New Zealand fighter Matt Vaile held on to his XFC welterweight title on Saturday night, defeating late replacement Joey Fahey at XFC 32.
The card took place at the Logan Metro Centre in Queensland.
It was the fourth title defence for Vaile who got the TKO victory at the end of the first round after the doctor stopped the fight. The win took the 26-year-olds record to an impressive 9-1. His lone loss came at the hands of former UFC fighter Ben Alloway.
Fahey, who took the fight on less than a weeks notice after team-mate Glen Pettigrew got injured in the originally planned main event, drops to 1-3.
In the co-main event, Australian Top Team fighter Joel Kendrick caught Craig Callaghan in a guillotine choke, forcing his opponent to tap with only a second remaining in the second round. The 20-year-old welterweight moves to 4-1, 1 draw as a professional while Callaghan loses his second on the trot to drop to 4-5.
Also on the card, Jackson Small secured the biggest win of his short career, edging out a split points decision against the previously unbeaten Josh Togo while youngster Jayden Eynaud had a quick night in the cage, stopping Michael McDaniel with strikes 64-seconds into the fight.
In a women’s contest, Nicole Szepesvary stepped up to take on Hera Tamati, with Tamati showing her experience in taking a unanimous decision.
Notably, XFC founder and former promoter Justin Lawrence was on hand to accept his entry into the inaugural XFC Hall of Fame. A longtime MMA fan, Lawrence turned to promoting fights in the 1990’s before starting XFC in 2003. Under Lawrence’s reign, fighters such as Kyle Noke, Adrian Pang, Damien Brown, James Te Huna, Dylan Andrews, Hector Lombard, George Sotiropoulos and Robert Whittaker are just some of the names that have fought on the promotion.
Results (Pro):
- Matt Vaile (c) def. Joel Fahey via TKO, Rd 1, 5:00 – XFC welterweight title
- Joel Kendrick def. Craig Callaghan via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 2, 4:59
- Jackson Small def. Josh Togo via Decision (Split)
- Jayden Eynaud def. Michael McDaniel via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 1:04
- Hera Tamati def. Nicole Szepesvary via Decision (Unanimous)
- Paul Loga def. Grego Penaloza via Decision (Unanimous)
- Brooke Kenrick def. Leigha Aurisch via Submission (Kimura), Rd 1, 1:50
- Alan Hartley def. Matthew Seden via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1
Results (Amateur):
- David Russell def. Connor Birch via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1 – XFC amateur lightweight title
- Tom Nolan def. Joshua Francois via TKO, Rd 1, 3:00 – XFC amateur featherweight title
- Darren Habben def. Hayden Harbutt via Decision (Unanimous) – XFC amateur flyweight title
- Auryn Parmley def. Alex Hong via Decision (Split)
- Rasa Dasa def. Johnny Borg via Submission (Armbar), Rd 2
- Jack Gibbs def. Lewis Ashton via KO (Hook), Rd 1
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