and Justin Tavernini to discuss their victories at XFC 4, along with veteran MMA fighter and XFC promoter Bill "the Butcher" Mahood, who shares his thoughts about the October 15th event. "The Butcher's" XFC: Canada's Latest MMA Mainstay Prince George, British Columbia hosted XFC 4 this past Saturday, and with a reported crowd of approximately 2,300 people, the event continues to draw impressive numbers considering the cities population of around 80,000 residents. The event's promoter Bill Mahood was not only quick to praise his hometown audience, but the city's new arena as well for contributing to the event's overall feel. "The fans in Prince George are great. Very enthusiastic, they're MMA savvy. The CN center is a very new 6,000-seat arena. We configure it so that 2,300 gives a close feel. The sound and production company did exceptional work with two big screens, smoke, lasers, and a crazy light show. All 28 fighters came ready to lay down and the fans benefited fully." UFC 53 veteran Mahood resides, trains, and teaches at the Prince George Fight Club, and was extremely happy to see two of his own fighters, Kenny Butterfield and Kajan Johnson, come away from the event with victories. Kajan Johnson had been slated to fight Canadian MMA veteran Sean"Pain" Peters, but ended up taking on a game Gord Cummings, when Peters dropped out of the fight only a few weeks ago. "We were very disappointed when Pain Peters dropped the fight for the second straight year. We felt Pain would have been a great return fight for Kajan," Mahood explained, "Instead, we were lucky enough to find Gord Cummings who took the fight with only a few weeks notice." Johnson was unshaken by his change in opponent, however, and managed not to disappoint his hometown audience winning by TKO in the first round. "We were hoping to stand and box but Cummings pushed in on Kajan, so he took the takedown and went from side to mount where he started landing," recounts Mahood. "Kajan took his time while Cummings fought valiantly to dislodge Kajan from the mount. The fight ended when Cummings tapped due to elbow strikes after having a number of cuts opened from the elbows. Kajan played a perfect game with every aspect of his performance, best described as tight." But the highlight of the night for the Butcher was the come-from-behind victory PG Fight Club fighter Kenny Butterfield pulled out over Calgary native Johnny Louro. Despite being somewhat overwhelmed in the first round, the Mahood student was able to recover and catch Louro with an armbar for the second round win. "The fight with Kenny Butterfield and John Louro was my favorite fight, " Mahood told FCF. "He (Kenny) took some big shots to the face and a near armbar, he spent most of the first round in trouble. After the break he just decided ‘enough already' and came back with a vengeance. He finished Louro with an armbar late in the second. I attribute his win to an enormous heart and the fact he really worked hard in the gym on his conditioning." For those fans that missed the event, Mahood is promising yet another XFC card in the New Year, as well as DVDs and a pay-per-view screening of XFC 4 yet to come. As for Mahood's own MMA career? "My broken rib I suffered in training four days prior to my last fight is getting better, allowing me to start back in the gym this week. I'm looking at fighting in both November and December with my sights locked on a return to the UFC in 2006." Richard Nancoo Continues to Impress at XFC 4 Shah Franco fighter Richard Nancoo, managed to continue his comeback winning streak Saturday night by edging out a close decision over Hackney's Reality Combat fighter Mustafa Hussaini. The victory for Nancoo pushes the 130-pound fighter's record to 8-2-1, and is the second win in a row for the Toronto resident since he lost back to back fights to Mark Hominick and Ryan Ackerman in 2002 and 2003. Nancoo, who holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Shah Franco and Professor Sylvio Behring, defeated Jeremy Bolt earlier this year at Freedom Fight 1 to return to his winning ways, strengthening a record that also holds victories over Yves Jabouin, Steve Claveau and now Mustafa Hussaini. Nancoo knew coming into his fight with Hussaini that a win would not come easy against the Chicago resident. "I didn't really know too much about him," Nancoo said, "but my teammate Antonio Carvalho saw him fight on a card last year, he said it would be a solid fight." The fight was extremely close, with the first two rounds likely pointing to a draw as the outcome until Nancoo was able to take the lead on the scorecards in the third and final round. Despite an early knee from Hussaini that appeared to land solidly to Nancoo's head, the Shah Franco fighter maintains he never was in serious trouble. "I went in for the clinch and he landed one really good clean knee, a nice clean knee, there was never a point in the fight that I thought I couldn't go on." Nancoo was able to secure the judges' decision with numerous submission attempts and strikes from his ground game, and although he'll take the win, Nancoo would have preferred to finish the fight rather than leave it in the judges' hands. "You know what, I was more upset that I didn't finish him." Nancoo explained, "In the first round I had a bicep slicer locked in pretty tight, a lot of people would have tapped, he surprised me with his no quit attitude." Mustafa Hussaini's record now stands at 4-3-1. As for Nancoo's thoughts on the XFC event? "It was an excellent show," Nancoo replied, " Mr. Mahood treated me amazingly from the moment I left my door, it would be an honour to fight for them again." "Houdini" Tavernini Defeats Matt Leo at XFC 4 Justin "Houdini" Tavernini extended his MMA record to 8-4 at XFC 4 Saturday, by defeating Evolution fighter Matt Leo by a triangle armbar in the first round. Tavernini, who trains out of Lethbridge, Alberta, under Lee Mein, surprised some onlookers by submitting Leo who is known throughout Western Canada as a highly skilled grappler. Tavernini, who has a fairly extensive kickboxing background, expected Leo to take the fight to the ground, and adjusted his training accordingly. "I knew he would try and take me down, right off the start," Tavernini replied, " which is what most people do with me. I was really working my submissions, so that "the kickboxer" could submit the ground fighter. He was in my half butterfly guard, and as I was pulling my leg through to full guard, I went right into the triangle, which I think surprised him. I felt his head slipping out, so I immediately grabbed his arm and took the armbar to finish him." Submission victories, however, are nothing new for the lightweight fighter, with Tavernini holding victories via submission over Graham Weenk, Sonny Leong, and Josh Holt. The loss for Leo puts his record at 1-2-1. Tavernini will be looking to extend his winning streak at Ultimate Cage Wars in Winnipeg, Manitoba on October 22nd, however, as of press time, the event is still trying to secure an opponent for him. XFC 4 Results Held October 15, 2005 Prince George, BC - Canada Gideon Ray def. Chris Fontaine - KO RD 2 Richard Nancoo def. Mustafa Hussaini - Decision Kajan Johnson def. Gord Cummings - TKO R1 Victor Daychief def. Jason Zazalenchuk - Armbar Bastion Huveneers def. Seven Quenelle - Submission Dave Sholten def. Chris Ade – Rear Naked Choke R2 Kenny Butterfield def. John Louro - Armbar R2 Kevin Barkhouse def. Tim Tamaki - Decision Tim Jensen def. John Laing - Submission R1 Justin Tavernini def. Matt Leo - Triangle Armbar R1 Kris Milligan def. Terry Saloum - Decision Clayton Sheen def. Jan Zwart - Achilles Submission R1 Travis Phang def. Russ Beuk - KO R1 |
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