Daily Loaf

Mixed martial arts (MMA) fans In Tampa enjoyed an action-packed nine-bout fight card hosted by the Xtreme Fighting Chamionships (XFC) at the St.Pete Times Forum on Saturday. In the main event of the evening, Pablo Alfonso was crowned as the new XFC Bantamweight Champion after a four-round war against defending champion Jason Goodall. War Machine defeated Mikey Gomez in the co-main event of the  XFC Evolution bouts.

Goodall controlled the bout throughout the first round mostly on the ground, where he wrought Alfonso through several triangle choke submission attempts. Alfonso, however, proved to be a true escape artist by finding a way out of even the tightest choke holds Goodall pinned him with. It was obvious that Alfonso was very comfortable on his feet, dishing out countless well-aimed punches at Goodall’s head.

In round two the hits seemed to take a toll on the defending champion with Alfonso successfully taking him down to the mat several times and working the ground and pound. Goodall made good use of his jiu jitsu skills, though, by getting Alfonso once again into a very tight reverse triangle choke. Referee John Hosegood was all but ready to call the fight since Alfonso seemed to be barely moving at this point. Alfonso was indeed saved by the bell that signaled the end of the second round.

The third round started out with both fighters applying extreme caution in their attacks, which could also be attributed to fatigue kicking in. Nevertheless, Goodall continued to dominate Alfonso on the ground with more submission attempts.

Finally, more than halfway into the fourth round Alfonso turned the tables on Goodall and beat him at his own game: Alfonso submitted Goodall via triangle choke at 2:40 in round four.

In the co-main event of the evening War Machine dominated Mikey Gomez throughout most of the first round with a very explosive exchange of punches and kicks. Gomez kicked his stand-up game up a notch in round two with several impressive punching combinations and take-downs.

Just when it looked like the bout would go to the judges’ scorecards, War Machine landed a devastating blow to Gomez’s right eye that left him in audible pain. The ringside physician examined the eye and declared the hit to be legal, which resulted in War Machine being awarded the win via TKO at 0:19 in round three.

Complete final results (in chronological order):

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