Bourbon Street has played home to so many Cut Throat MMA events that the counter broke. It is one of the few locations where just the mere mention of the name gets mixed martial arts fans excited. To make the event even better, the second round of bantamweight quarterfinal fights will take place on the card.

Ryan Dipompeo will take on Miguel Garza while Lloyd Thorton goes to battle against Jason Ignacek completing the bantamweight quarterfinal matchups. The winners will then be matched up either against each other or against Jerald Williams or Manny Camacho.

Also in action Gilbert Grapplings Kalee Howell looks to improve her record to 4-1 with a victory on Friday. Should she be victorious, she will likely demand a shot at Audrey Pang in what could be for the vacant women’s 115lb title. Pang had her hand raised at Invasion the week prior and said she would take on who ever was put in front of her.

Cut Throat Bourbon Street takes place on Friday, March 23 at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park, Illinois. (Note to those trying to google the venue, the address is 3359 West 115th Street). Doors open at 6:30 and first fight is scheduled for 7:30pm.

Guilermo Serment - photo by Joey Hill

Less than two days after Carson Beebe and Guilermo Serment agreed to fight inside the cage at XFO 43, Beebe has withdrawn from the fight. No reason was given as to why he withdrew from the fight.

When Beebe was contacted about the fight being off he stated “I wish I could fight every weekend. Sometimes it does not work out.”

Meanwhile, Serment, had some choice words for Beebe as he posted the following to his facebook page: “I have to apoligize in advance again for the cancelation of my fight. Unfortunately, there are some real COWARDS in the fighting business. The kind that claim they are fighters and yet will not accept a real challenge.”

A replacement is being sought for Serment, no word if the fight will still be the main event or not.

Tickets are available here at MMARecap.com starting at just $31. The event will take place on Friday April 13, 2012 at the Copernicus Center in downtown Chicago.

XFO 43 tickets are now available here at MMA Recap. They start at just $31 for the mezzanine level and $41 for the main floor area. That includes our processing fee. These are the best prices anywhere online for XFO 43 tickets. Click here to buy your tickets.

The card is a stacked all-pro card featuring several fan favorites like Carson Beebe, Guillermo Serment, Dan Aguirre, Mike Santiago, Adam Ward, Joey Diehl, Vince Ramos, Giovanni Moljo, Matt Tobie, Christian Reynoso and many more.

The full card looks like:
Carson Beebe vs Guillermo Serment
Daniel Vizcaya vs Brandon DelPrado
Daniel Aguirre vs Ryan McIntosh
Mike Santiago vs TBD
Vincent Ramos vs Jose Pacheco
Andrew Krzeptowski vs Lawrence Dunning
Adam Ward vs Giovanni Moljo
Joey Diehl vs TBD
Matt Tobie vs Ryan Storey
Rafal Skibinski vs Jason Graves
Christian Reynoso vs James Anthony Moore
Damian Norris vs Jordan Griffin
Ramy Doud vs Johnny Coleman
Andre Feliciano vs Jerald Williams
Phil Williams vs TBD

XFO 43 got it’s main event lined up and it will feature one of Chicago’s favorite fighters, Carson Beebe. He will headline the night of action against Guillermo Serment at a catchweight of 140lbs. The fights will take place on Friday, April 13th at the Copernicus Theater.

Beebe enters the fight on a four-fight win streak. He most recently defeated Tim Snyder at Legacy Fighting Championship 10 in February. The fight was a dominant Beebe performance that aired live on HDNet. Prior to his Snyder victory, he defeated Lloyd Carter at XFO 42.

Serment is on a two-fight win streak with wins over Bryan Daye and Vince Ramos. He battled Daye for three rounds in Puerto Rico earning him the unanimous decision. Serment also competed at XFO 42 defeating Ramos. He lost the first round, but then came back to win the second and third round to hand Ramos another loss.

Lance Surma and Eric Oria were both supposed to make their professional debut at Bellator 60. Unfortunately that fight is now off as Oria has a warrant out for his arrest. According to sources, Oria’s warrant is for an accessory to a crime, though the crime was not specified.

One source speaking of knowledge of the situation said Oria has been in hiding the last several days and police have been looking for him. When it was realized he was scheduled to be fighting on Friday for Bellator, the police reached out to see if Oria was still apart of the show.

