In a highly anticipated rematch, Queensland fighters Jacob Mahony and Reece McLaren meet in the main event of this weekend’s Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC) 23 event.
The event takes place at XFC’s regular venue, the Mansfield Tavern in Queensland, Australia on Saturday night, 28 February.
The two fighters first met back in 2013, where Mahony managed to pull out a late submission to steal the fight from McLaren’s grasp. The submission came 30-seconds from the end of the fight which was heading in McLaren’s favour.
Training out of the Advance Martial Arts gym, Mahony capped off a spectacular 2014, finishing all three of his opponents and in the process also became the first fighter in XFC history to win three consecutive title fights.
McLaren went 2-1 last year, with his lone loss coming at the hands of highly touted Brisbane based American Ben Nguyen.
New Zealand stand-out Shane Young moves up to the lightweight division where he looks to become the first fighter in the XFC to hold two titles at the same time when he faces Integrated MMA trained Damien Brown for the XFC lightweight title.
After losing a close decision to Adrian Rodriguez back in February 2014, Auckland’s Shane Young took it out of the hands of the judges in the rematch in November where he finished Rodriguez with a head-kick in the third-round to capture the promotions featherweight title. Young was originally set to defend his title against Julian Rabaud before an injury to Rabaud postponed the highly anticipated match-up.
Instead, Young stepped up a weight division to face Damien Brown after Brown’s previous opponent Pumau Campbell was also forced out with an injury.
Thirty-year old Brown will be eager to reignite his career after an unsuccessful couple years fighting in highly regarded European based promotion, Cage Warriors.
Also on the card, James Cristopoulos comes up against James Klingner in a welterweight fight while New Zealand’s BJJ Black Belt Kate Da Silva meets Terissa Wall in a women’s flyweight battle. Rounding off the professional rules bouts on the card, Riley Mallett and Scott Thorburn meet in a bout expected to have fireworks as both look to keep their undefeated records in tact.
Fight Card (A-Class):
- Jacob Mahony (c) vs Reece McLaren – XFC bantamweight title
- Damien Brown vs Shane Young – XFC lightweight title
- James Cristopoulos vs James Klingner
- Kate Da Silva vs Terissa Wall
- Riley Mallett vs Scott Thorburn
Fight Card (B-Class):
- Joel Fahey vs Elton Pure
- Tyson Myles vs Dan O’Rourke
- Myles Steele vs Eben Cox
- Eddie Grimshaw vs Nathan Wilson
- James Predebon vs Benny Millmann
- Tom Yarwood vs Joel Johnston
- Craig Jack vs Mat Moore
