XCFL’s long awaited debut event is finally here, and is set to take place Saturday, February 6 from the Marlborough Convention Center. The card features two title fights and several other exciting match ups. They will also be filming for a TV show that is set to hit a major network in the next few months. They haven’t released too many details about the show just yet, but did say they’d be filming on Feb 6 for the show.
In the Main Event, two local champions will face off for the XCFL Title. Chris Grandmaison will take on undefeated Saul Almeida in what promises to be a technical battle. Both guys have shown flashes of brilliance on their feet, but both have won the majority of their fights on the ground. Almeida has one of the slickest submission games of any of the local 145 pound fighters, and Grandmaison has some of the best ground and pound in the area. Chris will likely take Saul down and try to beat him up, and Saul will work to submit him. It’s tough to pick a winner in this one, but it’s also tough to pick against the undefeated guy who has looked dominant lately.
The other fight is set to take place at 205, and two more local champions are set to face off. Alexandre “Vaca” Moreno is one of the very best BJJ guy in New England, and he’s looked great in the majority of his fights. He’s set to face Roger Brackett, and I’ve see Brackett fight many times and he always seems to find a way to win. He always seems to land the big punch that sets up the submission, or the tko. Roger is definitely the underdog here, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him take Moreno out.
Two bangers are set to face off when Calvin Kattar takes on Taylor Solomon. Kattar has won 5 fights in a row, and has stopped all but one of his opponents. He’s also started working his boxing with Mickey Ward, so his already heavy hands should be much improved. Solomon is listed at 4-1 as an amateur, but I’ve talked to people who have seen him fight and while they think Cattar is a big step up in competition, they also said his hands are good enough to knock Kattar out. No matter who wins this one, it’s sure to be exciting.
Tateki Matsuda is fresh off a win over Aguilano Brandao, and he looks to keep the train rolling against Bill Walsh. I wasn’t able to find much info on Walsh, but he’ll certainly have his hands full with Matsuda. Tateki is certainly in line for a title shot with another win, and he’s the type of guy who has a shot at making it to the next level. He’s been dominant, and exciting…exactly what the WEC and other national shows look for.
Marcos Maciel is set to take on Luis Felix, and I really have no idea what to say about this one. Maciel has shown some amazing BJJ in his fights in New England, and Felix has basically turned every fight he’s been in into a war. His fight with Josh Key was one of the most exciting fights I’ve ever seen. If Felix tries to grapple with Maciel, he’ll likely get submitted. However, if he can turn this into a war, I think he can knock Maciel out.
I’m very excited to check out the XCFL’s debut event, and even if they weren’t promising big things from the production side of things, still card is still good enough to get me to show up even if it was taking place at a bad venue with no music or rign announcer. If you’re unable to make it to the event, there is also a live internet pay-per-view for $8.99 that can be found on their website www.xcflmma.com.
The full card is below:
Chris Grandmaison (Renzo Gracie NH) vs. Saul Almeida (Dragon Lair)
Alexandre “Vaca” Moreno (Link) vs. Roger Brackett (Gracie Barra NH/Lakeville MMA)
Calvin Kattar (Xtreme MMA) vs. Taylor Solomon
Marcos Maciel (Xtreme MMA) vs. Luis Felix (Rockstar)
Tateki Matsuda (Sit Yod Tong) vs. Bill Walsh (United Fighting Arts)
Ray Shawdee (Xtreme MMA) vs. Travis Reider (Pellegrino)
Steve Skrzat (Wartown) vs. Tony Bowman (Grady)
John Daniels (Grady) vs. Samual Almeida (Gracie Barra NH/Dragon Lair)
Doug Sonier (Satian MT & MMA) vs. Eric Fama (Rockstar)
Mario Cardia (Xtreme MMA) vs. Joel Choquet (Gracie Barra NH)
Ray Ruben (Rockstar) vs. Mike Lee (Xtreme MMA)
Matt Bessette
on Feb 1st, 2010
@ 2:00 PM:
VACAAAAA!!!
