The yearly Xtreme Fighting Challenge event was upon the city of Prince George once more and the rambunctious crowd again proved their worth as one of the leading “small” fight towns in Canada. Promoter, and UFC veteran Bill “The Butcher” Mahood crafted a card that married local pugilistic talents along with international talent such as UFC veteran Gideon Ray, Mustafa Husseini, Richard Nancoo and Chris Fontaine. XFC 4 saw a 14 fight card that included 8 professional fights alongside 6 amateur bouts to round out the card. To top it off the varied night featured a little bit of everything from blood splattering the media table, fighter’s feet getting tangled in the ropes, and of course the art of the good old fashioned knockout.

The yearly Xtreme Fighting Challenge event was upon the city of Prince George once more and the rambunctious crowd again proved their worth as one of the leading “small” fight towns in Canada. Promoter, and UFC veteran Bill “The Butcher” Mahood crafted a card that married local pugilistic talents along with international talent such as UFC veteran Gideon Ray, Mustafa Husseini, Richard Nancoo and Chris Fontaine. XFC 4 saw a 14 fight card that included 8 professional fights alongside 6 amateur bouts to round out the card. To top it off the varied night featured a little bit of everything from blood splattering the media table, fighter’s feet getting tangled in the ropes, and of course the art of the good old fashioned knockout.

UFC veteran Gideon Ray took on “The first nations Sensation” Chris Fontaine in a fight that would eventually become very bloody. After working some effective leg kicks and feeling his opponent out with his hands, Ray surprisingly was the first to force the fight to the mat with a takedown, but Fontaine was able to defend on the mat until the referee stood them up. On the restart Ray charged out with a punching combo followed by a nice lunging knee to the body but Fontaine was able to absorb the knee and use the close proximity to take it to the mat and apply some of his ground and pound techniques from the top. The remainder of the round was spent with Fontaine on top punching the downed opponent in a very competitive first round.

The second round saw Fontaine and Ray throw caution to the wind and exchange intense flurries of hard punches. Ray varied his attack again, working the hands and again secured the takedown. When the fight went back to the feet Ray took a page out of Bruce Lee’s play book and tagged Fontaine with a spinning back kick to the face that appeared to stun Fontaine momentarily! It was the beginning of the end for Fontaine who ate numerous punches and a wicked knee that wobbled him and Ray was able to finish the fight shortly after with the referee stepping in to stop the fight in a very intense battle that saw Fontaine go the hospital afterwards for several stitches. Fontaine again showed the heart of a champion trying to press the action at all intervals despite eating numerous shots clean to the face from the dangerous Ray. Despite the loss he put forth another exciting effort in his second consecutive main event appearance for the XFC.

Richard “The Monkey” Nancoo took on Mustafa Husseini in what was the closest most hotly contested fight of the night. Nancoo shot in early with an ineffective takedown attempt and ate a nice knee to the face for his efforts. Husseini looked very strong early blocking the takedown attempts nicely and shucking his opponent off and landing good shots from the guard. On the feet it seemed like every takedown attempt by Nancoo appeared to end up as an entanglement in the ropes with many of his takedowns nullified by their exit from the ring. When Monkey was on top early he worked the guard trying to pass to side control but Husseini showed a good guard regaining position everytime Nancoo seemed poised to pass and threw punches off his back that didn’t hurt his opponent but scored points and it appeared that Husseini took the first round.

The second was the closest round of the fight with neither fighter really able to establish any effective offense. Nancoo was able to secure a couple takedowns and Husseini worked a guillotine choke at one point but despite the exchanges, neither fighter was able to take control of the round. On the mat a foot lock exchange took place midway through the round, with both fighters looking to round up the foot needed to apply the heel hook or foot lock but it never materialized for either fighter in a very close round.

The third round was “The Monkeys” as he found his way to the back of his opponent and tied him up with a body triangle that Husseini was unable to escape from. Nancoo seemed intent on working for the submission more then work the strikes from the back mount but was never able to get the fight finishing choke. Husseini was very composed from his back and despite being on the defensive for most of the round never panicked and fended off numerous attempts at the hand of Nancoo. The Shah Franco fighter would eventually bob back and forth to mount and land a few shots and after a reversal locked the legs around his opponent for a tight looking triangle that appeared to have the fight finished. Husseini again reached into his bag of tricks and escaped the tight triangle of the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and survived the round and after three competitive hard fought rounds, the judges gave the fight to Richard Nancoo. MMA Ring Report scored the fight 10-9 for Husseini in round one, 10-10 for an even round in the second and a 9-10 for Nancoo in the third for a draw, but the judges saw it in favor of Nancoo who continued his ascension up the 130 pound ranks.

Home town favorite and the recipient of the loudest cheers on the evening, Prince George’s “Ragin” Kajun Johnson did not let his fans down as he secured the mount off a takedown and punished his opponent with a plethora of elbows and punches relentlessly, eventually opening a big cut on the face of his opponent en route to a quick and efficient ground and pound win.

Victor Daycheif took out local fighter “Judo” Jason Zazalenchuk by armbar in the first round. Daycheif was aggressive from the get go and shucked off the judo takedown attempts of his opponent en route to taking the armbar victory at 4:09 of the opening stanza.

In one of the quicker fights of the night Matt Leo of Evolution fight club took the loss against Lee Mein fighter Justin “Houdini” Tavernini. Leo quickly closed the distance in the fight but when he got it to the mat Tavernini surprised him with a quick triangle attempt that he rolled into a top triangle. Leo was able to reverse and get back to the top but as he began to work his head out Tavernini took the exposed arm and finished with a well executed triangle armbar at 1:15 of the first.

