XFO 34 Results

XFO 34 Curran vs. Hori- Bantamweight Showdown

By Ray Flores

XFO 34 Curran vs. Hori certainly lived up to all of its expectations and more as there were tremendous performances throughout the evening.  The main event saw Jeff “Big Frog Curran” (32-12-1) returning to the promotion he helped to start taking on the former Deep Bantamweight tournament champion Tomohiko Hori (11-3-3). A capacity crowd of well over a thousand jammed into the Lakemoor Banquet Facility in Lakemoor to see two world class bantamweights engage in what was an absolute war. The electricity inside the building as both men came out to a standing room only crowd was at a fever pitch. Hori entered the arena to a chorus of blows but seemed unfazed by the lack of crowd support. When the “Big Frog” made his way to the cage, he was greeted to a loud ovation that nearly blew the roof off of the Lakemoor Banquet Facility.

 The first round saw Curran and Hori come out and show a willingness to stand and trade with one another.  Curran having a professional boxing background was throwing right hands with knockout intentions behind every punch. He even brought something which hasn’t been seen too often as he threw some sidekicks and front kicks in a ploy to catch the Tokyo native off guard.  Hori seemed to be at ease picking his punches looking for openings. They both tasted each other’s power as Curran and Hori landed some clean shots. A minute into the first as Hori was preparing to unload; Curran took Hori down and pressed him against the fence. Hori in the process of trying to get to his feet left his neck exposed and Curran locked a guillotine on. The former WEC featherweight contender tried to tighten the choke as hard as he could, but Hori remained resilient and turned his head to prevent Jeff from fully putting it on at full force.  Curran sensing an opening transitioned to his back and locked on a sitting guillotine choke to the latter parts of round 1. Hori again showed tremendous heart and weathered the submission and the bell sounded.

Round 2 began much as the first as both Curran and Hori exchanged several blows in the center of the cage. Several of those shots seemed to get to the Crystal Lake native as he went for a takedown, but in the process took a vicious knee to the chin rocking him. Tomohiko Hori was quite elusive as he worked good angles landing punches in a very exciting second round. Towards the end, Curran showing fierce tenacity got a takedown and when a scramble occurred, the Pedro Sauer black belt ended up on his back. Hori looking to execute some ground and pound left an opening and Curran went for a triangle choke attempt. When it failed, Curran transitioned to an arm bar attempt as the bell sounded.

The third and final round was memorable. The feeling among the capacity crowd in attendance the fight was dead even at one round apiece.  Curran came out and was swinging for the fences looking to end the fight with a single punch. Hori did a nice job to evade some punches and fired back some of his own. After a brief exchange in the early part of the round, Hori landed a nice right hand down the middle which Jeff responded by smiling and putting his chin out there. It was almost a way of him inviting Hori to throw more.  The UFC, Strikeforce, IFL, Pride, and WEC veteran unleashed some strong leg kicks as a way to score points in the eyes of the judges. Midway through the round, the fight hung in the balance when Jeff Curran fainted and instead shot in getting a huge takedown. Jeff finished the fight in Hori’s guard executing some ground and pound as the fight ended.

The judges rendered a unanimous decision victory of 29-28 twice and 30-27 for Jeff Curran. It was a hard fought win for the Big Frog who had a victorious return to the XFO.  This is a win which Jeff hopes will get back to the bright lights of the WEC. Tomohiko Hori gave a tremendous effort and pushed Jeff Curran to his max.

What’s compelling about the fight is with the outcome almost hanging in  the balance, Jeff Curran did what good veteran fighters do and that is find a way to win a tough fight. Hori was younger and was in great shape for this fight. Curran was battered but dug deep to get the takedown and do everything in his power to get the win. This is a Jeff Curran who knows every fight from here on out is the biggest fight of his life. He came out and did what he had to do. He got a big win, looked good, and he did it against a tough opponent. There is no doubt Tomohiko Hori is going to be a star and will learn from the loss.

The co-main event featured two outstanding lightweights in Travis Perzynski (26-4) battling Pat Curran (9-3). The story of this one was the brutal striking ability of Perzynski.  Travis was highly touted coming into the fight being the #1 ranked lightweight in Minnesota. Curran was supposed to fight at 145 where he will remain, but elected to take the challenge on only a few days notice.

The first round saw Travis Perzynski catching Curran early on in the first round with strong right hands and devastating knees. Curran a bit hurt but composed went for a takedown and was successful in doing so. It seemed as if Curran was going to pull out the win when he got the back of Perzynski and went for a rear naked choke attempt. Curran tried to lock in his hooks and secure the choke, but Perzynski used his long 6 foot 2 frame and power to get out of the choke attempt. Despite taking an array of shots, Pat Curran showed a lot of toughness staying in the pocket trading jabs with Perzynski.

The second round saw Perzynski again unloading on Curran pressing him against the fence in the clinch landing knees and throwing strong right hands.  Pat remained resilient looking for a takedown to implore his strong ground game, but it was just Perzynski’s night. A hard right wobbled Pat, in which he was unsuccessful in getting a takedown, and Perzynski turned the tide getting his back and sinking in the rear naked choke for the win.

Professional Bouts:

-Jeff Curran def. Tomohiko Hori, Unanimous Decision

-Travis Perzynski def. Pat Curran, Rear Naked Choke at 4:38, Round 2

Amateur Bouts:

-Brad Padgett def. Josh Eckmann, Armbar, at 2:49, Round 1

-Matt Tobie def. Brandon Bolt, Bolt didn’t answer the bell for Round 2

-TJ Cass def. Calvin Arnold, TKO at 2:50, Round 1

-Jason Marlowe def. Mikey Phillips, TKO at 2:58, Round 1

-Frank Rano def. Johan Lerch, Split Decision

-Jeff Lavalle def. Taylor Eastman, Rear Naked Choke at 0:52, Round 1

-Joey Diehl def. Brett Hedrington, Submission to Strikes at 0:21, Round 1

-Scott Goldberg def. Brandon Jackson, Armbar at 0:59, Round 1

-Nick Scotti def. Keith Colon, Rear Naked Choke at 1:14, Round 3

-Shawn West def. Casey Dyer, Darce Choke at 1:48, Round 2

-Tony Duncan def. Chris Schiewe, Unanimous Decision

-Chris Hartwig def. Kent Rexford, Unanimous Decision

By Ray Flores