WarwickWrestler
on Feb 1st, 2010
@ 4:01 PM:
I was really looking forward to attending this show and seeing what they had to offer, but it is the same day/night as NAGA and UFC Couture vs. Coleman.. I hope to read a good recap.
Joe Kavey
on Feb 1st, 2010
@ 5:16 PM:
Watch your chin Billy. Good luck.
Reep
on Feb 1st, 2010
@ 7:41 PM:
Is this Bill Walsh the same kid who fought on a couple EFI cards in western Mass????
Jason Franklin
on Feb 1st, 2010
@ 11:15 PM:
I thought the Bill Walsh that fought at EFI fought at 170lbs. If so it looks like he is fighting at 135lbs on this card. Impressive if its the same fighter.
bwalsh
on Feb 3rd, 2010
@ 11:26 PM:
Yeah, I fought for EFI a couple years back. It was at 170. I fight at 145 now. I have really been working hard and hopefully doing things right this time around. I look forward to testing myself against a fighter the caliber of Tateki.
Reep
on Feb 5th, 2010
@ 6:11 AM:
I think Tateki should be fighting top level local guys in his weight class. I would love to see the plan backfire and Bill get the win!!! Good luck Man, Tateki is a beast!!!
bwalsh
on Feb 5th, 2010
@ 2:08 PM:
I agree reep. tateki had that title shot but it fell through. my original opponent got injured and tateki, being a real fighter, took the fight with me. Im looking to bring it to him, that’s for sure.
WarwickWrestler
on Feb 7th, 2010
@ 1:09 AM:
I just got home from the XCFL show, I am going to give my perspective of the show. overall I give it a 5 out of 10, and here is my observations:
-The production values were great, XCFL obviously put alot of money into making the show look nice on camera….
-However, they failed to spend money in places that count, and that would truly seperate them from the pack, namely, their Name and Logo, both about as generic and stock as you can get, with all the money they spend you would think that they could afford to have someone with any once of artistic flair design the logo, also, the whole “X” in the name is so 5 years ago, and lame.
-On a side note, the XCFL website looks to be pretty poorly made as well, I realize that they are new, but if you are going to spend serious money on your product why cut corners in the areas that will be most viewed?
-Onto the show, Matchmaking was definately the weak point for them, 1 fight went the distance (although i left after the first round of the main event) the rest of the card had fights ending in under a minute left and right and fighters being disgustingly over matched and some fights just seemed thrown together because of weight similarities.
-The post fight interviewer was pretty bad, he only ever asked one question of every fighter… “What was going through your head?” I mean there has to be 15 different ways to ask that same question, it was so brutal that about half way through the card people were chanting What was going through your head from the section next to me.
-Crowd control was non existent, there appeared to be alot of staff at the show, but most of them just seemed to walk around with an “I’m important” look on their face without actually doing anything, firstly, I paid 40.00 to get in, my friend paid 100.00 for front row, I set directly next to him and no one at any point event checked to see what wristbands we were wearing, secondly, this is the ONLY show I have been to in Mass where I witnessed a fist fight in the crowd, between 2 women near the food stand, while plenty of “security” was in the building, the fight had atleast 10 clean shots before it was broken up by anyone, who may or may not have been security, therefore I am giving the Blonde and Brunette near the soda fountain my vote for fight of the night.
-A huge pet peeve of mine is false advertisement, I would be more happy with no advertisement, but when I visit your website the day of the show and it says 12 MMA fights, which prompts me to get in my car and drive 75 minutes to your show and you only have 10 fights I feel slightly ripped off.
-How is it possible to establish 2 champions on your first show, with no fighters ever competing under the XCFL banner? I understand you are eager to display those fancy silver belts but how about you let things develop and build a division before just calling a fight a title fight? Point prooven by the 30 second dismantling in the Lightheavyweight title fight.
