XFFC 21 emanated from the Tara Centre in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Evergreen Park housed a raucous Swan City crowd for their March 15th card.
The event had multiple title fights, there was a lot of hype heading in, and XFFC 21 managed to deliver on all expectations.
Macdonald/ Sigvaldason capture XFFC gold and Shintani becomes number one contender
The main event was a barn burner between proud heel Steve Macdonald against local favorite William Carriere. The Grande Prairie pugilist showed a lot of heart all throughout as MacDonald managed to bust up his nose and create the proverbial crimson mask for Carriere.
Berserker was spraying copious amounts of blood through his nose but never wavered through all five rounds. Macdonald kept finding a home for that big left hand all throughout and that was ultimately the difference maker.
Steve seemed to time Carriere’s kicks well and stymied Berserker’s grappling efforts. Carriere had a brief momentum shift in round two when he rocked Macdonald but Steve sustained his successes for longer periods.
In the end, Steve Macdonald got the unanimous decision after five hard rounds and captured the vacant XFFC Light-Heavyweight championship as a result.
Steve Macdonald post-event audio
The co-main event of XFFC 21 featured a defending champion as the well regarded 135er Michael Imperato returned after a lengthy absence to face the upstart Blake Sigvaldason for the XFFC Bantamweight belt.
Many pundits were sleeping on the largely unheralded Sigvaldason heading into this one. Blake did not let that affect his approach to the prize fight though.
The Icelandic martial artist stifled Imperato’s advances for submissions in round one’s first half (guillotine and leg lock). From there, it seemed like Blake had dominant top control.
Sigvaldason advanced position as well as landed sharp accurate ground and pound. These punches and elbows resulted in a cut to Imperato that the oppointed doctor deemed too deep for the fight to continue.
Imperato stormed out of the cage, ardently opposed to the decision, as Blake had XFFC gold wrapped around his waist.
Blake Sigvaldason post-event audio
Craig Shintani and Chris Day locked horns for a chance at becoming number one contender for the Featherweight title held by Tom O’Connor.
Shintani got a takedown then initiated ground and pound. Day ended up getting to a dominant position in a first round scramble. Both men jockeyed for position throughout the second frame but Shintani got a nice trip takedown.
Day was quite competitive in initiating grappling exchanges and followed up missed kicks with spinning backfists.
Things got to the floor again though and the bell sounded with Shintani having back control on Day. Shintani got the UD and the decision earns him a title shot in his near future for Xcessive Force Fighting Championship.
Theocharis and Pogson secure first round W’s
Tom Theocharis also netted an impressive win over Jordan Roberts less than 3 minutes ino the first frame. Theocharis landed a perfectly placed front kick to the solar plexus.
Roberts tried to rally back but despite the display of heart the volume of strikes got too much. Andy Social waved off the bout at 2:55 in favour of Theorcharis.
Dave Pogson defeated Dayton Roberts in short order. The Pro welterweight bout wrapped up at 1:20 of round one as Dirty Dave advanced position to ultimately secure the D’arce choke W.
Key Amateur Highlights
In an Amateur championship bout, Lorenzo Celis captured the promotion’s Middleweight crown. Lorenzo faced early adversity against Jordan Noseworthy as Noseworthy kept heavy pressure with the folkstyle and freestyle wrestling.
Noseworthy’s gas tank seemed to wane after the first round and a half. Celis turned up the heat and seemed to rock Noseworthy towards the end of the second. Celis intensified the pressure and teed off on Noseworthy heavily until referee Andy Social had seen enough.
Lorenzo Celis got the TKO win at 1:41 R3 in a quintessential championship performance where he withstood onset adversity to get the victory.
Grady Behrens and Ramil Kamilov also impressed in the two opening amateur bouts of the night. XFFC 21 was a night worth remembering for both of those individuals.
Grady got a third round submission via armbar at 1:00 over Brandon Burton. The light-heavyweight tilt saw Brandon’s flamboyant behaviour and trash talk throughout get pops from the crowd. Alas, it did not translate into a favorable outcome for double B.
Ramil showed tremendous intensity before the fight even started as he stomped heavily on the canvas whereby it echoed through the Tara Centre. Ramil showcased a well rounded game and set the tone for wherever the fight ended up going.
Kyle was double tough though and at one point in the later stages of the fight ate a sweat knocking, thunderous head kick that elicited audible awe from the Grande Prairie audience. Wilson’s grittiness was not enough though and Ramil Kamilov grinded out the unanimous decision.
Xcessive Force Fighting Championship’s latest installment left the Grande Prairie crowd happy as usual. Promotional president Darren Cliffe announced summer plans to bring the show outside the regular GP market and the province altogether.
A future event for XFFC will be held in mid-July and goes live from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Liberty Multimedia again linked up with Xcessive Force for XFFC 21 and in July, LMM will look to get Xcessive in The Six.
Check out a prior instance where Liberty Multimedia got Xcessive via the video below: