XFO 39: FRIDAY AT SEARS CENTRE

Some news and updates for Friday’s XFO 39 at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

Jeff Curran told us that even though Joe Pearson had to drop out, he is still fighting on the card. He also said that while Jamie Varner is rumored to be fighting Shinya Aoki later this month in Japan, Varner will still fight Tyler Combs on Saturday night.

Curran will be matched against Billy Vaughan. Vaughan holds a record of 9-8, and fought in Strikeforce this March. Vaughan has dropped three straight bouts after winning three in a row.

This fight should go to the ground sooner rather than later. Curran is a world-renowned BJJ Black Belt, and of Vaughan’s 17 pro fights, 14 of them have ended by submission.

Varner has a tough rest of the month in store, if he indeed is taking the fight against Aoki. He’ll have to travel to Chicago from the West coast, fight a very game and dangerous opponent in Tyler Combs and hope he escapes with full health. Then he’ll have to make the arduous trip to Japan and get ready to fight Aoki, who has won 4 straight after his loss to Gilbert Melendez.

Here is the card:

• Jeff “Big Frog” Curran Vs. Billy Vaughan
• Jamie Varner Vs. Tyler “Tyrant” Combs
• Felice “Lil bulldog” Herrig Vs. Nicdali “The Night Queen” Rivera-Calanoc
• Mike Stumpf Vs. Dan Bolden
• Daniel Aguirre Vs. Terrance Kinney
• Jon Murphy Vs. Lucas Gwaltney
• Dan Stittgen Vs. Jason “Reaper” Graves
• Michele Gutierrez Vs. Amanda LaVoy
• Vince Ramos Vs. Ivan Wolshlager
• Kent Rexford Jr. Vs. Brandon Saling
• Will Brooks Vs. Bobby Reardanz
• Nick Scotti Vs. Hector Garcia

 

XFO 39: CURRAN VS. PEARSON

The official fight poster is out for XFO 39 and so is the latest update on the card. Click the pic for full-screen goodness.

Jeff Curran vs Joe Pearson
Jamie Varner vs Tyler Combs
Felice Herrig vs Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc
Jon Murphy vs Ryan Bixler
Michele Gutierrez vs Amanda LaVoy
Will Brooks vs Christopher Garcia
Mike Stumpf vs Dan Bolden
Jacob McClintock vs Dan Gilbert
Dan Stittgen vs Jason Graves
Nicholas Scotti vs Frank Pizzirulli
Vincent Ramos vs TBD
Christian Reynoso vs Daniel Aguirre
Kent Rexford Jr. vs Brandon Saling

For ticket information and a look back at the last time the XFO was at the Sears Centre, check out this article.

And here’s the recent interview that LJ Tabano did with Jeff Curran, where Curran discusses his comeback from arm surgery.

XFO RETURNS TO THE SEARS CENTRE

The XFO has announced that XFO 39 will take place at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. Before we get to the new card information, let’s take a trip down ol’ memory lane and look at the XFO 13 card, which was the last event the XFO held there.

Alonzo Spellman, yes the former Bear, took on Antoine Hayes. The main event was Jeff Curran vs. Raphael Assuncao, who fought this weekend at UFC 128. Assuncao was KO’d by Duke Roufus-trained Eric “New Breed” Koch. Other notables onthat card in 2006:

• Combat-Do’s Bob Schirmer
• Kerry “Meat Truck” Schall, UFC veteran heavyweight
• Donnie Liles, who fought in the IFL and Strikeforce
• Brian “Mandingo” Gassaway
• Jason Guida
• Terry Martin
• Matt “Sunshine” Fiordirosa
• Justin McElfresh, who went on to fight in the WEC
• Mike Marrello, former XFO Heavyweight champ
• UFC vet Nate Mohr
• Mike Stumpf, who went on to fight in ShoXC Challengers
• John Hosman, who later fought in the WEC

So fast-forward back to 2011, and the card will feature Jon Murphy, Felice Herrig, Chris Garcia, Will Brooks, Ryan Bixler, Tyler Combs, Michele Gutierrez, Christian Reynoso, Dennis Dombrow, Mike Stumpf, Jerad Karlen, Nick Scotti, Matt Tobie, Jason Graves & Jeff Curran vs. Joe Pearson.

The event will take place on May 13th at the Sears Centre, and you can get your tickets by visiting the event page on the Sears Centre site.

