CFA 11 is the latest regional fight promotion that AXS TV has scooped up to bolster its AXS TV Fights schedule and the inagural card on AXS TV this Friday looks pretty stacked. The main event was originally slated to be former Strikeforce light heavyweight contender and King of the Cage champion Mike Kyle (19-9) making his first post-Strikeforce appearance against Valentijn Overeem, but Overeem was knocked out a few weeks ago in Europe and now Bellator’s Travis Wiuff (68-17-1) steps in on short notice to bang. This could simply be described as one of those fights that you shouldn’t blink during. Wiuff has 22 knockouts and 23 submissions to his name, even though he’s faced the type of competition you’d expect from a fighter with nearly 100 professional fights. Wiuff is currently on a three-fight losing streak after winning 13 of his previous 15 bouts and making it to the light heavyweight finals of Bellator’s Summer Series tournament. Kyle would be on a two fight losing streak if it wasn’t for Rafael Cavalcante’s failed drug test at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier which turned the fight into a No Contest. Kyle is a heavy hitter with 12 knockouts, so expect this fight to end on the feet. Probably very quickly. In the co-main event, one of the most polarizing figures in MMA, Fallon Fox (2-0), the transgender fighter who went from male to female in the span of a few years, takes on Allana Jones (2-1) in the CFA women’s featherweight tournament to crown a champion. This will be Fox taking on her first opponent with a winning record, with Jones facing slightly better competition. Fox owns the size advantage, and possibly the grappling department with her two submission wins. This is a hard fight to break down, considering the lack of footage for both fighters. I don’t want to bring up the fact that Fox used to be a man, and how that may help her in the fight (or does it?) but that fact has to be mentioned. Next up, lightweight Robert ‘The Beast’ Washington (15-7) hopes to get back on the winning track after dropping his last fight after winning three in a row, against Luis Palomino (20-8). Luis is also coming off his first loss in a long while, dropping a fight at CFA 9 to Luiz Firmino via unanimous decision. Palomino’s biggest wins came in the form of a KO win over JZ Cavalcante at CFA 7 and a decision win over Jorge Masvidal years ago on the independent circuit. Palomino is a Bellator vet who lost to Yves Edwards and Pat Curran in his time there, while winning only once against Jose Figueroa. Washington is a knockout artist, who has yet to garner a win over a big name, losing to the likes of Rich Clementi and Hermes Franca over the years, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the power to stop anyone with a well-timed strike. In a battle of well-rounded featherweight prospects to decide the interim featherweight champion, unbeaten Blackzilian Sean Soriano (7-0) takes on Puerto Rican Elvin Brito (6-1). These fighters bring seven and six fight win streaks into this bout, respectively, and both figure to have bright futures. The 23 year-old Soriano is the fighter with the higher ceiling of the two, and also trains with the better camp, so it will be interesting to see how he progresses into this fight. Former Bellator bantamweight contender and Olympic wrestling bronze medalist Alexis Vila looks to snap his three fight losing streak after getting ousted from the Bellator bantamweight tournament twice in the last two years. His last loss was via submission to Joshua Sampo with two minutes remaining in the inagural CFA flyweight championship bout, which was no doubt heartbreaking. His opponent is Czar Sklavos (7-2) a gritty 31-year-old with a good top game who likes to submit his opponents early and often. Sklavos has five first round submissions, so Vila knows what to look out for. Finally, a middleweight fight between Oscar Delgado (6-2) out of American Top Team and Mike King (5-0) looks to be an entertaining scrap. Both of these men have seemingly turned a corner in their training and through multiple different weight classes, have finally decided to settle at 185. Delgado has six knockouts and may look to make it seven against King, who has made his biggest impact on the mat, with four submissions.