The likely scenario for the police was that they were going to bring Oria into custody prior to the weigh-ins.

Surma is now without an opponent and due to the late outcome of the fight being removed, a replacement is highly unlikely.

No official word on if Oria has been arrested nor the specific incident that the warrant was issued for.

Mike Corey - photo by Joey Hill

The longest running promotion in the state of Illinois can say that they are able to send fighters onto the big show. On Friday March 9 at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond Indiana, Bellator 60 takes place and seven of the twenty-two fighters have fought under the XFO Banner with three of those on the main card.

On the main card Pat Curran will get his chance to bring home the first world title to Team Curran while his teammate Mike Corey looks to upset Ronnie Mann as a late replacement entry into the season six tournament. A fighter whom many are calling the dark horse of the featherweight tournament, Daniel Straus, is looking to make another impact on the field of fighters in his second tournament go-around.

On the undercard three veterans of the sport are trying to improve their records. Travis Wiuff will be taking on Anthony Gomez in what could potentially be a tournament qualifier for the next light heavyweight tournament.

Richard White will be competing in a 280lb catchweight bout against Sean McCorkle and look to snap a three-fight losing streak. White suffered his second loss of his career at XFO 30 and followed it up with a five fight win streak.

Bobby Reardanz has competed under the XFO banner five times prior to getting the call to fight for Bellator. He is currently on a two-fight win streak for the first time in nearly two years.

Finally making his professional debut, Cory Galloway will be taking on Jake Nauracy in the bantamweight division. Galloway and Nauracy were both champions in different organizations and surprisingly their paths hadn’t crossed as amateurs.

Cory Galloway At XFO 42 - photo by Joey Hill

On Friday, March 9 at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana, three fighters from Team Curran will look to showcase their skills. Cory Galloway will be making his professional debut, Mike Corey will get his chance in the Bellator tournament, and Pat Curran will be facing Joe Warren for his featherweight title.

Galloway had a successful run as an amateur competing in the XFO. He went 7-1 with redeeming his lone loss in his last fight at XFO 42 against Pedro Velasco. Velasco nearly finished Galloway with a submission, but he was able to escape and put Velasco into a submission of his own.

Corey has arguably one of the most telling stories when it comes to trying to get a shot in the Bellator tournament. He was originally slated to take part in the season two lightweight tournament, but after suffering an injury, his teammate Pat Curran stepped in. Curran went on to win the entire tournament and fight Eddie Alverez for the lightweight title.

Corey since fought for the promotion at Bellator 57 against Chris Horodecki. The fight went to the judges’ scorecards and was ruled a majority draw. The fight was supposed to have the winner move onto the next lightweight tournament but with the draw, neither fighter did.

Corey was then given a chance on the prelims against Bobby Reardanz, but when an injury forced Wagnney Fabiano out against Ronnie Mann, Corey stepped up to the plate.

Finally Curran will be getting his long awaited title shot against Joe Warren. Curran won the summer series featherweight tournament with victories over Luis Palomino, Ronnie Mann and Marlon Sandro. It marked the second tournament Curran had won.

When people think of MMA they tend to only think about the major promotions like UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator. But the thing that nearly everyone forgets is that fighters have to start out fighting somewhere as amateurs before going professional. It’s on these events in front of hundreds not tens of thousands of fans that they gain their experience and hone their skills.

For one Chicago based promotion, three of their former champions are looking to shine at Bellator 60. Anthony Gomez, Lance Surma and Jake Nauracy all competed for and won their respective weight class titles for Cut Throat MMA.

Gomez was the former light heavyweight champ and will be fighting veteran and journeyman fighter Travis Wiuff.

Surma and Nauracy are both vacating their titles for their professional debuts. Surma will be taking on Eric Oria while Naruacy takes on Cory Galloway.

Bellator 60 takes place on Friday, March 9th at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana.

Sean McCorkle at CCC 4 - photo by Joey Hill

Bellator 60 is just five days away and three fighters whom have competed for the organization will be fighting on the season six opening night of fights. Sean McCorkle, Josh Shockley, and Bobby Reardanz all were victorious at Chicago Cagefighting Championship 4.