MORE MMA UNDIES: BARTIMUS AND FELICE HERRIG

So apparently frolicking around in the snow in just underwear is a favorite pastime of MMA fighters. After a blizzard that bombarded the Midwest a few days ago, UFC heavyweight Pat Barry went out in his undies to enjoy the snow.

A little bit closer to Chicago, 2 of Team Curran’s finest thought it would be fun to go out and do likewise. Bart Palaszewski and Felice Herrig took to the outdoors in their drawers.

Bart looks like he’s in some major pain. If you missed it, check out our interview with Bartimus, as well as LJ Tabano’s chat with Jeff Curran.

More wackiness available at Suckerpunch’s Facebook page.

JEFF CURRAN MAPS OUT RETURN IN 2011 [VIDEO]

Jeff Curran is looking to bounce back from a rocky 2010 and make 2011 a memorable year. He’s currently recovering from forearm surgery, but that won’t stop him from calling out a fighter(UK bantamweight Greg Knapp) for a potential fight when he’s fully healed. The Big Frog talked to Chicago’s MMA reporter L.J. Tabano about the road back to MMA prominence.
Read more

GET WELL SOON, JEFF CURRAN

Best wishes for a quick recovery to Jeff Curran. That’s Curran right before his recent surgery, going to have his arm repaired after aggravating an old injury during his fight against David Love at XFO 37. That fight was one of the best local fights of the year, and you can watch it below.

Curran told MMA Weekly, “They found out through neurological tests that my ulna nerve is pinched at my elbow joint, and it’s also hung up in the plate that I have, so that’s what’s causing this numbness. They have to go in and re-position this nerve, which is the thickness of a pin that runs up your arm, and they’re going to remove this plate and shave my bone down, stitch me up and hope for the best.”

Curran hopes to get back into the UFC soon, which would be great for him. Not so much for the local fans that loved seeing him fight at XFO 37. He hopes to be back training by June. Hopefully he’ll fight a few more times locally before heading back to the big show. Here’s the Love fight from XFO 37.

photo cred: Suckerpunch on Facebook
vid cred: Jens Pulver on Alienware

XFO 37: ROAD TO GLORY RESULTS

Results from XFO-37: Road to Glory, Saturday, December 4, 2010 in Lakemoor, Il.

Charlie Richardson vs. Darren Finley
Team Curran’s Richardson exhibited some excellent grappling, and escaped a heel hook attempt by Finley. He smothered him from there and locked in an arm triangle that finished Finley. Richardson def. Finley, submission- arm triangle, 1:15 of Round 2.

Zac Babiarz vs. Randy McMahel
Babiarz and McMahel had an exciting early exchange, but then Babiarz rocked McMahel with a left hook that made him cover up and retreat. A beautiful trip by Babiarz got McMahel to the ground, and “The Animal” took his back, sunk in his hooks and choked McMahel out. Babiarz def. McMahel, submission- RNC, 1:48 of Round 1.

Anthony Angel vs. Rob Couillard
This bout was over early as Couillard caught Angel in an armbar that he couldn’t wriggle out from. Couillard def. Angel, submission- armbar, :52 of Round 1.

Mikey Phillips vs. Jared Karlen
Karlen ate a stiff right hand but pulled guard on Phillips. From there, he got back up and latched on to Phillips’ neck. He secured a D’arce choke and finished the fight. Karlen def. Phillips, submission- D’arce choke, :46 of Round 1.

Vince Ramos vs. Chris Bennett
Bennett got the quickest win of the night when he choked out Ramos just :17 into the first round. Bennett def. Ramos, submission- guillotine, :17 of Round 1.

Frank Pizzirulli vs. Mike Pitz
Pitz greeted Pizzirulli with a huge, cage-rattling slam. Pitz held him on the ground after that and proceeded to land loud, punishing strikes from top position. The ref stopped in to end it after Pizzirulli could no longer defend himself. Outstanding display of ground and pound from MTC’s Pitz. Pitz def. Pizzirulli, TKO- strikes, 2:00 of Round 1.

Amanda LaVoy vs. Felice Herrig
The bell sounded and LaVoy raced to the middle of the cage. She threw a left head kick that did not connect and sent her to the ground. Herrig pounced on her and started pounding on LaVoy. LaVoy had half-guard, but it didn’t bother Herrig as she continued to post up and deliver punishment to LaVoy for the first two minutes of the fight. LaVoy tried to get free but Herrig then achieved full mount. An amazing display of flexibility by LaVoy kept Herrig from doing much damage initially, but then Herrig worked an armbar. LaVoy countered by trying to catch Herrig in a triangle. Herrig easily escaped that and locked in her own triangle in the process. She improved her position, locked in the triangle and grabbed on to LaVoy’s arm. LaVoy tapped. Very impressive performance by the “L’il Bulldog”. Herrig def. LaVoy, submission- armbar, 3:35 of Round 1.

