Wednesday, July 27, 2011

XFE 8: The Roster

I have no idea what “XFE” stands for (Xtreme Fighting Extravaganza?  Xylophonic Festival Extreme?), but one look at the cast of characters for their eighth installment – and Atlantic City promotional debut – on Friday night tells me all I need to know.  TUF alum Jeff Lentz, WEC vet Anthony Leone, hard-hitter Brendan Barrett, the scrappy Mervin Rodgriguez… dude, that’s a lot “kill”, “maim” and “celebrity” right there, which makes XFE 8 very much worth checking out.  Let’s examine the roster a bit further, shall we?

  • Anthony Leone – He’s fought in Bellator, Strikeforce and Bellator, but most people know the durable Leone for his role in the 1979 classic film “The Warriors”, where Leone played the leader of the Long Island-based gang “The Spaghetti-Os”.
  • Brendan Barrett – I once saw this IFL vet karate chop a man and the man died in his sleep two days later.  Coincidence?  I THINK NOT.
  • Jeff Lentz – Supposedly, the book “Bruce Lee’s Fighting Method” is an unofficial biography of Lentz’s life.  Supposedly.  I’m illiterate, so I can’t say for sure.
  • Mervin Rodriguez – When not fighting, Rodriguez is a member of Mariah Carey’s security detail.  Rumor has it he saved her life when a crazed fan came at her with a chainsaw, so she named one of her kids after him.
  • Kevin Roddy – I swear to God I think Roddy stole my wallet.  We were sitting on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights drinking frozen Razzmatazz Jamba Juices mixed with homemade moonshine and the wallet was right there on the seat between us.  Then I turned away for a second to vomit, and when I turned back it was gone.  Gone.
  • Dwayne Shelton – There’s tough, and there’s “Dwayne Shelton tough”.  A burnt steak is somewhere in between on that scale.
  • JA Dudley – Dudley may have a fair number of wins and losses, but they last time he was actually finished in a fight was back in 2008.  I don’t know if that stat means anything.  I just thought I’d throw that out there.