XFO 40 took place at the Lakemoor Banquet hall in Lakemoor, Illinois on Saturday June 25.  The night of action saw seven amateur bouts and six professional fights.  Read on for the full recap and quick results.

The first professional fight saw Team Curran’s Chris Hartwig make his professional debut against Dan McGlasson.  McGlasson wanted to establish his kicks early on and Hartwig looked to counter.  Hartwig started to find his range and his timing, landing a great combo ending with a big body kick.  Hartwig rushed at McGlasson and quickly took him down working from side control.  Hartwig used small strikes to try and pass to mount and when that wasn’t available he let him up.  Hartwig went on the offense but McGlasson landed a counter right that sent Hartwig to the canvas.  McGlasson followed and started throwing bomb after bomb.  Hartwig gave up his back and McGlasson locked in a fight ending rear naked choke.

Midwest Training Center’s Dennis Dombrow took on Mark Neville in a featherweight matchup.  Neville came out quickly with a leg kick and a high kick that just missed.  He then tried to rush Dombrow, but Dombrow countered with uppercuts and hooks putting Neville in trouble.  Dombrow then took the fight to the ground and easily passed Neville’s guard to get mount.  Neville quickly gave up his back and Dombrow was able to squeeze a rear naked choke to end the fight.

As predicted by us, Joey Diehl and Eric Acuna was the fight of the night.  Acuna came out swinging fast and strong at the start of the round and hurt Diehl.  Diehl worked for a takedown, but Acuna was able to get the takedown instead.  Diehl worked for a kneebar and they started to roll.  Acuna was able to escape the submission attempt and took Diehl’s back.  Acuna threw several punches to try and catch Diehl in a rear naked choke, but Diehl defended well through out the round.  The second round Diehl worked a single leg takedown and got it.  Acuna nearly had a triangle choke and then transitioned to an omaplata, but Diehl escaped.  Like the first round, but in reverse, Diehl took Acuna’s back and tried to finish several times with a rear naked choke.  All tied up, both fighters came out hard in the third round.  Acuna took Diehl down, but Diehl did a backward’s summersault to get Acuna’s back.  Acuna escaped and had top position for the rest of the round.  Diehl tried to escape with submission attempts, but Acuna kept the pressure through out.  It was a close round and as such the judges were split and awarded the fight to Acuna.

Bobby Reardanz was a very late replacement fighter to take on Vince Ramos.  In the first round Ramos quickly clinched and looked for a single leg, but Reardanz obliged and pulled guard.  Ramos spent the entire round on top of Reardanz throwing several punches and elbows.  Ramos was able to pass guard, but Reardanz was quick to regain it.  The second round Ramos took Reardanz down with a double leg slam to the crowd’s delight.  Reardanz locked in a triangle choke and it looked bad, but Ramos stayed calm and eventually escaped.  Ramos finished the round on top with more strikes.  Reardanz was looking for a powershot at the start of the third round, but Ramos again took him down.  After a stall of action, the ref stood them up.  Reardanz wanted to land a knee, but Ramos just rushed forward with another double leg takedown.  Ramos worked elbows and passed to side control to finish the round and earn the victory.

The co-main event saw Dustin Jacoby take on Ryan Sturdy.  Jacoby came out and quickly found his range as he landed counter after counter on Sturdy.  Sturdy kept trying to close the distance, but Jacoby backed away and landed lefts and rights.  Jacoby kept Sturdy at bay even more with straight lefts that seemed to find Sturdy’s nose time after time.  The first round ended with a big high kick by Jacoby that Sturdy was able to defend.  The start of the second and Sturdy looked beat up, but came out swinging.  Sturdy was able to get under the left of Jacoby and landed several good punches.  Jacoby escaped and landed a big body kick.  Jacoby threw a left hook that opened up a gash above Sturdy’s right eye.  The doctor was called in and waved off the fight immediately.

If an award could be given out for total domination, Mike Pitz would have won that.  His opponent Marcus Finch had no answer for Pitz’s offense.  Through out the three round fight, Pitz took Finch down and landed multiple punches and elbows.  Pitz looked to try to finish the fight on multiple occasions via submission, but Finch was able to defend well.  All three rounds Pitz nearly got the TKO as well but Finch was able to do enough to fend off the ref.  In the end it was an easy decision for the judges, scoring it 30-27 for Pitz.

