For those unfamiliar with the Xplode Fight Series, it is indubitably an anything can happen experience. First of all, you’re traveling off the beaten path to get there. These high drama fights are held out in the Valley Center woods on the San Pasqual Indian Reservation. To keep an eye on the up and coming MMA fighters, you’ll often see some of the top pros from the UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator attending a show.

On Saturday, the same XFS people pulled off what has to considered unfathomable, a 32 bout fight card, all in one night, combining Amateur and Pro – 31 MMA fights and one Muay Thai match. With such a large contingent of fighters, you knew there was excitement ahead.

Without further ado, here are the results.

XAFS Amateur MMA Bouts

Bout #1, in the heavyweight division had Jonathan Wilson of Icon MMA defeating Rudy Vasquez of The Compound, via KO (punches) at 1:14 of round two.

Bout #2, in the 165 pound division, had Kevin Gentapanan of Undisputed Fitness & Training Center, Downtown gaining a split decision victory over Tommy Watson of The Arena.

In Bout #3, in the 175 pound division, Justin Smith of Undisputed gained top position over Arthur Rugely of The Compound in Round #1 and then wailed away until the referee stopped the bout at 1:31 of the first round for the TKO victory.

Bout #4 was a Muay Thai rematch between Christian Meza of the Jhanex MMA & Muay Thai Team of Victory MMA and Anthony Gonzalez of Team Diamond. After starting strong, Meza’s leg was injured and from that point Gonzalez dominated using sensational high kicks to the head to gain an unanimous decision.

Bout #5, in the 145 pound division, saw Antonio Sanchez of Icon MMA gain an unanimous decision over Marcos Ortiz of Undisputed. Sanchez’s scoring came largely from the many takedowns.

Bout #6, in the 145 pound division, was one of those gems that gets the tongues wagging, one of those bouts where the coach ends up asking, “Dude, what were you thinking?”

To paint the picture, we have Ruben Valdivona of Xplode MMA entering the cage all respectful like. His opponent, Renee Ramirez from Team Diamond, drags his feet. When he finally reaches the top step to enter the cage, he suddenly drops down to all fours to do his best impression of a crawling spider while giving Valdivona a menacing look. He tops off his buffoonery by pooh-poohing Valdivona’s attempt to touch gloves.

Within the first minute, it becomes apparent the showman has no skills either on offense or defense and Valdivona starts landing his punches and kicks at will. Before long, Ramirez drops down in the center of the cage and without thinking, our hero swings a wild kick in the direction of Ramirez’s head. Even though the kick missed, the bout was stopped and the referee upheld the ruling – no kicks to a grounded opponent. After the disqualification, Ramirez’s arm went up and he was gleaming with delight.

Bout #7, in the 170 pound division, had Ivan Weston, an Independent, going up against Diego Rivera of 5 Star MMA. In Round#1, it was Weston’s turn to showboat. To demonstrate his confidence, he dropped his hands down at his side while delivering his punches and kicks.

By Round #2, Rivera started rushing Weston to score by way of his ground game. It worked and Weston went down three times. Even though Weston got himself free, the takedowns were stacking up the points. By Round #3, both fighters were running on empty and a patron called out, “Come-on, you guys are fighting in slow motion!”

In the end, it was Rivera and his ground game that impresses the judges and secured an unanimous decision.

Bout #8, in the 135 pound division, saw Shannon MacKenzie, a fast hands striker from Icon MMA get the best of Kevin Rivera of Undisputed. For the majority of the bout, MacKenzie was on top inflicting the ground and pound to win by an unanimous decision.

Bout #9, in the 195 pound division, saw Sean McKee of 5 Star MMA gain a split decision verdict over Rodney Murphy of Undisputed El Cajon. Since McKee was a full head taller, knew how to utilize his reach advantage, Murphy’s face took quite a beating.

Bout #10, in the 170 pound division, featured Chris Black of The Compound going up against Daniel Cessena of the El Cajon Undisputed. This was one of those match-ups where at no time did one or the other hold the upper hand. So, all three judges scored it a draw.

From here on out, the matches had belt implications and were fought for the various division titles.

Bout #11, in the 145 pound division, featured Beau “the Barracuda” Hart of City Boxing going up against Matt Sayles from the Alliance Training Center in what was billed as a Featherweight Title Bout. That seemed strange since I could only remember Hart winning once over the last four matches, and now they had him fighting for a title? After a quick knockdown (36 seconds later), the belt was put around Sayles’ waist.

Bout #12 had Jake Howland of The Compound in Oceanside and Daniel Robledo of the Undisputed Fitness and Training Center in Downtown San Diego fighting it out for the 170 pound title. Like the Hart match, this match didn’t get out of the first round. Howland tapped out after Robledo got him in an Arm-Triangle Choke at 1:07 of the first round.

