Crazy ‘Soccer Mom’ KO Sparks CSAC Investigation Into Unregulated MMA Events
You may remember back in June of this year that LowKick writer Fernando Quiles Jr. reported on XFS (Xplode Fight Series), and specifically a viral video of an alleged ‘Soccer Mom’ taking to the cage with a pro MMA fighter. The woman later revealed as Katie Castro was obviously in no type of fighting shape, especially not on the pro circuit anyway. As you can see from the video above, she was starched in brutal fashion by Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, who was making her pro debut for the fight. MacFarlane will debut for BMMA at their next event, Bellator 141.
A shady history of can crushing by clearly superior fighters was later unveiled by many sources to have gone down under the XFC banner as quoted from CagePotato:
“Take Walel Watson, for instance, who followed up his four-fight stint in the UFC by facing Anthony Moore (0-14) and Joey Apodaca (0-9) in back-to-back XFS appearances. Or Strikeforce/Bellator vet Keith Berry, who fought 0-0 Josh Gibson in what was billed as a middleweight title fight back in 2012. FYI, Gibson’s record currently sits at 0-6, with five of those appearances coming by first round stoppage under the XFS banner.”
The owner of the company Gregg Sharp’s arguments were half-hearted at best, and a further video of now-UFC veteran Alex Dufresne was published in an article by Marc Raimondi of MMAFighting. The piece also tells that MMAFighting went on an in-depth journey in to the heart of unsanctioned MMA in California, and their findings reveal a full investigation is underway by the CSAC (California State Athletic Commission) and was sparked by the video of the ‘Soccer Mom’, which incidentally got over 1 million views on youtube. Check out the video of Dufresne starching the twin Danny DeVito, and read the extensive quotes from MMAFighting’s excellent report below:
Dufresne, perhaps a little under-prepared from her ‘stellar’ 5-0 regional regional experience would go on to lose two brutal decisions in the UFC before getting cut.
The problem lies in untrained fighters obtaining serious beatdowns or, hopefully not, life changing injuries while fighting for XFS. The CSAC is all too aware of the promotion’s dealings and says that although Greg Sharp says the promotion is ‘safe’ and ‘legit’, the commission isn’t seeing it that way. Printing vinyls with the slogan ‘Tomato Can MMA’ and sticking them to the cage is clearly a bad move for Sharp too.
California State Athletic Commission chairman John Carvelli:
“We have to investigate all those things,” Carvelli said. “We don’t have enough information yet to really look at ways to limit this as much as possible. The investigation is there now. We’re meeting with folks on that, trying to get information on that.
“Sometimes what I’m wondering is what these fighters are being told. I think you do have to look into it and, assuming they’re fully informed, they’re experienced and they’re choosing to fight on here, then we’re more than willing to look at disciplinary action, frankly to protect them and to protect their opponents.”
Renowned referee Cecil Peoples has come under criticism for his part in helping to referee the event, but argues:
“You know what kind of shows Gregg puts, I know what kind of shows Gregg puts,” Peoples said. “He’s working hard to get the shows better, to make everything work right. And I’m there to make sure that nobody gets hurt out of reason.
“If it was a mismatch or something, I’m there to make sure that things don’t get out of hand. That’s what I do.”
This isn’t the first or likely the last MMA promotion to put on gross mismatches, but an untrained person entering the cage with someone way out of their league is a different story all together.
Is XFS coming under unwarranted fire, or have they lit the flames under their own asses with shady MMA promotion in California?