Dave Scholten and Chris Ade battled in a fight that saw much of the bout contested on the ground. Scholten was able to secure the first takedown of the fight over his well traveled opponent Ade early in the first but his top position didn’t last long as Ade showed his proficiency on the mat with a nice reversal, but got reversed again for his efforts by Scholten. In another reversal Ade was able to get to the top and secured a tight looking armbar attempt that he held on to for what seemed to be several minutes. His submission attempt appeared to deplete his energy reserves somewhat and as Scholten was able to escape he finished the round strong with some effective ground attacks.

Most of the second round saw Scholten on the back and on top of Chris Ade working for the rear naked choke, Ade for his part defended the choke well for much of the round but despite his efforts he would eventually succumb and tapped out at 3:43 of the second round.

John Louro totally dominated Kenny Butterfield in the first round of their bout punishing his thighs with deep leg kicks that resounded with a loud smacking noise every time he connected. Butterfields mounted precious little offense in the opening stanza and his takedown attempts were shucked off easily by Louro who appeared to be the stronger more compact fighter of the two. When Butterfield found himself on his back after a failed takedown attempt, Louro again smartly went to the legs of his downed opponent kicking him Sakuraba style an effective leg attack that his opponent had no answer for. Butterfield seemed unable to check the leg kicks and began wincing visibly as the leg kicks found their mark early and often and things looked dreary for the young Prince George fighter. When Louro engaged on the mat he worked an effective ground and pound on top of slipping in some submission holds but was unable to finish his opponent, his inability to capitalize in the first would prove to be his undoing.

In the second stanza Louro again appeared strong but it would not last, after a headlock throw he appeared to hold on to the headlock for too long and began to fade as the round progressed, it was from here that Butterfield seized his opportunity. He was able to pass the guard, take the mount, and punish Louro with effective strikes until Louro left his arm exposed and he took it applying a slow armbar that eventually, after much squirming and a futile attempt to escape, would force the tapout. Butterfield took the exciting come from behind victory over an exasperated Louro at 4:19 of the second round.

Bastion Huveneers won an interesting fight with Seven Quesnelle early in the first. Quesnelle was the clear aggressor from the get go throwing punches and constantly looking to push the action on the feet. Huveneers would have none of it however and was able to get the takedown and eventually worked his way into an armbar along the ropes. Unfortunately for him they were almost completely outside the ropes by the time he had the arm. Despite what looked to be a secured armbar in place, the referee stepped in and halted the action and restarted them in the same position inside the ropes and amazingly Quesnelle was able to sneak out of the submission hold that appeared to be tight. It would not be enough however as Huveneers was able to transition into a triangle choke that eventually slow choked his opponent out despite Quesnelle hammer fisting Huveneer’s unprotected face several times during the choke. Huveneers over Quesnelle via triangle choke at 1:38 of round one.

Kevin Barkhouse got the decision victory over Tim Tamaki in a fight that saw most of the rounds play out in similar fashion. Barkhouse seemed content to get the takedown and work a conservative ground attack on the kickboxer from Lethbridge who was able to mount a few reversals but was unable to stop the takedowns of his opponent. The third saw Tamaki land a couple kicks but it was too little too late as Barkhouse took the decision after three rounds.

Local slugger Travis Phang took on Russ Beuk in a back and forth contest that ended in the night’s only knockout. After a brief exchange on the feet, Buek was able to control much of the first round on the ground working a steadfast ground and pound attack mixed in with a guillotine attempt that didn’t administer a lot of damage but appeared to put him ahead on points. Phang was able to secure a slick reversal near the end of the first and worked on an armbar attempt to close the round but was unable to finish before the bell sounded to close the stanza. The second round would prove to be decisive as the two fighters met in the middle and traded haymakers, seemingly driven to throw bombs until one fell to the mat. Fall one would, as Phang landed a nasty right hand that sent his opponent careening to the canvas and the referee in to call a halt to the contest in the second round.

Toshido fighter Tim Jensen continued his ascension up the Canadian lightweight ranks with an impressive performance against the seemingly overmatched John Laing. After a quick takedown Jensen passed the guard and worked the rear naked choke almost immediately and finished the bout at :51 seconds of the first.

Clayton Sheen made quick work of his opponent Jan Zwart, taking his opponent down off a leg kick, and securing the fight ending Achilles lock at 34 seconds of the first stanza to win the quickest fight of the night.

One of the more entertaining slugfests on the card saw Kris Milligan trade hands with Terry Salloum for 3 strong rounds in a bout that brought the crowd to their feet. The first round saw both fighters trading flailing bombs with Milligan looking like he took the initial round with flurries on the feet that at one point appeared to rock Salloum who was a gamer, weathered the storm and dished out some punches of his own. The second saw a more controlled fight with Milligan getting the fight to the ground taking the mount and pounded from front and back for much of the round. The third round could have been the best of the fight with both fighters again meeting in the middle and trading shots in a round that was akin to a round in the Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar fight. In the end Milligan took the well deserved unanimous decision over the gutsy Salloum after 3 x 3 minute rounds.

Toshido fighter Rory MacDonald defied his sixteen years and secured the impressive victory over Terry Tharia getting the fight to the ground grounded and pounding his way to the mount and eventually took the rear naked choke and got the ref stop submission at 2:11 of round one.

The future for MMA in Prince George appears bright and Bill Mahood hinted at possibly hosting a smaller feeder show once a year to go along with the traditional yearly bigger XFC show.. Mahood is also hoping to have the DVD of XFC 4 out in a timely fashion with possible Canadian PPV dates in the horizon. All in all the show was an entertaining one and with another XFC in the books the wait for XFC 5 next year has officially begun.

Gideon Ray with trainer and UFC legend Keith Hackney