On June 27, 2009 World Championship Fighting presented what many fans are calling their best fight card ever, live from the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA. While there was no marquee main event featuring fighters who already have national recognition, the card was filled with fighters ready to break into the national spotlight. As usual for WCF, the crowd was filled with a who’s who of MMA stars. UFC Fighters Jorge Rivera and John Howard joined Mark DellaGrotte, Sean Gannon and former Middleweight Boxing Champion Dana Rosenblatt were in attendance, along with actor Kevin James, who is filming a movie locally.

The night’s main event featured two of New England’s best middleweights in Woody Weatherby from Renzo Gracie NH and Dan Keefe, from Brickhouse Fight Team. The fight was a war from start to finish with Keefe controlling most of the action, and Weatherby landing the cleaner strikes. Keefe pushed the pace undeterred by the big shots from Weatherby, and was able to take the fight to the ground where he was able to grind on Weatherby and rough him up a little. As the fight wore on, it turned into battle of Weatherby attempting submissions, with Keefe escaping and making Woody pay with big shots from the top. The fight came down to the wire with Weatherby locking in his best submission of the night, an arm bar that looked to be enough to finish the fight, but Keefe was able to hold on and take the hard fought victory by decision.

The night also featured a pair of big lightweight fights that featured four exciting and popular fighters. Calvin Kattar took on undefeated Rodrigo Almeida in the night’s co-main event, and the crowd was going crazy for both fighters from start to finish. Rodrigo was able to get in tight on Kattar and avoid his devastating punching power, and for the first time Kattar was force to show his impressive wrestling and jiu-jitsu game. As Almeida was fighting hard for a takedown, Kattar was able to lock up a tight guillotine choke and pull guard for the submission victory halfway through round 1.

In the second pairing of top lightweights, John Benoit and Damien Trites put on the most exciting fight of the night, a thrilling back and forth battle that truly brought out the best in both fighters. Benoit was able to land more effective punches and kicks on their feet, and bloodied Trites up quite a bit. On the floor, both fighters had their moments, but the combination of Benoit’s submission attempts and big combinations were enough to earn a decision, and get him back on track for a title run.

Looking ahead, World Championship Fighting also announced a featured fight for WCF 8, which will take place this fall. Wilmington’s Dan Bonnell makes his return to the ring to take on the streaking Josh LaBerge in what promises to be an exciting match up. Stay tuned for big announcements about WCF 8 in the coming weeks.

Official Results from WCF 7:

Dan Keefe def. Woody Weatherby — Split Decision
Calvin Kattar def. Rodrigo Almeida — Submission (Guillotine Choke) 2:16 R1
John Benoit def. Damien Trites — Majority Decision
Greg Rebello def. Jerry Spiegel — Unanimous Decision
Tom Moreau def. Don Carlo-Clauss — Majority Decision
Elias Rivera def. Scott Rehm — Submission (Heel Hook) 2:43 R1
Travis Bartlett def. Guillermo Echuaca — TKO (Punches) 2:18 R1
Saul Almeida def. Dan O’Keefe — Submission (Peruvian Necktie) 1:16 R1
Nick Evangelous def. Matt McKusker — TKO (Punches) 2:41 R1
Aniss Anlhajjajy def. Aaron Petrucelli — Majority Decision
Marcos Escalante def. John Walsh — Submission (Rear Naked Choke) 1:24
Zack Burhans def. Jeff Silva — Unanimous Decision
Nelson Gaipo def. Ryan White — TKO (Punches) 1:07 R1
Noah Wiseman def. Steve Beck — Submission (Rear Naked Choke) 1:50 R1