By Sean Malone, CageAuthority.com

In the world of MMA there is little shame in losing a fight provided you gave it all you could in a competitive contest. MMA fans (for the most part) are a forgiving lot and their only requirement is that you go out in battle on your shield. Which is exactly why most fight fans were impressed with Ryan Benoit despite losing a grueling decision to Anthony Birchak on Friday night.

The Birchak-Benoit fight headlined MFC 37 in Alberta, Canada and was aired live on AXS TV.

Fight fans in Texas are well aware of the talent and exploits of Ryan Benoit. The young fighter has made a name for himself in short order following some highlight reel fights. However, in Birchak, Benoit found an opponent who was willing to walk through fire in order to secure a win.

And walk through fire he did, Benoit is a tremendous striker, one who is capable of stopping a fight with one shot. Birchak was well aware of this fact and set about to impose his incredible wrestling skills on Benoit. Despite Benoit’s exception talents as a wrestler it was Birchak who was able to dictate the pace and location of the fight through takedowns and submission attempts. (more…)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MFC Staff

The Maximum Fighting Championship has released two fighters from its middleweight division – Jay Silva and Jacen Flynn.

Silva, who fights out of Huntington Beach, California, lost both of his bouts in the MFC, falling to late replacement Wes Swofford at MFC 36 in a first-round knockout, and then suffering a third-round TKO loss to Sam Alvey at MFC 37.  The poor performances and poor attitude resulted in the release.

Flynn, who hails from Twin Falls, Idaho, fought just once in the MFC ring, dropping a first-round verdict to Elvis Mutapcic at MFC 34. Flynn was pink-slipped for refusing fights as well as pulling out of a fight without any physical injury.

By Ben McPhee, MMA-Freak.com

MFC 37: True Grit lived up to the hype, as did the main event between bantamweights Anthony Birchak and Ryan “Babyface” Benoit. This was the organizations first bantamweight fight and the fans were on their feet the whole time. Birchak won a unanimous (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) after securing multiple submissions, almost tapping out Benoit at the end of the second round.

“Yeah he is good and can hang with the best of them” Birchak told MMAFreak LIVE on Thursday. “Anytime I was in a bad position, it was because I gave that position up to Ryan. He didn’t earn anything, I gave him all the dominate positions that he had. To his credit, he is a tough kid and I couldn’t put him away.”

After the fight, Benoit wasted no time on going to twitter to make excuses about the elevation and to ask for a 5 round rematch, for the inaugural MFC bantamweight championship. Birchak not only thought this was petty, but didn’t understand it on a whole.

“Was it a split decision that I wasn’t aware of? Did I win controversially?” Birchak said. “I’m lost on why he would do that and it just shows his immaturity and his experience level as a professional fighter. He is just still young minded. If anyone wants to see that fight again they can tune in to TSN2 when it re-airs. If there ever is another fight, which I doubt there will be, it’s going to be an absolute murder.”

Birchak knows where he stands and is ready to keep fighting for the MFC. He has shown the organization he knows how to deliver big fights and he welcomes all challengers.

“I’m ready for whatever Mark Pavelich (Owner of the MFC) puts in front of me. We talked about it before and I really want to win this world title, this is what I want.”

With his dominating win, he thinks he should be getting a title shot next, and it might be coming to fruition sooner than later. (more…)

Convincing wins at MFC 37 propel four fighters to higher spots

MFC Staff

Four winners from MFC 37: True Grit made significant jumps in the world rankings following their impressive wins under the Maximum Fighting Championship banner last Friday night.

The rankings are compiled by Fight Matrix (www.fightmatrix.com).

Coming out of his Fight of the Year contender, the MFC’s new bantamweight star Anthony Birchak climbed 32 spots and into the world’s top-75 going to 70^th from No. 102. Birchak (10-1) ignited the MFC’s 135-pound ranks with a spectacular battle against Ryan “Baby Face” Benoit (6-2) which went the distance and resulted in a unanimous decision verdict for Birchak, who fights out of Tucson, Arizona. Birchak moved directly into a shot for the MFC bantamweight title coming later this year.

With his third-round finish of Jay Silva, “Smilen” Sam Alvey leapt 31 spots in the Fight Matrix poll, going to 55^th from 86^th. Alvey (20-5), who fights out of Temecula, California, moved into the No. 1 contender spot for the MFC’s world middleweight title with the victory.

Fellow MFC middleweight Luke “Hayabusa” Harris shot up 127 spots in the Fight Matrix rankings thanks to his first-round submission win over Jason Zentgraf. Fighting in front of his home-town fans, Harris (10-2) secured the tapout finish against Zentgraf (7-2) which moved him to No. 115 in the world, up from No. 242.

The biggest overall jump in the rankings went to lightweight Kurt Southern (12-4) as the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, fighter utilized a North-South choke to dispatch Mukai Maromo in under three minutes. Southern soared 155 spots to No. 134, and after his victory, called out for a rematch against Jonatas Novaes (11-4, ranked 60^th), who beat Southern by third-round submission at MFC 36.

By Mick Hammond MMAWeekly.com

It what must have seemed like déjà vu, at this past Friday’s MFC 37, Canadian lightweight Kurt Southern submitted Mukai Maromo in little more than two minutes just as had in their previous meeting three years ago. And if that weren’t enough, Maromo was defeated by the same submission that Graham Spencer caught him with in his last fight.

“You can’t ask for a better result than a first-round finish,” said Southern. “I actually was really practicing that choke for this camp because he’d been caught with it before.

“The game plan was to pretty much get him down and work for a submission. Just the way he explodes out of things, I thought I could hit it. I had been working on that choke the last year, year and a half, and it just happened to work in this one.”

While there were a lot of similarities Friday night, Southern told MMAWeekly.com that there was one big difference this time around; he was prepared for Maromo’s escape ability.

“Last time I wasn’t expecting him to be as explosive off the ground as he was,” said Southern. “Last time I worked a full mount and he was able to break and roll me and I ended up on my back in that fight and ended up getting him in a triangle from my back.

“This fight I was kind of expecting it a little bit more, so I made sure I was in positions where I wouldn’t lose position if he exploded out. I didn’t really go to mount; I stayed in side control because I didn’t want to end up on my back again.”

With the win over Maromo, Southern gets back on the winning track following a loss to Jonatas Novaes that he feels is a defeat on paper only. (more…)