McCorkle was a late replacement main event for the fourth event for Chicago Cagefighting Championship. Originally the main event was to feature War Machine, but after an injury, organizers scrapped the fight entirely and moved onto a much bigger main event. The result was Sean McCorkle taking on Justin Grizzard in a super heavyweight fight with McCorkle winning by kimura in the first round. McCorkle is taking on Richard White in what could be a tournament qualifier fight.

Shockley had competed for Bellator at Bellator 36 losing to Toby Imada. He rebounded with a rear naked choke victory over Mike Santiago at CCC 4. The victory allowed him to compete again for Bellator at Bellator 57 where he defeated Eric Moon in 35 seconds. Shockley will be taking on former Ultimate Fighter Shamar Bailey in the under card.

Reardanz is a veteran of the Midwest having fought for nearly every organization that put on a professional show in the greater Chicagoland area. After snapping a five-fight losing streak against Steven Baker at Northeast MMA he was pitted against the Midwest Training Center’s Dennis Dombrow. Dombrow a jiu jitsu brown belt was submitted via arm bar by Reardanz, though it took a lot of tugging before Dombrow tapped to the submission. Riding a two-fight win streak, Reardanz looks to test his skills against former Bellator tournament fighter Kenny Foster.

Bellator 60 takes place on Friday March 9th at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond Indiana.

Miodrag Petkovich - photo by Joey Hill

XFO isn’t holding back any punches with the announcement of nearly every fight for the April 13 event. Daniel Vizcaya and Brandon DelPrado will collide in the main event while Miodrag Petkovich takes on Bryan Humes in the co-main event. The event takes place on Friday, April 13 at the Copernicus Center in downtown Chicago.

Vizcaya will be bringing in a two-fight win streak to the main event after earning a TKO victory over Rafal Skibinsi and a rear naked choke victory over Kent Rexford. The two-wins snapped a two-fight losing skid for Vizcaya. The former light heavyweight dropped to middleweight to resurrect his career.

DelPrado meanwhile will be looking to remain undefeated as a professional having won all four of his fights. The Team Colon standout has finished his last three opponents and had a very successful amateur career.

Petkovich recently earned a unanimous decision victory over Mike Marrello at XFO 42 in December. It was a hard fought three-round battle and after the fight Marrello retired from fighting inside the cage.

Humes had been scheduled for a fight inside the XFO cage but had to scratch due to an injury. His last two fights have been against some of the top heavyweights. He went toe-to-toe with Paul Buentello at Shark Fights in May of 2010 and then followed it up with a third round submission loss to Gabriel Salinas Jones at Strikeforce Fedor vs Henderson.

Other notables on the card include Joey Diehl, Mike Santiago, Vince Ramos, Matt Tobie, Ryan Storey, Christian Reynoso, and Damian Norris. The event is currently scheduled to have an all pro thirteen fight night of action.

The full card looks as follows:
Daniel Vizcaya vs Brandon DelPrado
Miodrag Petkovich vs Bryan Humes
Joey Diehl vs Damian Jeffro
Mike Santiago vs Garrett Gross
Vincent Ramos vs Jose Pacheco
Andrew Krzeptowski vs Lawrence Dunning
Matt Tobie vs Ryan Storey
Rafal Skibinski vs Jason Graves
Christian Reynoso vs Tony Moore
Damian Norris vs Jordan Griffin
Ramy Daoud vs Johnny Coleman
Phil Williams vs TBD
Andre Feliciano vs Jerald Williams

Bobby Reardanz - photo by Joey Hill

After an injury forced Wagnney Fabiano out of his bout against Ronnie Mann, Bobby Reardanz’s original opponent Mike Corey was asked to fill the tournament slot. This left Reardanz without an opponent for the season six card. Bellator officials moved quickly and stepping in to fight Reardanz is Bellator season four semi-finalist Kenny Foster.

Foster got the chance to compete in the season four tournament after defeating Lester Caslow. In the quarterfinals he defeated Eric Larkin with a guillotine choke in the first round. He then fought a hard battle with Daniel Straus at Bellator 41 before losing to a guillotine himself.

Foster was given a second chance to enter the tournament at Bellator 53 when he took on Ronnie Mann. Mann overwhelmed Foster early in the fight and didn’t let up. Foster received his first ever back-to-back losses in just under four minutes. After the loss Foster fought outside of Bellator losing a unanimous decision.