-In closing, the XCFL may turn out to be a good product but they have alot of kinks that money cannot hide, and in time hopefully they succeed, but for now, I will stick to some of the other orgs that have a balance of fight quality, production and organization (WCF comes to mind), and also, can someone explain why the XCFL is the only company with their own page on an unbiased blog site like this one? can you buy press on here or was it just decided that they are that newsworthy?
bwalsh
on Feb 7th, 2010
@ 9:47 AM:
from a fighters perspective the XCFL is a great promotion. the guys are truly there for the fighters and everyone is very professional. some of the fights were over matched, yes, but it’s also up to us as fighters to take proper fights. I know I have a problem with getting in over my head. the production of the show was super clean and very professional. I was only able to see the two title fights as a fan in the crowd and I was happy with what I saw. and the whole evening sounded like the crowd was having a very good time. overall I feel that the XCFL has a great product that will only continue to progress and better themselves. the guys pulling the strings have good heads on their shoulders and will continue to do things right. I’m very happy that I was able to be a part of XCFL 1.
Also, fight cards are always subject to change, it’s not false advertising. thing happen, and fights get dropped.
And pairing champions from other shows is a good way to establish the top guys in different weight classes, regardless of how many shows the promotion has had. the guys have proved themselves elsewhere and I feel that they deserved title fights at XCFL 1
Rick
on Feb 7th, 2010
@ 12:35 PM:
To respond to warwickwrestler, who cares about the logo? As far as the “mismatches” go, you never know what you’re gonna get. I do the matchmaking for WCF, and though our fights are usually solid, I get lucky quite often. With first time guys, it’s impossible to guess at how the fight will be….and even the best matched fights can turn out to be quick. Bonnell vs. Cushman comes to mind, along with Rich Moskowitz vs. Mike Campbell among others. Both fights ended after a big punch and a flurry. Everyone expected a war between Bonnell and Cushman, and a kid with no career knockouts KO’d a guy who had never been knocked out, and it lasted 17 seconds. Matchmaking is an art, and you can’t really blame these guys, especially for their first show.
The post fight interviewer…ok, you have a point there. He got better in the last couple fights, but it was his first time in there also, and I’d rather see what he did than no interviews at all.
As far as the titles go, every show is different. Some require shows under their promotion, some don’t. Some don’t even do titles. I guess you don’t like their way of doing it, but there isn’t really a “right” way to do it.
As far as security goes, you hit the nail on the head. We struggled with that for a couple shows at WCF, and it took us a little while to get it right. I didn’t think it was unsafe or anything like that, but there were a bunch of guys who seemed unsure of what they were supposed to allow. I’m sure they’ll have a better handle on that next time.
If you compare this first event to any other promotions first event, I thought they were definitely above the curve.
And to answer the question about why they have their own page…go read the post I made about it. It’s something I thought about doing for a while, and if it goes well, it’s something I’d like to offer to other shows as well. That way when there is a video they want to post, or some other news that’s not something I’d normally post on the main page, it gives them a place to do it.
WarwickWrestler
on Feb 7th, 2010
@ 12:42 PM:
@bwalsh
While you do have some good points I have to disagree on some, I can’t say how well the fighters were treated, I can take your word for it, and I am really glad that they are treating fighters good, like I said you can clearly see that they spent alot of money and they apear to be first class, so from that respect I am happy for you. Where I disagree is that its up to the fighters to take good fights, why would anyone have matchmakers if it was up to the fighters? All do respect, but you fought arguably the best fighter on the show and it was not a competitive fight, and that apeared to be a theme on the night. I at no point said they did not treat the fighters well, but to say that its the fighters responsibilty to make sure they are taking a good fight is ridiculous, its a tough time in the economy, some people will get beat up for money, if you are relying on them to make sure you deliver a good fight then your in trouble, case in point would be you taking a fight against Matsuda, when both of you could probably have been shifted into other opponents and had very good fights.
As far as sounding like the crowd had a good time… they cheered when someone got knocked out, but the rumblings I heard while waling around and from people seated near me was that the fights were to short, its not bad if 3 or 4 fights are quick,onsided fights, but all but 1 is kind of ridiculous from the standpoint of someone who paid 40-100 to get in, 7 bucks for a burger, 6 bucks for a beer and so on.
