On Saturday November 23rd, Mr. Mike Miles, and a few associates
promoted their first Mixed Martial Arts event under the XFC (X-treme Fighting Championships)
banner in Calgary, Canada. The event took place at the Palace Night Club and was attended by 600 enthusiastic
fans. "I was happy with the turnout", said promoter Mike Miles. "We had good media support heading into the
event which featured a good product for all to see and too enjoy."
The Main Event was to originally feature Ex-Muay Thai Champion Nick Ring battling for a vacant CMMAC
Canadian Title. Unfortunately as the event closed in, Ring injured himself and had to withdraw from the event.
"Nick has a good fan base from his Muay Thai career in Calgary and I know if he would have fought on this event, we
could have packed the venue to the rafters", said Mike Miles. "But even though Nick did not fight, the show
offered a great new Main Event with the CMMAC Lightheavyweight Western Canadian Title on the line between
Calgary's Kevin Fair from Dynamic Martial Arts against Lethbridge's Jesse Bongfeld from Progressive
Fighting Academy." The fight had many people talking about and predicting who the winner would be. Fair entered the
ring looking extremely fit while Bongfeld entered the ring sporting a black eye and looking somewhat tattered, leaving
many people wondering if he had just had an MMA fight a few days earlier. The old saying "looks can be deceiving",
was a true statement for this bout. Fair looked like he was ready to rip Bongfeld in half. As soon as the bell rang,
Bongfeld ran forward and started pressing Fair, who was to shell up from a fast punch-kick combination. Fair went to
the ground and Bongfeld followed. The two ended up grappling and seemed somewhat stalemated in their plans on how to
handle each other. Suddenly Fair tried to change his position, and Bongfeld latched on and forced Fair to tap out from
an arm bar submission. Jesse Bongfeld won the vacant title by 1st round submission. Congratulations to Jesse Bongfeld,
the new CMMAC Lightheavyweight Western Canadian Champion!
The remainder of the event had the following results:
- "Ragin" Kajan Johnson (Prince George Fight Club) stepped into the ring against Edmonton's Chris Ade.
The majority of this bout was to take place with the two athletes grappling on the ground. Ade, an accomplished wrestler
kept going to the ground, but once there seemed to stall somewhat as Johnson delivered short punches and heel kicks to
his foe. Johnson seemed to control Ade on the ground and pre-empt and/or counter Ade's punch attacks. At the end of the
bout, the decision was split for "Rajin" Kajan Johnson.
- Justin Tavernini (Progressive Fighting Academy - Lethbridge) stepped into the ring against Marc-Andre
Droiet from Winnipeg, Manitoba. The two athletes started off in striking range with Tavernini looking a little more
precise on the outside when both fell into a grapple and headed for the canvas. Tavernini seemed to be a little better
at playing his game and after a few strikes he stood up quickly and attacked Droiet who was still on his back. Tavernini
landed a few kicks to the legs of the prone Droiet. The Manitoba athlete then caught one of his foes kicks and pulled him
back down to the ground. Tavernini managed to position himself where he wanted while the two grappled. Hands free and on
top of his foe, Tavernini let loose with a barrage of punches that finally convinced the referee to stop the bout.
Tavernini leapt to his feet while the somewhat shell-shocked Droiet took a second to regain his senses and then stand up.
The bout was stopped at 4 minutes and 11 seconds of the first round in Tavernini's favor.
- In a straight grappling match up, Sean Smith (Progressive fighting Academy - Lethbridge) squared off
against Greg Steele (National Kickboxing - Edmonton). The two looked pretty even up until around the middle of the
first round. Suddenly Smith got into position and forced Steele to tap out from a choke. Sean Smith won the bout by first
round submission.
- Grant Tennant (Judo Club - Winnipeg) faced Zac Pruden (Prince George Fight Club) in a very exciting
match. While standing, Tennant looked to have the superior stand up skills and as the bout progressed Pruden seemed to be
giving Tennant a little too much respect trying to avoid exchanges here. Initially on the ground, Pruden seemed very comfortable
on the ground striking while staying in his guard position. As the bout wore on, he started to tire a little and the frustrated
Tennant seemed to be landing more and more of his strikes to Pruden effectively. The bout went the distance and the decision
was given to Tennant. This was a very exciting match with good exchanges from both athletes.
- In a short but explosive match, Josh Tomik (Progressive Fighting Academy - Lethbridge) warred with Henk
Westendrop (Regina). Westendrop charged Tomik as soon as the bell sounded and started throwing hard punches with the
clear intention of knocking out Tomik as quickly as possible. Tomik wore one good punch which connected solidly but it
did not seem to shake him. As the bout progressed both fell into a clinch. Westendrop delivered some good knees from this
position but Tomik weathered the storm and he took his foe to the ground. After a little wrestling from each other Tomik
ended up on his foes back, submitting him with a rear naked choke at 1 minute and 44 seconds of the first round. The
audience loved this short but dynamic war!
- Mike Bell (National Kickboxing - Edmonton) battled against Graham Weenk (Bushido - Saskatoon).
Both have backgrounds as stand up fighters in kickboxing but both demonstrated good ground fighting skills. In the first
round both athletes looked pretty even in their stand up exchanges and on the ground, it was quite close. Several times
in the first round, Bell got a hold of Weenk's arm and was trying to arm bar but Weenk proved strong enough to lift his
foe and avoid the consequences of his positioning leading to his own submission. In the second round, Bell exploded and
chased Weenk backwards landing some hard kicks and punches to his foes head and body. Weenk finally caught a kick and he
took Bell to the canvas where the two continued to wage a war in the grapple. Bell looked tighter in his guard and seemed
to choke out any other striking attacks that Weenk attempted. At the end of the match, Bell was awarded the decision (regardless
Graham you looked good tonight). Another very exciting match between these two fine athletes.
- The opening of the night featured two athletes from the same gym, Trevor Hardy and Jason Day (Progressive
Fighting Academy) putting on a very exciting exhibition match. "Exhibition? Hardy shook Day with a couple of kicks
and though these two athletes did not pound each others heads with punches while on the ground, they waged war with strong
punches to the body. It was a very technical but full hearted match between these two athletes", said Mike Miles.
"We had great support tonight! Consider the last MMA event in Calgary only had 700 people attend it and it was
very well publicized. We did very little in terms of advertising this event so I am very happy with the support from the
audience, the bouts and their outcomes, the classy athletes and the support of well know people like Steve Bergeron,
Vince Gentile, Paul Sukys, Bill Mahood, Lee Mein... Thank you Calgary!",
said Mike Miles.
The next event, is scheduled for January 11th, 2003. Some great bouts are already signed! See you there!