Back in April 2013, Jacob Mahony defeated Reece McLaren with a late submission to take McLaren’s Fightworld Cup bantamweight title off him. On Saturday night, McLaren got his revenge to claim Mahony’s XFC bantamweight title.
The two headlined the Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC) 23 event which took place at the Mansfield Tavern, in Queensland, Australia.
Training out of the Advance Martial Arts gym, Mahony immediately closed off the cage and went on the front foot. He found his mark with the jab as he looked to power up with combinations. McLaren closed the distance and took the fight to the ground where he took Mahony’s back. Mahony stayed composed and walked to his corner, where he shrugged McLaren off. The Ka-chi trained fighter though, stayed on him and secured another takedown. There he passed to mount where he unloaded with some heavy strikes. With Mahony looking to escape, McLaren took the back and this time was able to secure the rear-naked choke submission for the win. The end came 2:49 in the first-round.
With the win, McLaren moves his record to 5-3, while Mahony drops to 12-9-1.
As is custom with Shane Young bouts, the New Zealand fighter again gave us a fight to remember, this time against Damien Brown however it would be Brown who would overcame a serious hand injury early in the fight to walk away with a majority decision.
Brown started the fight landing leg kicks while putting together some nice combinations. Young remained calm and peppered with shots from the outside. Brown then landed some heavier shots as he went on the front foot, mixing in leg kicks. Young weathered the storm and came back and started finding his mark with jabs and straights while also in the process keeping the fight at a frantic pace.
Brown came out in the second round and notably stopped throwing his right. He instead utilised his left to keep Young at bay with jabs and the occasional kicks. Young started to come back into the fight landing some short punches from inside. Brown momentarily got the fight to the ground before the New Zealand fighter popped straight back up to his feet. Late in the round, Young secured a takedown but was forced to defend, firstly a guillotine choke and then a knee bar which did allowed him to land short strikes from the top.
By the start of the third round, Brown had noticeably started throwing his right elbow instead of his right injured hand but as good as Brown gave, Young returned fire. Brown did secure a takedown where he was able to take his opponents back. He went to work for the rear-naked choke however Young managed to escape back to his feet. Late in the bout, Brown slipped during a spinning elbow attempt, which allowed Young to jump straight on him. Brown immediately worked to his feet and briefly got Young to the ground. The two fighters looked to exchange in the closing seconds of the bout.
In the end, one judge scored the bout a draw, while the other two awarded it to Brown who walkewd away with the XFC lightweight title. The win halts a four fight losing streak for Brown who had spent time fighting top fighters in European promotion Cage Warriors. Brown revealed that he had been taken to hospital to have his hand looked at. It’s unlikely he will be backing up on March 22 to take on Peter Davenport on AFC 12. In his post-fight speech, Young gave props to his opponent but is looking forward to returning back to featherweight where he is the current XFC champion. He is expected to defend that title against Julian “Julz The Jackal” Rabaud later this year.
James Klingner from the Sassom MMA/Infinity BJJ gym made quick work of his opponent James Cristopoulos. Klingner defended the early takedown attempt from his opponent before landing a nicely timed teep to the midsection that dropped Christopoulos to the floor. Klinger immediately followed up with strikes to secure the TKO finish. The official time was 36-seconds.
With the win, Klingner bounces back from his June loss to Ben Quarmby. With Quarmby currently battling Merkel Cell cancer, Klingner asked for the crowd to donate funds to help his former opponent through his battle.
New Zealand fighter Kate Da Silva made it two wins on the trot with a unanimous decision win over Terissa Wall. The BJJ Black Belt pressed the fight against the cage early, where the two remained for most of the round. Da Silva secured a takedown towards the end of the round and quickly went to work unloading strikes from mount before taking the back and working for the rear-naked choke as the round came to an end.