Reardanz meanwhile is riding a two-fight win streak into the contest.  In his last fight Reardanz was able to submit a very game Dennis Dombrow at Chicago Cagefighting Championship 4 with an arm bar. Prior to his victories, Reardanz ran into a run of bad luck going 2-9 in his last eleven fights. To his credit the losses came against tough competition like Vince Ramos, Will Brooks, Andy Main, Matt Fiordirosa and Peter Grimes.

Bellator 60 takes place at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond Indiana on Friday March 9th.

An undisclosed injury has forced Wagnney Fabiano out of his quarterfinal fight against Ronnie Mann. A replacement was sought and quickly found in Team Curran’s Mike Corey.

Corey was originally supposed to partake in the season two lightweight tournament. When he became injured, his teammate Pat Curran stepped in and won the entire tournament. Curran has since won a second tournament in his proper weight class at featherweight.

Corey, a lightweight, will be making the drop to featherweight for his chance at Bellator gold. In his Bellator debut fight against Chris Horodecki, many thought Horodecki would just run through Corey. But Corey was a game opponent surprising many. While many members of the media had scored the fight for Horodecki, two judges saw the fight as a draw and thus it was ruled.

Mann looks to try his hand at the featherweight tournament a second time. The first outing was during Bellator’s summer series event where he knocked out Adam Schindler in the first round of the tournament.

He was matched up with Pat Curran in the semi-finals and lost a unanimous decision and his chance at a title shot. He followed up the loss with a triangle submission over Kenny Foster at Bellator 53 in October.

Bellator 60 takes place on Friday, March 9 from the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. The preliminary fights will air live on Spike.com with the main card airing live on MTV 2.

Fans who are wanting to get their money’s worth of fights should be checking out this weekend’s amateur mixed martial arts event MMA At The Max 2. The night of action is currently scheduled to have twenty-one fights with six being for championship belts.

The action takes place on Saturday March 3 at the Max Athletic And Expo Center in McCook, Illinois just outside of Chicago.

The full fight card currently looks like:
Main Event
Oliver Vazquez vs Sam Augshi

Co-Main Events
Chris Conway vs Mike Ryan
Rick Farbo vs Tyler Reece
Sean Gee vs Robert Lee
Quadrae Little vs Jonathon James
Fallen Fox vs Scottie Fortner

Fight Card
Otis Brumfield vs Dustin Stusse
Emilis Jaskevicius vs James Brown
Tyree Nettles vs John Box
Jon Manos vs Stephan Vonaulock
James Yarborough vs Anthony Gasso
Brad Stanton vs Darrell Edmonson
Fernando Fuentes vs Rob Morris
Robbie Draski vs Luis Arriaga
Ezykelo Sidney vs Mike Hassett
Sam Cruz vs Dennis Sherman
Alex Fontanez vs Jeremy Rone
Brittney Updike vs Danika Thibault
Gerald Wright vs Robert Maloy
Melvin Sidney vs Dan Amato
Sergi Grytsaienko vs Kelan Moore

Jeff Curran at XFO 39 - Photo by Joey Hill (joeyhill.com)

Curran recently returned the UFC in October taking on a very game Scott Jorgensen. Jorgensen was able to take Curran down and survive his guard; a tactic that won Jorgensen the fight on the score cards.

Eduardo made his UFC debut in August of 2011 against Raphael Assuncao. He lost a hard fought decision to Assuncao, snapping an eleven fight win streak for the bantamweight.

Both Curran and Eduardo are entering the fight on a loss and the loser of the fight is likely to be cut from the organization.

Preliminary fights will air on the UFC’s Facebook page while the main card airs on Fuel TV. No main event has been announced for the fight as of yet.

Hot off the heels of announcing their next all pro-show, XFO officials have confirmed with MMA Recap that will be holding an all amateur mixed martial arts event on Saturday March 31 in East Dundee. The event, “XFO Fight Night” will take place at Premier Banquet Hall in East Dundee, Illinois.

Several fighters are already being attached to the event including the Radtke and LaGray brothers, Vince Romadine, Charlie Richardson, Vince Nicoline, Tom Hawley, David Sorensen and more.

XFO Fight Night has played home to developing some of the best amateur fighters in Illinois.  Many fighters have competed on the series have gone on to become hot prospects in their professional careers.

