Xtreme Fighting Championships crowned its first female flyweight champion tonight at XFC 26: “Night of Champions 3” in Nashville, Tennessee. In the co-main event on tonight’s card, Pearl Gonzalez submitted former Tuff-N-Uff champ Cortney “Cast Iron” Casey to win the inaugural 125-pound title.
Gonzalez escaped from a series of submission attempts from Casey, who was very active from her back throughout the fight, and she forced Casey to submit to an armbar late in round three. In a second female fight on the card, “Hurricane” Heather Clark defeated “Shockwave” Hannah Cifers.
Gonzalez (2-1-0) and Casey (1-1-0) traded some hard shots on the feet in the opening round until Casey took the fight to the ground. She worked for a variety of submissions, including a triangle choke, but Gonzalez defended well and escaped each hold. Casey remained in control of the ground battles until the end of the action-packed round.
In round two, Casey landed a big right hook that knocked Gonzalez’s mouthpiece out, but Gonzalez was unfazed and she promptly took Casey down. Gonzalez landed short elbows from the top as Casey postured for an armbar from her back. She locked on a tight triangle choke late in the second round and Gonzalez once again did well to escape.
Gonzalez secured a takedown early in round three and landed more elbows from Casey’s guard until Casey trapped her in another triangle choke. Casey used the hold to roll over into mount, but she lost the position and Gonzalez scrambled free. Gonzalez countered with a triangle choke of her own and had Casey in some trouble. When Casey refused to submit, Gonzalez switched to an armbar and went belly-down with the hold. Casey had nowhere to go and tapped out at the 4:43 mark of round three.
Tonight’s comeback victory earned Gonzalez the inaugural XFC Women’s Flyweight Championship. The five-year veteran, who amassed a stellar 8-1 amateur record prior to turning pro, has won back-to-back fights via armbar under the XFC banner this year.
Clark (6-4-0) was forced to play defence on the feet early in her featured strawweight bout against late replacement Cifers (0-1-0) tonight. Cifers was very aggressive with her striking in the opening round and she forced Clark backwards with a nice combination. Clark countered by throwing Cifers down to the mat and she landed elbows from the top as Cifers worked for an armbar late in the round.
The pace slowed in round two and both fighters picked their shots on the feet. Clark jabbed and mixed in kicks. Cifers bloodied her nose with a right hand, but Clark answered back with a front kick to the face shortly before the bell. Clark controlled the clinch battles in round three by landing a series of knees to the body. When Cifers managed to get her down, Clark defended well from the bottom and escaped to her feet. The fight ended with both women trading big punches.
After three competitive rounds, the cageside judges returned scores of 30-27 and 29-28 twice for Clark, who took the Unanimous Decision victory. The win snapped Clark’s two-fight losing skid. Cifers, who went 4-1 as an amateur and stepped into this fight on very short notice in place of Brianna “Tha Bull” VanBuren, put on an excellent showing in defeat.
(Photo Credit: Xtreme Fighting Championships)