Xxtreme Pancration Championships- On the Mat

XCF: Xtreme Cage Fighter: The California Pankration Championships

Report by Scott Proffitt.

So looking through the MMA sites and just in general being board at home, no porn involved here! I see this ad on a web site that I think well if they are going to have an MMA event in Mission Viejo then I want to be there! Why cause I couldn’t think of anyone that could pull off an event in California without our buddies from the California Athletic Commission stepping in and making it a show that never came about cause the coppers showed! Well color me amazed when the event kicks off and finishes without anybody from the Commission stepping in a stopping what turned out to be a fun filled day of fights and chicks!

Chuck Costello makes his first event all in all a success. With guys like Chris Brennan, Marco Ruas, “Sherdog”, Dan Henderson, Quinton Jackson, Franco DeCarmego had a couple fighter in there, Alexander Goncalves, Fabiano Iha and the “Wildman” Thomas Denny, I could go on and on, showing up and supporting this event and their fighters made this an event to watch for! Every event starts off with some bumps a bruises those who were there know what I mean, no pun, I’m sure the KOTC, and UFC had them but like I said this was a fun show and I look forward to getting the next one on film!
Now the fights were open palm standing and on the ground to the head, no elbows allowed and Earl Loucks kept the fights going when guys tried to stall! The three on hand judges were Dan Henderson, Quinton Jackson from Pride and the up and comer fighter Heath Pedigo! Now the moment you have been reading for! The chicks! I don’t know how Chick got em but he did the girls from The Library gentlemen’s club were on hand to do some pix with the guys and did a great job as ring girls!

Fight one of the day was between Dan Rolds and Dave Rivas, and they started off exchanging some kicks and punches but Dave was able to get it to the ground. After a bit Earl stood em up. Dan got a couple shots but Dave took it back to the mat with a big slam! While they were against the fence Dave got in some shots that made Dan bleed quite a bit. (Who says open palms don’t hurt!???) I heard the doc (She’s a cutie too!) say that the nose was broke but it was on the fighter to continue so on it went and Dave took it back to the mat. Round 2 found it in the same position up against the fence but this time Earl had enough and blood was everywhere! So at 56 seconds the fight was called.

The second fight of the day was one of the funniest fights of the night the other was Between Yusufu and Betts that ones later. Anyways the second match was No Touch, Yes that is what he wanted to be called!, and Brady Fink. Brady took it to the mat immediately and armbared No Touch in 23 seconds! Guess who got touched!

Third match up was Chad “Coach” Washburn and Mike Burtuccini. This was an extremely fast match in action as these two moved in on each other and looked for submissions from the opening seconds of the round. In the end it was Mike that secured the kneebar after Chad looked for a foot lock and heel hook 33 seconds into the round.

The fourth fight of the day was one of the audiences favs as Brad McCall from the NG camp stepped in and fought BJJ Blue belt Nam Phan from Franco DeCarmego JJ. This fight was all one sided in round one as Brad was able to keep Nam from doing any kind of offensive work. In the beginning of the round I thought it was over when brad connected a huge high kick to the chest area of Nam that send him into the side of the cage. Nam recovered and kept fighting. Brad controlled round one, almost sinking in a standing guillotine and in the end the only offensive move by Nam was a tight Kimura lock that Brad was able to tough himself out of. Round two started of on another note as Brad seemed to rush in and got hammered a lot by Nam. Nam was able to get it to the mat and punch but Brad reversed it but landed himself in a tight guillotine that left him no options but tapping at 42 seconds into the second round!

The fifth fight of the day was Rich Mendleson and Brandon Bovee. Brandon being from Ruas Vale Tudo you know this was going to be a kicking war at least on his part and Rich from the Gladiators Camp was going to try to strike or take it down to the mat. Round one was all Brandon as he dominated Rich standing and on the ground. The kicks were leaving marks and the punches were taking their toll on Rich. Brandon worked the ribs of Rich and left marks to show the effort but in the end of round one it seemed that Brandon was a bit tired. Round two was about the same as the first Brandon dominating up top but this time not as much gas as round one. Rich in the end shot in almost got the takedown and time ran out. Judges said one more round, I don’t know why, I saw Brandon doing most of the work! Oh well so here went the OT round and guess what! It was about the same as rounds one and two with one exception. Rich started to strike and moved a lot better than Brandon! Not enough to move two of the three judges though so it was Brandon by a split decision!