Tickets for the event will be on sale shortly and will be available at MMA Recap.

Kenny Booker at HFC 10 - photo by Joey Hill

Officials at Xtreme Fighting Organization announced today that they will be returning to the Copernicus Center for an all pro card with XFO 43. The night of action will take place on Friday, April 13th at the historic theater in downtown Chicago.

XFO last saw action at the Copernicus Center at XFO 35 on June 5, 2010. That event saw the early careers of many now fan favorites including Carson Beebe, Jonatas Novaes, Mike Santiago and Bobby Reardanz.

While no fights have been officially announced as of yet, several fighters are rumored to be apart of the show including Vince Ramos, Kenny Booker, and Damian Norris.

Stay tuned to MMA Recap for all the latest fights for this exciting card.

There’s already been a fundraiser and an event where proceeds have been donated to the Jeff Dunbar fund. Now there’s another spot where fans can donate and purchase raffle tickets to raise funds for the fund.

MMA @ The Max is happening on Saturday March 3 in McCook, Illinois. The event will feature an all amateur night of mixed martial arts fights with multiple titles on the line.

At the event there will be a booth for fans to purchase raffle tickets or just make a straight up donation to the fund. MMA Recap will be donating several items including t-shirts, hats, and prints from Art By JMC.

The doors open to the event at 6pm and the first fight kicks off at 7pm. For more information on the event and to purchase tickets, visit www.americanpredatorfc.com

Felice Herrig - photo by Joey Hill

Team Curran’s Felice Herrig will be returning to action on Friday April 13th against Patricia Vidonic at XFC 17. The women’s bout is scheduled to be apart of the HDNet televised portion of the card that will be headlined by Luciano Dos Santos versus Eric Reynolds.

Vidonic is coming off the second loss of her career against top 115lb women’s fighter Jessica Aguilar. She was able to take Aguilar to the judges’ scorecards but the decision did not go her way.

Prior to the loss Vidonic had compiled a five-fight win streak finishing three of her five opponents by submission.

Herrig made her promotional debut for XFC in December and lost a unanimous decision to Carla Esparza. Prior to the loss she compiled a 5-1 record in her previous six fights. Herrig holds notable wins over Michele Gutierrez, Jessica Rakoczy, and Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc.

Herrig holds a background in Muay Thai with dangerous kicks that stumble her opponents. She will likely use her striking to keep Vidonic on the outside and avoid any takedowns.

XFC 17 takes place on Friday April 13th at the Oman Arena in Jackson, Tennessee.

Mike Dolce - via mikedolcemma.com

Both Dolce and Soares are returning to the conference this year. Dolce was a first time speaker last year and was one of the most sought out speakers. He is known as the weight cutting guru helping several “big” fighters easily make weight including Thiago Alves who struggled with his until he began working with Dolce.

Soares will likely be hosting a Q&A for athlete managers. The crowd for his seminar rivaled that of Greg Jackson who the first year set the bar high for speakers.

Fight Summit is the only mixed martial arts conference for the business side of the sport. It doesn’t matter what aspect of the sport of mixed martial arts you are in, be it a fighter, a manager, an athletic apparel, nutrition drink, referee, judge, promoter, media or any of the other jobs associated with combat sports, there is something for you at Fight Summit.

This years conference will take place Saturday November 3 and Sunday November 4 at the RIO in Las Vegas, Nevada. New changes will be implemented this year including more speaking time for the speakers, lower ticket pricing and the ability to bundle the hotel with your ticket purchase.

For more information visit www.fightsummit.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/fightsummit

On Friday, March 16, Cut Throat MMA returns to action with Invasion Chicago. The night of mixed martial arts fights will take place at the Congress Theater in downtown Chicago. Doors will open to the public at 6:30pm with the first fighter stepping into the cage at 8pm.

Several notable locals on the card include Patrick Murphy, Matt Giancarlo, Bill Jessie and Jeremiah Pollock. Additionally the start of the bantamweight tournament will kick off with the likes of Camacho, Guerrero, Williams and Gee.

Teams represented on the card include Emerald Smoke MMA, Team No Comment, G2, Carlson Gracie, Counterstrike MMA and more.

For more information visit CutThroatMMA.com or watch the video below.