Last nights XFC show was the worst mma event i have been to in Florida. We sat for 4 hours and got less than 30 minutes of mma - the rest of the time was made up with 4 intermissions (crazy), some of the worst dancing ever witnessed - not just once but twice maybe even 3 times, and a flow of girls (ok so it wasn't all bad...lol)
At the last show the arena was packed, but this time the crowd was good but far less than before, probably only 2/3rd's full and those that were there booed for majority of the night, especially during the highly talked about xfc signing John McGee fight, which was nothing more than an embarrassment.
Some good fighters were on the card like CT Turner, David Yost and Justin Flood but poor match making failed to show the crowd their skill.
I try to support local mma, but shows like last night make it hard too.
Dissappointed
What happened with the Ivey/McGee fight?
McGee won.Second round TKO.
^ Don't tell me you were in Tampa and you saw this fight live.
Gan “The Giant” McGee made his return to the cage tonight after retiring from professional MMA competition four years ago. McGee, once a top-contender UFC heavyweight, faced Jonathan Ivey at XFC’s SOAF 5 - Return of the Giant in Tampa, Florida. 11,250 came out to see “The Giant” destroy his opponent with a second round TKO.
Xtreme Fighting Championship is the most successful MMA promotion in Florida. Over 11,200 fans were in attendance this evening, surpassing XFC’s June 28 attendance of 10,700. This was the fourth consecutive XFC event to fill at least 10,000 seats.
“It feels great to be back,” McGee stated in a post-fight interview. “I love fighting. I [expletive] love it! Really short guys are really hard to hit, but I did what I had to do. ‘The Giant’ is back!”
McGee’s opponent, Jonathan Ivey, is an MMA veteran of over 60 professional fights. Apparently Ivey wanted to get the fight to the ground and frustrated “The Giant” in the first round. The second round was a different story as McGee landed a flurry of devastating headshots causing the referee to stop the fight just 59 seconds in. Ivey clearly had trouble dealing with the reach advantage of “The Giant.”
It will be very interesting to see how far Gan McGee can take this new found motivation to compete. He has expressed interest in fighting Brock Lesnar and feels confident he could defeat the rising UFC star. Whether he will ever get the chance to come back to the UFC is not known but he’s definitely on the right track after tonight’s performance.
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Xtreme Fighting Championship is the most successful MMA promotion in Florida. Over 11,200 fans were in attendance this evening, surpassing XFC's June 28 attendance of 10,700. This was the fourth consecutive XFC event to fill at least 10,000 seats.
It's great that they fill seats and I love to see a show have success but the constant bragging of being the most successful show in FL is a tough one to stomach because they comp well over half of their tickets and the ones that aren't free are sold at a promotional rate of $10. They are in no way making money on ticket sales. Successful shows sell out venues without having to comp and promo the majority of their tickets. There are so many things that make a show "the most successful MMA promotion" than putting butts in seats. I hope they soon realize this If they start to listen to some of the consistent criticisms that the fans are throwing out there they could get much better reviews and the event could do really well in the eyes of the spectators/critics. This event has so much potential but they get more negative feedback than any show I've ever seen.
Fera Braba is correct. They are not very well regarded here in tampa. They try to play on the "support the troops" theme to draw attention, and when that doesn't work they bring in monster trucks, harley's, girls, and other crap that has nothing to do with mma.
They've opened up an xfc school, but after some investigation, we've found that their "jiu jitsu black belt" haki lee, who has a record of 1-2 and once tapped to a triangle SETUP, has a fictional bjj instructor that he apparently received his black belt from: "ray morales". No one has yet to track down this mysterious and elusive bjj bb "Ray Morales" even though I've offered to put up money if someone can verify he exists.
I also saw a recent video of two of their "Fighters". They were winging arm punches at each other, hands down. It looked like a bad toughman contest (looked like 205 or heavyweights fighting).
This is what happens when any dickwad with money to blow (or ahem creatively shift around) can do. Open an mma organization and a school with a phoney bjj black belt. how in the hell this lee kid is running around tampa without broken limbs right now after claiming he's a bjj black belt is beyond me.
I hope that Gan fight is not his spring board back to the UFC!
Who is the matchmaker?
brandon palant won first round via rnc. great slam to!!! way to go Brandon Palant
Fera Braba can't disagree with anything you have said. XFC receive far more critism than any other Florida promoter, despite their constant personal promotion, and they are known for giving away thousands of seats.
I was at Saturday's show and the crowd was considerablly less than before so I can't see how they are saying more than 11'000 (1000 more than there last show). Those that were there were not impressed, boo'ing basically the entire way through the show.
I think even the people who receive the complimentary tickets are not going now - even a free ticket could not entice me back and it was apparent that many others feel the same.
mt
I did not attend this show & know nothing about them,accept what I have read on this thread so far.Everything that has been said is not hard to believe when you know things that go on behind the scenes.I only use caution and judgement at the people who make such claims.If its from a rival promoter,I it dont carry much weight,or if it comes from fighters who just don`t "want to bite the hand feeds them" because they have fought or fight for them.
It would be interesting to hear from other people who know about or have attended this promotion.So far it sounds like a promotion that I would not give my support to in any shape or form.
Who was the matchmaker?
They don't have a good reputation with fighters - infact most local gyms have fallen out with them and won't put their fighters on the fight cards now. That's why so many of the fighters are from out of town.
The owner has a repuation for being arrogant and demanding.
The matchmaker is Gil Guillory
YES, Gil is the matchmaker and also does the play by play
Frontrowbrian you need to repost this in the states forum FLORIDA. There are 2 threads about XFC. Sick !!!!
i went to their first show which started like two hours late and ended up leaving during the first fight
I promote shows in New Orleans and have had many fighters from Florida on my shows.I would love to match shows in Florida.I lived in Orlando for almost a year following Katrina and have good relationships with many teams out there as well as many other regions around the country.Any promoter looking for a matchmaker can contact me at donleycrew4@yahoo.com . I am also a teacher/wrestling coach and am 14-4 as a pro MMA fighter.