Well the sixth fight of the night was Joe “JC Plentee of Skilz” Camacho going against a very tough Fred Leavy. Looked to me like Leavy outweighed Joe by some poundage but that has never stopped Joe from fighting. Joe started off the fight by running in with a cocked right to slam into Fred and got taken to the mat hard for his effort but in the same instant Joe slipped a triangle/armlock on Fred as soon as they hit the mat. Talk about composure! Joe just started to slap Fred around while he had him in the submission but Fred used a lot of strength to escape and got to side control. Joe didn’t panic even as Fred landed some knees to the ribs. They were pulled away from the fence as there were some padding problems in the area and eventually Earl stood them up due to a punching problem! There was NONE. Joe was calm a composed as they stood up and again Joe got slammed to the mat. Seems this was Fred’s forte, but again Joe got the triangle/armlock and ended it this time pulling hard on the back of Fred’s head to get the tap at 3 minutes and 8 seconds. One side note: When your opponent tries to shake your hand try to be cool enough to accept it! Even if you lose! Yeah, yeah I know attitude and all but try to stay professional!

So on to fight seven of the day and it featured probably one of the most recognized names of MMA in Shannon “The Cannon” Ritch against a relatively new fighter from Franco DeCarmego JJ, Jared Rollins. Started off with Shannon going to throw down but Jarred got the takedown! Jarred kept control of the fight on the ground and worked on some submissions like an Americana, Keylock, Shannon Tried to push Jarred away and got a couple slaps in from the bottom but Jarred kept his composure and then finished it with an Ezekiel choke at 2 minutes and 53 seconds.

Remember when I said there were a couple of funny fights? Well here is the funniest one of the day! Sean Betts came in with absolutely NO training what so ever and did a great job against Dhira Yesufo who had some training but obviously not to much! A couple of times Dhira would throw a kick he wouldn’t land on Sean but on his ass instead. He took it in stride and played it to the crowd, which got them into this fight. Sean on the other hand didn’t much like getting hit much and in the first minute was putting his hands on his knees and looking like he was going to throw up. He was breathing so hard it looked like a continuous stream of spit streaming from his mouthpiece! Sean actually looked like he was going to take this match with the wild punches and kicks but then Dhira landed a huge kick to Sean’s head that made Sean think twice about staying on the feet and tried to take it down, which turned out to be a bad thing cause Dhira was able to lock in an armbar for the win at 4 minutes and 36 seconds of the first round. One piece of advice to Sean TRAIN man train!

James “Maddog” Meals and Steve White came in for the ninth fight of the day and it was a pretty cool match up. This fight started off strong with both fighters throwing some hard shots and James pulled Steve down to the mat. Not really pulling guard but just down to the mat. Steve gets James’s back and looks for a choke but just couldn’t get it sunk in enough for a tap. James pulled Steve around to guard from his back and was able to land some slaps in the guard. This is where things got bad as James decided to use some elbows on Steve and broke his nose. The Dr. stopped the match due to blood running down Steve’s throat. Earl raised Steve’s hand after DQing James at 2 minutes and 44 seconds of the first round.

With two fights left it was time for the heavyweights as “Big” Jonathan Ivey and Travis “Ironman” Fulton stepped up. This match was not what I expected as Jonathan made a surprise move and got the crowds awe. It was after they clinched and Travis was able to slip to Jonathans back, Jonathan rolled forward for a beautiful knee bar attempt. Jonathan had it in tight but Travis remained calm and used his experience to escape the submission. Jonathan rolled into halfguard but Travis remained rather passive here and didn’t try to hit but looked for a submission instead. This match kind of looked like a grappling match in the beginning and ended in the same fashion as he was able to get a reverse keylock on Jonathan at 3 minutes 39 seconds of the first round.

The final match of the day was Doug “the Demon” Evans and Dave Gardner who recently defeated Juliano Prado in an MMA show for the title. Apparently Dave has heard of Doug’s standup and didn’t want to be a part of it so he immediately shot in a took Doug to the mat. Doug tried to stay active and tried to stand up but just couldn’t get up so this is where it stayed. At first it looked as if Dave was going to do some lay and pray but instead pinned Doug’s left arm behind him and punched a couple of times. Doug tried to defend and got set up for a kimura. At first it looked like he could escape but Dave using the cage to keep Doug pinned he submitted him at 3 minutes and 14 seconds of the first round.

Overall this was a good event and if it keeps the same guys doing what they did for this event I know it will only improve! Some things that would help next time, and this is just an observation, is getting the guys doing the reporting a fight card! I enjoyed the event and look forward to the next one. If you missed this one try to get to the next one and help support Chuck and his team. Check out the website for more information or if you would like to fight in the next event at www.xtremecagefighter.com