David Love vs. Jeff Curran
Jeff Curran was fighting in front of many fans right in his backyard, but David Love didn’t care about that one bit. Love was the aggressor early in the first round, beating Curran to the punch and evading Curran’s counters. Some really nice movement and timing by Love, who landed the best strikes of the round.

Round 2 was a different story. Curran was first in on the exchanges, throwing multiple leg kicks to Love’s lead leg. He also worked the jab and kept Love on the outside. Toward the end of the round Curran kept pushing forward and landing various strikes, and continued to batter Love’s lead leg.

In round 3 Curran threw a right hand that landed, but he winced and backed away. It looked as if he might have broken his arm. After the fight he explained that he has a plate in the arm and has some nerve damage. Curran kept fighting. He was obviously in pain and didn’t seem able to use the arm. He threw jabs and leg kicks before shooting on Love and getting him tied up against the cage. The fighters traded knees in the clinch, then separated.

From there Curran landed a nice head kick, then went back to work on Love’s lead leg, landing some thunderous shots that made Love grimace. After a few more of those Love seemed as if he could not put full weight on his leg. But he proved tremendously game and kept fighting, making Curran work. Curran got his right arm back in action, connecting on some solid combos that sent Love backwards.

The judges scored it 30-27 for Curran. I thought Love definitely won round one, but no matter. Curran gets the win in a gutsy performance, one of the best local fights of the year.

Other results:
Mike Finch def. Timmy Lagray, submission- RNC, Round 2
Evian Rodriguez def. Russ Tabaka, submission- armbar, :58 of Round 1
Tommy Lagray def. James Garber, submission/tap due to injury, :58 of Round 1
Jake Klipp def. Ryan Moore, TKO Strikes, :49 of Round 1

XFO 37: ROAD TO GLORY

Yes, we know that Strikeforce and the UFC are both on tonight. But that is what DVRs are for. Come out and support the local MMA scene by checking out XFO 37: Road to Glory. You’ll get your money’s worth with 17 fights scheduled, including local favorites Jeff Curran and Felice Herrig.

If you don’t make it out to the event, check back with Chicago’s MMA for the XFO results and recap on Sunday morning.

Event:  XFO-37 Road to Glory

Date:  Saturday, December 4, 2010

Time:  Doors open at 6, fights start at 7:30

Tickets: $35 advance/$40 day of Generals (Standing)
$600 Table (Seats 10/$60 per seat)
Rindside-SOLD OUT

Venue:  Lakemoor Banquet Facility
28874 Rand Rd
(Rt 120 & Darrell Rd)
Lakemoor, IL 60051

Pro Card:
David Love vs. Jeff Curran
Amanda LaVoy vs. Felice Herrig
Chris Bennett vs. Vince Ramos
Frank Pizzirulli vs. Mike Pitz
17 fights total scheduled

XFO brings Professional MMA back to Lakemoor Banquet Facility for their 8th December show.  XFO is the midwest’s premier mma show that has had over 50 fighters move on to fight for bigger organizations as the UFC & WEC.  Among some of those fighters:
Jeff Curran, Chael Sonnen, Terry Martin, Bart Palaszewski, Clay Guida, Gideon Ray, Rory Markham, John Hosman, Chase Beebe, Shonie Carter, Mike Russow just to name a few.
Also, Tapout reality star Matt “Sunshine” Fiordirosa, Tapout reality star & 2010 Bellator Lightweight Tournament Champ Patrick Curran, & Ex-Chicago Bear Alonzo Spellman have fought for the XFO.

XFO: ROAD TO GLORY 12/4

The next XFO show will take place December 4th at the Lakemoor Banquet Hall in Lakemoor, Illinois. This will be XFO 37, and it’s titled “Road to Glory”. Vince Ramos, Felice Herrig and Jeff Curran will all be fighting on the card. More card details as they become available. Get your tickets from MMA Free Agent.

JENS PULVER JOINS TEAM CURRAN

Suckerpunch posted this photo on their Facebook page:

Jens commented on the photo: “Very, very thankful and proud to be here at Team Curran.”

Also very, very cool.

« Previous Page — Next Page »