The first amateur fight saw Clint Blackburn take on Sonny Flores.  Flores tried to rush Blackburn and take the fight to the ground, but Blackburn reversed and took Flores down instead.  Blackburn immediately took the mount and worked several strikes.  Flores gave up an arm and Blackburn tried to secure an armbar but Flores was able to escape.  Blackburn quickly got the mount again and pounded away strike after strike forcing Flores to give up his back.  Blackburn continued the strikes and the ref was forced to stop the action.

Paul Attman took on Team Curran fighter Vince Romandine in the second amateur fight.  Attman threw some pawing jabs before Romandine came inside swinging.  He quickly locked up a standing guillotine choke on Attman and squeezed until Attman was forced to tap.

Vision MMA Matt Egnar took on Wrecking Squad’s Charlie Ratke in a welterweight matchup.  Ratke came out with a big left that dropped Egnar, but Egnar quickly got back up.  Ratke followed up with a one-two combo that dropped him again and the ref stopped the fight.

An early candidate for fight of the night featured Timmy LaGray taking on Charlie Richardson.  In the first round LaGray came out with a straight right hand that hurt Richardson.  LaGray would get the mount, but Richardson used a kneebar to escape.  LaGray continued his assault and scored a huge slam takedown.  LaGray worked multiple shots and was warned for forearm shots.  Richardson threw his legs up and nearly finished LaGray with an inverted triangle, but LaGray was able to escape.  He then threw more forearm strikes and was deducted a point for the shots.  The round ended and was clearly a 9-9 round.  The second round started with Richardson landing a big groin shot to LaGray and LaGray took nearly the full five minutes to recover.  LaGray came out swinging hard after the restart.  The fighters scrambled for a bit and LaGray got the better of it landing mount.  Richardson was able to summersault out and wound up in LaGray’s guard to end the round.  Knowing he needed a finish, Richardson threw a big left hook that stumbled LaGray.  He continued the attack and worked a top mounted guillotine forcing LaGray to tap.

Shelby Graham and Cory Galloway put on an exciting fight.  Graham controlled the action in the first round with multiple takedowns.  Graham landed several punches and when he felt threatened he stood up.  On one of the stand ups, Galloway landed a massive high kick to the crowd’s delight.  The second round Galloway was able to work his submissions after getting Graham’s back.  He worked for a rear naked choke, but when Galloway turned into him, he switched for an armbar.  It looked very tight, but Graham escaped.  The round ended with both fighters throwing wildly.  Galloway landed a straight left to start the third and then scored a double leg takedown.  After passing the guard, the fighters scrambled and Galloway used it to lock in a triangle choke.  Graham fought off the submission for nearly the entire round and forced the judges to deliver their decision in Galloway’s favor.

The amateur co-main event featured Zak Ottow and Dale Bowser in an exciting three-round fight.  The first round Bowser pulled guard and Ottow just controlled the fight with multiple strikes.  Bowser tried to secure a triangle choke, but was unable.  The second round the fighters quickly clinched and threw knees.  Bowser took the back of Ottow and started to throw big rights, but Ottow reversed and finished the round on top.  The third round Ottow wasted no time with the takedown and was happy to throw punch after punch until the time ran out and he was declared the victor.

The amateur main event saw Justin Seeburger take on Aaron Meyer.  Seeburger quickly took the fight to the ground and established a north south position.  He nearly finished the fight with a kimura, but rolled and locked in a fight ending triangle choke.

Professional Quick Results

Dan McGlasson defeated Chris Hartwig by rear naked choke at 2:46 of round 1

Dennis Dombrow defeated Mark Neville by rear naked choke at 1:46 of round 1

Eric Acuna defeated Joey Diehl by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Vince Ramos defeated Bobby Reardanz by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Dustin Jacoby defeated Ryan Sturdy by doctor stoppage at 2:31 of round 2

Mike Pitz defeated Marcus Finch by unanimous decision (30-28, 30-28, 30-28)

 

Amateur Quick Results

Clint Blackburn defeated Sonny Flores by TKO at 1:21 of round 1

Vince Romandine defeated Pall Attman by guillotine choke at 0:35 of round 1

Charlie Ratke defeated Matt Egnar by TKO at 0:15 of round 1

Charlie Richardson defeated Tim LaGray by guillotine choke at 0:41 of round 3

Cory Galloway defeated Shelby Graham by unanimous decision 29-28, 29-28, 29-28

Zack Ottow defeated Dale Bowser by unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 30-27

Justin Seeburger defeated Aaron Meyer by triangle choke at 1:06 of round 1