Rodriguez vs Young & Maharaj vs Mahony II to headline XFC 20 card

Queensland based Xtreme Fighting Championship (XFC) will kick off their 2014 with a double-header of professional title fights set to take place at XFC 20.

The event is scheduled to take place at the Mansfield Tavern in Queensland on February 15 and will be headlined by Adrian Rodriguez (pictured) taking on Shane Young in a Trans-Tasman battle.

Advance Martial Arts gym fighter Adrian Rodriguez will have the support of a vocal local crowd when he looks to defend XFC featherweight title for the first time when he faces undefeated New Zealand fighter Shane Young. Rodriguez captured the featherweight belt back in July where he defeated Muay-Thai practitioner Taylor Harvey. Rodriguez was rocked early but showed enough awareness to get the fight to the ground where he was able to secure the armbar submission to get the first round stoppage. It was Rodriguez’s third straight win in the promotion having defeated both Mark Small and Aden Hawke previously.

Coached by former New Zealand fighter Neil Swailes, Shane Young will be looking at impressing in his first fight outside of New Zealand. The Auckland based fighter brings an unblemished 3-0 professional record to the fight and has also a reported 6-0 record in amateur competition. Young is coming off a first round submission win back in November against fellow countrymen Hayden Watt and no doubt will be looking at making a splash in this bout.

In a battle for the vacant XFC bantamweight title, 5 Rings Dojo fighter Shantaram Maharaj will battle against another Advance Martial Arts fighter in Jacob Mahony. The two have met before where Jacob Mahony caught Maharaj in a guillotine choke to take out the one-night four-man tournament at Eternal MMA 2 in early part of last year. Mahony went 3-1 in 2013 with his only loss coming in his last outing at Fightworld Cup 15 where the 24 year-old lost a unanimous points decision to Chris Morris. Maharaj finished the year with a 4-2 record, most recently submitting Adam Corbett at Nitro MMA 10. Maharaj is very keen to wipe this loss off his record in a bout with two worthy fighters. The belt was vacated by Michael Tobin who decided to move to featherweight.

The event will also host a trio of XFC amateur title which includes the anticipated return of amateur title holder Kyle Parmley. Parmley will defend his welterweight strap against Sassom gym fighter James Klingner. Also for the XFC amateur featherweight title, Core Fitness trained Scott Thorburn from the Sunny Coast will meet Corey Lynch while for the XFC amateur flyweight title Justin Wood meets Damien Sirisomphone. 

XFC promoter Justin Lawrence told Fight News Australia, “I’m delighted to have such a strong amateur undercard. We believe a commitment to future superstars is vital to the growth of MMA in this country.”

Lawrence also revealed that further fights are expected to be added to the already jam-packed card shortly.

Pro Fights (3×5 mins):

• Adrian Rodriguez (c) vs Shane Young – XFC Featherweight Title
• Shantaram Maharaj vs Jacob Mahony – XFC Bantamweight Title
• Harley Holmes vs Adam Bourke

Amateur Fights (5×3 mins)

• Kyle Parmley (c) vs James Klingner – XFC Amateur Welterweight Title
• Corey Lynch vs Scott Thorburn – XFC Amateur Featherweight Title
• Justin Wood vs Damien Sirisomphone – XFC Amateur Flyweight Title

Amateur Fights (3×3 mins)

• Bronwyn Noffke vs Leirosa Mentha-Patterson
• Auryn Parmley vs Jesse Kowroon
• Terissa Wall vs Alice Romyn
• Sarah Manthey vs Jaz Walker
• Dan O’Rourke vs Aidan Byquar
• Eben Cox vs Justin Gallagher
• Dan White vs Matt Thompson
• Lewis Beattie vs Bernie Smeeton