Bout #13, between Gibran Alvarez of the Jhanex MMA and Muay Thai Team of Victory MMA and Brandon Sheard of the Alliance Training Center was for the 205 pound title.

In Round #1, Sheard got the best of Alvarez and held top position most of the way. In Rounds #2 and #3, Alvarez made a comeback with the more accurate striking and better all around grappling to secure the title by a split decision.

In Bout #14, for the 125 pound title, Dylan Barrales of Xplode MMA capably defended his title against Rob Morrison of El Cajon Undisputed. Barrales had complete control in Round one. Round two was a toss-up. Then in the final, Barrales played it safe, waited on Morrison to make the first critical error, and then he pounced on him.

Bout #15, had Oscar Gonzalez of the Jhanex MMA and Muay Thai Team and Richard Horne of 1on1 going at it for the 155 pound title.

In Round #1, Gonzalez got off to a quick start and did well after getting back control. Gonzalez kept the momentum going in Round #2 after getting the takedown and applying a choke hold. Both men went all out in Round #3 with their punches and kicks until once again, Gonzalez got top position to apply a rear naked choke hold.

XFS Pro MMA Bouts

Bout#1, in the 145 pound division, had Jeremy Mchone of Alliance going up against Ivan Herrera of Undisputed. From the outset, Mchone appeared to be getting the worst of it with the combination of kicks and punches. It seemed like everything was going Herrera’s way. Then, in the final round, Mchone got himself a takedown which ended up being reversed.

Then came the surprise announcement that the judges had scored the bout a Split Decision. Okay, one of the judges had taken a nap. But no, as it turns out two of the judges must have been napping. They scored the bout in Mchone’s favor.

With 32 bouts scheduled, you had to figure there would be at least one judging error but this one was a doozy. The normally placid audience booed the decision.

Bout #2, in the 155 pound division, had Chris Solomon, an independent, going up against Jason Miknuk of The Compound. In the movies we often see story-lines about people having to overcome adversity. On this night, it looked like Miknuk was following one of those scripts. Within the first minute, he was kicked in the groin. Still in recovery mode, Miknuk was slapped across the face and one of Solomon’s fingers caught him in the eye.

Despite all the adversities, the quick-witted Miknuk turned the impossible around and got himself a submission with a lightning fast armbar.

Bout #3, in the 170 pound division, they had Joshua Aveles of Team Diamond going up against Doug Trotter of Dirty Tactics.

As in the past Trotter looked over at his opponent with a scowl, resembling a Barcelona bull about to run over a tourist. Seven-seconds later, Trotter was getting caught by an overhand right. The KO took all of seven-seconds.

Bout #4, in the 155 pound division, had Xavier Stokes of Riverside Submission going up against Donnis Reed of Undisputed. Like Trotter, Stokes entered the cage with much fanfare and a loud stomp of the foot.

Unlike Trotter, Stokes did well in Round #1 and even had top position over Reed to deliver blows to the head. Stokes’ downfall came in Round #2 after he got caught with several hard shots and then took a tremendous amount of punishment while get his single takedown.

For whatever reason, possibly the accumulation of blows to the head, Trotter did not answer the bell for Round #3.

Bout#5, in the 135 pound female division, pitted Christina Marks of Fight Ugly up against Rebecca Jones an Independent. Marks wasted little time and used her momentum to throw Jones around the cage like a rag doll. After Marks got top position and began punching Jones in the head, an opportunity presented itself for a guillotine choke and she took full advantage. The submission came early at 0:47 of the first round.

Bout #6, in the 125 pound division, was another quick destruction – skilled versus the unskilled. Greg “The Smooth” Guzman, a 24 year-old Independent from San Jacinto, CA, took all of 19 seconds to get on top of the younger Gary Franklin of Dirty Tactics and begin his ground and pound for the TKO victory.

Since Guzman is a veteran of at least 18 professional fights, you got to wonder what he was doing in the cage against a novice like Franklin who was making his pro-debut. This was a mismatch of the highest order.

Bout #7, in the 155 pound division, featured two men in superior physical condition, Clayton McFarland of the Blackline Training Center in Carlsbad, CA and Ben Koshaba of the Undisputed Fitness and Training Center in San Diego’s Downtown in what has to be considered the “Fight of the Day,” possible “Fight of the Year.”

It was a bout one patron called, “Worth the price of admission.” Analogous with Rocky Balboa of South Philly going up against a Samson-like outsider with long, wavy blonde hair. Both of these highly-skilled fighters were making their long awaited pro-debuts.

Round #1 went to the taller McFarland who seemed intent on using constant pressure and controlling the pace. A late takedown helped give him the scoring edge.

Just when you thought McFarland had the match sewn up, the rugged Koshaba came right back in Round #2 and for a while had top position.

In Round #3, the crowd pleasing momentum swings had the fans delirious. The way the two men threw each other around and crashed into the netting, it’s a wonder the U-bolts were able to hold the cage together.