The two exchanged strikes early in the second round before Wall landed a decent punch that caught Da Silva’s attention. Da Silva immediately shot in for a takedown before the two again pummeled for position against the cage. Da Silva again got the fight to the ground where she threw forearm strikes from half-guard. Wall attempted to escape but that allowed Da Silva to mount where she was able to posture up and rain down with punches until the end of the round.
Wall started the third round aggressively, landing a nice leg kick followed by a stiff jab. Da Silva again shot in for a takedown but it was defended and the two clinched against the cage. The two jockeyed for position against the cage, with Da Silva landing knees to the body and to the thigh of her opponent. Wall reversed in the final seconds and landed a big knee as the bell went to end the fight.
All three judges agreed, awarding the fight to Da Silva who moved to 8-2 with the win.
After a heated lead-up, tensions boiled over in the featherweight bout between Riley Mallett and Scott Thorburn. Mallett started on the front foot, unloading with shots early before securing the early takedown. Thorburn worked back to his feet, but the inside trip from Mallett worked again as got the fight back to the ground. Mallett controlled the action from the top. Thorburn remained active off his back and looked for a triangle choke, which Mallett defended and used to pass to side control near the end of the round.
Thorburn started the second with big leg-kicks and quick punches. Mallett egged his opponent on as he continued walking forward. The two fighters again clinched where Mallett secured the inside leg trip. The action momentarily slowed down before Mallett pushed it against the cage. Thorburn used the cage to stand, however Mallett held on to the legs looking for the double leg takedown. Thorburn landed at least three illegal downward elbows to the back of the head. The referee went in to halt the contest however chose to let the action continue as Mallett finished the takedown by slamming Thorburn to the ground. There, Mallett landed strikes from the top as Thorburn again looked for submissions from the bottom. In between rounds the referee warned Thorburn for the illegal shots.
Mallett immediately went on the front foot in the final round, but Thorburn landed a nicely timed short right straight that dropped Mallett. The Integrated MMA fighter recovered enough to immediately scramble for a takedown. Looking for the finish, Thorburn landed multiple elbows near the back of the head before the referee finally stopped the fight. Thorburn had a point deducted for the illegal shots and after a very short break, the fight resumed. Both came out striking as Mallett looked to close the distance. As they clinched against the cage however a sloppy takedown attempt from Mallett allowed Thorburn to get the top position where he was able to get the finish with punches and elbows.
Still upset over the illegal shots, Mallett’s corner confronted Thorburn immediately at the conclusion of the bout which led to a small scuffle however apart from some pushing, no strikes were thrown. Despite tension high in both camps, bothers fighters remained sportsmanlike in their post-fight speeches.
Due to the way the bout ended, an official protest has been lodged by Mallett’s team with XFC telling Fight News Australia that they will review the footage before speaking to the parties involved.
Judges were not needed on the under-card, with all seven B-Class bouts finishing via either a TKO or Submission. Notably, Joel Fahey secured a first-round TKO over Elton Pure while Tyson Myles took home submission of the night honours with a first-round D’arce submission over Dan O’Rourke.
Fight Card (A-Class):
- Reece McLaren def Jacob Mahony via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 2:49 – XFC bantamweight title
- Damien Brown def Shane Young via Decision (Unanimous) – XFC lightweight title
- James Klingner def James Cristopoulos via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 0:36
- Kate Da Silva def Terissa Wall via Decision (Unanimous)
- Scott Thorburn def Riley Mallett via TKO (Punches), Rd 3, 0:39
Fight Card (B-Class):
- Joel Fahey def Elton Pure via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 1:37
- Tyson Myles def Dan O’Rourke via Submission (D’Arce Choke), Rd 1, 2:19
- Eben Cox def Myles Steele via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 1:34
- Nathan Wilson def Eddie Grimshaw via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 2:51
- Benny Millmann def James Predebon via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 1:05
- Tom Yarwood def Joel Johnston via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 2:35
- Craig Jack def Mat Moore via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 1:35
