March 13th 2004, The Xtreme Fighting Organization, which was originally scheduled to take place in Illinois, held its inaugural event in Fontana due to recent legal woes which forced the migration north of the border. No matter, migration or no migration, solid co-main events and an evenly matched undercard set the stage for a night of fights that kept a capacity crowd on their feet.

Jeff “Big Frog” Curran, returning to action for the first time since losing to Matt Serra at UFC 46-Supernatural was matched against Dan “the Pennsylvanian Hitman” Swift. Throughout the first round Curran, perhaps motivated by the standing crowd or just a desire to impress, used his strength and speed to find or make openings through Swifts guard where he would go to work. Curran landed straight right hands and left hooks at will and, when the fight went to the ground, Curran landed a standing punch to Swifts stomach that brought a collective “whoa” from the crowd. Though overmatched, Swift was game, and attempted some submissions, all of which were easily defended by the Black belt. The first round ended the way it started with Curran on top of Swift.

Round two was a carbon copy of the first. Curran dominated, but Swift showed a fighter’s spirit and hung in as long as he could. With seconds left in the round, Curran rained punches from the mount but Swift defended himself intelligently and when the round ended some, including Curran, weren’t sure whether Swift had tapped. Instead, it was just the end of the round, and Swift had survived to live another round undoubtedly hoping for the equivalent of a “Hail Mary” in the final stanza.

The crowd stood in anticipation for the beginning of the third round. Watching Curran completely dominate for the previous rounds, the majority in attendance felt the end coming quickly for Swift. For the opening seconds of the round, Curran continued his dominance, but in one instance of effective offense, Swift finished a takedown and looked for more. Curran’s as yet seen and un-needed jiu-jitsu took over however, and locked Swift in a triangle choke forcing him to tap just 44 seconds into the round.

The co-main event saw UFC veteran and seasoned fighter Adrian Serrano facing off against a promising new-comer in Bill Hill. Hill came in this fight winning his last 4 fights, and would be facing his biggest test since his loss to Jeremy Horn at Extreme Challenge 51.

The first minute of the opening round was a struggle on their feet with each trying to get an edge in balance to force the takedown. Hill finally won the battle and took the mount on Serrano and at first, Hill threw punches trying to get past Serrano’s guard. When that wasn’t working, Hill attempted some chokes, but Serrano defended well. But, Hill’s offense would be too much. Punches finally started finding their mark and Serrano was forced to tap at 3:25 of the first round.

In one of the Featured fights of the night, Bart Palaszewski faced Tim Newland. “Bartimus” dominated the stand up in between clinches in the corner and at 4:47 of the first round Palaszewski took the fight to the ground and secured an armbar that forced Newland to tap. In what has become common practice, the crowd applauded in appreciation of Newland’s willingness to take the fight on just two days notice.

The only heavyweight fight had Demian “The Coroner” Decorah fighting Carvin Mafatu. The first round had these big guys pushing each other around the ring with Mafatu landing some punches while Decorah shot in for takedown attempts. Decorah ended the round with some vicious, trademark foot stomps. Round two was more of the same as Mafatu landed some cleaner punches, but the round ended with Decorah finishing strong dominating with elbows and punches from the mount. Round three saw Decorah dominate from the mount much the same way he did at the end of the previous round, and in the only fight that went to decision on the night, Decorah won on all three judge’s scorecards.

Another featured bout had Steve Dau facing Jason Guida. The first round had Dau winning the stand up, with the more aggressive Guida always attempting takedowns and disrupting the stand up of Dau. Much of the first round had Guida on top, but Dau generally stayed busier from underneath. Much of the first round had Guida on top, but Dau generally stayed busier from underneath.

Guida started round two with a hip toss to take down Dau, but the aggressiveness took it’s toll on Guida’s stamina. Halfway through the round, referee Matt Hughes, stood the fighters and the patient Dau took advantage of the opportunity against the visibly tired Guida. Dau created some space between him and landed a knee that dropped Guida to the mat and at 1:52 of round 2, Dau finished Guida with strikes from the mount.

In the undercard, Clay Guida took on an 18 year old Adam Bass, another fighter who took the fight on short notice. Guida proved to be the stronger fighter, taking Bass down for a series of beatings around the bottom rope until finally securing a rear naked choke for the win at 2:53 of the first round.

Further undercard action had John Bolger against Fred Santos. The two fighters spent the first round exchanging strikes with Bolger taking a slight edge and Bolger would use that advantage going into the second round chasing Santos from corner to corner. With under a minute left, Bolger unleashed a flurry of unanswered punches that brought the crowd to their feet, Santos couldn’t defend himself, but somehow managed to stay on his feet. Everyone knew it was a matter of time until Santos would go down and finally, Santos’s iron will could keep him up no longer and went to one knee. Referee Matt Hughes stepped in waving his hands to stop the fight, and the crowd erupted.

In what had to be comeback of the night, Ryan Brockner spent the first round unleashing a relentless attack against Brandon Adamson. Several times it looked as if the fight could be stopped, but Adamson defended well and when Brockner tired himself out, Adamson came on as the fresher fight and finished the round with an ankle lock submission, but time ran out before he could force the tap out. Round two was almost the opposite with Adamson taking control for most of the round and delivering a beating equivalent to the one he took in the first. But, at the end of the round Brockner got out of Adamson’s control and looked to take the momentum back going into round three. Adamson started with a high kick that Brockner caught and used to get the takedown and after the referee stood them up for inactivity, Adamson got a knock down that he couldn’t finish. After another stand up, Adamson got a takedown and finally finished the gutsy Brockner with guillotine choke at 2:33 of the third round.

Further action had Paul Sharp taking Kosta Korres’ back halfway through the first round and winning by rear naked choke at 2:14 of round 1.

Andy Kozak and Greg Heisler brought equally sized fan bases from their hometowns a short distance away in the suburbs of Chicago. Standing and cheering their friends Kozak and Heisler battled through round 1 with Heisler gaining the edge holding Kozak in a front headlock for much of round 1. In Round two Kozak was taken down, but escaped and worked to get the mount, at 1:45 round 2 Kozak used the mount position to work his way to Heisler’s back where he secured a rear naked choke and the victory.

The opening fight saw Jason Bender facing Gabe Lemley. The two spent the first minute and a half in a clinch, feeling one another out but when they separated, Bender looked tired and Lemley hit him with a right hand that put him flat on his butt. A TKO at 1:36 of the first round brought everyone to their feet and acted as a catalyst that kept the crowd’s attention for the rest of the night.

Every fight gave the crowd something to cheer about and was the kind of show that would keep a newcomer to the sport of MMA coming back for more. Congratulations need to go out to all the fighters and those involved in putting the show on. Good luck to this new promotion.

The End

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