After much commiseration, the judges announced they had a split decision which favored McFarland. With such a fine performance by both fighters, not one patron made a sly or dispiriting remark about the final scores. The fans were too appreciative of both of their efforts.

Bout #8, in the 170 pound division, featured Jesse Lopez of Xplode MMA going up against Reuben Guzman, an Independent from Escondido.

This one ended early after Guzman became a bloody mess. It appeared Lopez had landed a freak punch that punctured Guzman’s ear drum. With the medical stoppage, Lopez gets the TKO win at 1:32 of Round #1.

Bout#9, in the 170 pound division, featured Cardell Williams of Kong’s Submission going up against Anthony Castillo of Dirty Tactics. After a thunderous takedown, Williams got in position to get the submission by Armbar at :31 of the round #1 to improve his record to (1-1) while Castillo’s record drops to (0-2).

Bout #10, in the 155 pound division, featured the long anticipated pro debut of Paul Blancaflor an Epic Fighting Champion from Spiritwolf MMA. His challenger, the 6’1” Ryan McCarthy of Predestined Disciple was also making his pro-debut.

After a surprisingly quick takedown, Blancaflor applied an Arm-Triangle Choke to get an early submission at 0:32 of the round one.

Bout #11, in the 145 pound division, featured the veteran Joe Barajas of Xplode MMA going up against August Nielsen an Independent making his pro-debut.

This one didn’t take long. At the 0:52 mark of the first round, Barajas, now 8-0 as a professional, had his submission by applying a rear naked chokehold.

Bout #12, in the 185 pound division, featured Bercharis McGill of The Compound going up against Tsuyoshi “Ty” Holder of the Alliance Training Center.

Even though Round one was pretty even, Holder did manage two takedowns. Then in Round #2, McGill evened the score by landing more punches and kicks. McGill came hard in the final round with knees and elbows to the head but failed in an attempt at a rear naked choke. In the end, McGill was awarded an unanimous decision to improve his record to 1-2. With the loss Holder drops to 1-1.

Bout#13, in the super heavyweight division, had Ryan Varela (2-2) facing Matt Anderson (1-15). In this one, Anderson threw one punch. For Mr. Varela, Anderson was a punching bag and before long (a minute and 44 seconds) that punching bag fell off it’s hook and was down on all fours until the referee decided Anderson had taken far too many blows to the head.

Bout #14, in the 145 pound division, featured the pro-debut of Marvin Madariaga who trains at both the Black House Team Nogueira Gym and Art of 8 Gym going up against Squire Redfern (0-1) of the Pala Reservation’s Athletic Center.

With Madariaga benefitting from so many fine coaches and successfully competing in the Epic Fighting Series, this one was a gross mismatch from the start. Almost every offensive move worked to perfection against the game but outclassed Redfern who after Round #1 had to listen to his corner’s pleas to quit. Redfern was adamant and told his corner, “No way, I will never give up!”

At the 2:18 mark of the second round, with Redfern nearly out on his feet, referee Ben Lagman finally noticed all the items coming over the top of the cage and called a halt to the match. Fight fans were screaming at the ref. In addition to the Redfern’s towel, a shirt, a pair of sparring mitts, the canvas was littered with items to signify a surrender.

Bout #15, in the 145 pound division, was another example of a little man taking on the big man. Jose Tapia of Kong’s Submission stands 6’2” tall and his opponent Anthony Moore of Dirty Tactics has to be at least eight inches shorter. Plus, after four fights, not one of Tapia’s opponents have gotten past the first round.

After one kick to Moore’s midsection, down he went for his seventh straight loss.

Bout #16, in the 155 pound division, featured two of the best known Mixed Martial Artists in San Diego County, Kris Armbrister of 1 on 1 Fight Company with his now familiar red rooster Mohawk, going up against the 22 year-old sensation Derek Anderson, the pride of Xplode MMA.

At the 2:56 mark of the first round, Armbrister tapped after getting himself in one of Anderson’s guillotine choke holds. Later it was discovered Armbrister had been cut when brushing up against the cage and he felt the distraction of blood everywhere threw him off his game.

The once invincible Armbrister (7-3-0 with 1 KO) has now lost two in a row, while Anderson improves his record to (6-0-0 with 2 KOs).

Bout #17 featured Brady Harrison (9-8) of Fight Ugly, the current 135 pound champion, defending his 135 pound title against Antonio Duarte (15-4) of Entram MMA. This was a rematch of a fight staged eight months ago in which Harrison won by an unanimous decision.

You talk about making improvements, Duarte was sensational in this one. He didn’t just land one punch at a time, he threw lethal combinations. All the while, the game Harrison, bloody nose and all, fought till the bitter end.

The downside of having so many fights? Both the judges (3) and referee (1) were bound to error and they did. They’re only human. There’s a reason why promoters hold the line at a maximum of 10 to 14 bouts per show.