The IXFA delivered on a memorable evening last night for the confirmed sellout crowd in attendance at downtown Houston’s Verizon Wireless Theater. The event was highlighted by a successful Light Heavyweight title defense for “Hurricane” Ike Vallanueva and also saw the crowning of two more new as Andrew Craig (Middleweight) and Derrick “Black Beast” Lewis (Heavyweight) earned the distinction of champion through emphatic performances against Jon Kirk and Taylor Hebert respectively.
Additional highlights included several brutal TKO knockouts along with a slobberknocker of sorts as combatants Tony Orozco of Silverback MMA and Shawn Machado of Team Hoger laid it all on the line in what can be deemed a Fight of the Night performance.
Simply put, this event was a fan-favorite and contained everything from thrilling submissions to brutal knockouts and everything in between. Bravo to promoters Chris Reed and Scott Dawson along with everyone else that contributed in helping put this magnificent event together.
It’s strongly noted that with this IXFA show marking the third consecutive sell-out for Houston MMA (following the Legacy Fighting Championships at the Arena Theater and the Legacy Amateur Series at the House of Blues). With exposure and fan backing continuing to increase in the area, it looks to be full steam ahead all around for Houston Mixed Martial Arts as we move deeper into 2011.
Speaking of the future, the IXFA advertised its next steps with the previously reported next event coming on April 23rd in Winnie, TX with Humberto De Leon and Jimmy Flick battling for the IXFA Flyweight Title. For their initial thoughts on this grudge rematch, please refer to our in-depth interviews with both Flick and De Leon as this story broke a few weeks ago.
In other IXFA news, current lightweight champion Adam Schindler also announced to the crowd at the event that he has officially joined Gracie Barra Teammate Chad Robichaux in signing with the Bellator promotion. Schindler will be joining Robo on the nationally-broadcast MMA promotion beginning in June and is set to take part in the Bellator Featherweight Tournament. The IXFA champ will have his hands full contending with such luminaries as Joe Warren, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Wilson Reis, Bao Quach, and many others. We’ll have more on this development as the tournament draws nearer.
For now, we’ll recap all the action and prognosticate what is next for this past IXFA’s winner and losers via the “After the Bell” segment in the next few days. Look forward to more bonus content as well, including a double-dose of TXMMA.com photography as Paul Erickson and I bring you both our shots from Saturday night.
Click on the Picture Below for Part-One of our IXFA Photo Coverage.