I understand that fight cards are subject to change, but far to often this is used as a bait and switch and disguised with the old fight cards subject to change, its on your website, just give it an update is all i am asking.
Also, in my opinion, pulling champions from other shows is not a legitimate way to establish title fights on your first event, there are alot of companies with alot of champions, some deserving, some lame, and lets be honest, they just wanted the belt presentation for the cameras.
In closing, the XCFL was very reminicent of the XFL, the old football league that the WWE owned, lots of money and production, but when it came to game time it just didn’t stack up, and we all know how that worked out.
Also, do you know if they gave a 6 foot trophy and samarai sword to all the winners of just the first fight? that seemed kind of weird but i think it was because the fight was amatuer
jsmithmma
on Feb 7th, 2010
@ 2:41 PM:
Warwick wrestler I agree with you completely. The show was far from even close to others I have seen here in Mass or N H and it had noting to do with the fights themselves. Cards do change and I’ve been to great shows that had many one rounders but the production sucked . The hype around it didn’t even come close to meeting exceptions. I got to be honest my only real surprise is why some heads are stuck so far up their asses on this page. I wish I saw the girls fighting in the crowd, I missed that.
Jason Franklin
on Feb 7th, 2010
@ 8:11 PM:
(Here is my cut and paste from the review which I wrote earlier today…i agree somewhat with WarwickWrestler but I also agree with Rick. Overall for a first show it was really good. But there are some minor adjustments that can easily be worked out.)
I agree I thought the first show was very well-done. The production of the show was really nice. The screens above the cage was a very nice touch. Ring girls weren’t bad at all…The fighters entrances were cool as hell too… (There was a slight problem with the crowd standing in the aisles blocking the paying customers but that can be fixed with a better staff of ushers. And “the whole BJ Penn just texted me and is watching” was a little over the top but to each his own.)
I thought the matchmaking on the first 7 or 8 fights were a little mismatched (most fights ended under 2 minutes) but there is not much a match maker can do about that if unfamiliar with the fighters or teams. There were a couple of nice KO’s during the first couple of matches which got the crown into it.
The Kattar vs. DCC fight was a hell of a battle. I thought DCC definitely won the fight (he did lose rd. 2 though) but I thought Kattar was going to win in the third as it appeared DCC was gassing. It looked like DCC’s wrestling was the deciding factor in the fight. Awesome fight by both guys though. and would love to see them do it again.
Almeida vs. Grandmaison was a tough fight too judge also. I thought Almeida by a very slight margin but I could understand if Grandmaison received the decision. Grandmaison is tough as hell and Almeida is definitely worth his hype. Another great fight by both fighters.
The show was definitely top notch and fighters should definitely look forward to fighting for them.
massmmafan
on Feb 7th, 2010
@ 10:25 PM:
I thought the show was great. As far as some of the “critcism/haters” go, it was there 1st show and of course there are going to be challanges but these guys did very well. They are only going to get better. The fighters were happy with the way they were treated and the fans seemed to like the event overall. Everybody is entitled to there opinion and im sure in the future, we will all be on the same page, these guys know how to put on a good show. I will be at the March 26th show for sure.
M.Frehner
on Feb 8th, 2010
@ 11:26 AM:
Warwick Wrestler, you are entitled to your opinion but I have to disagree with you. I thought the event went really well. The people sitting around me seemed pretty content and were really into it. The fight in the crowd? Didn’t even know that happened, so obviously it didn’t get out of control. Sad you were more content about the chick fight, but hey to each its own. I really thought these guys put on a great show and everything went pretty smooth for their first show. Things will only get better, so I have no doubt they will be successful. The first few fights definitely were a little tough to watch, but short fights like that happen no matter where you go, NH or MA. That’s something the XCFL guys had no control over. I definitely didn’t expect what I saw on Saturday night. We were surely impressed and we look forward to see what they bring to the table on March 26th. Good work guys!