XFC to Host First Regulated MMA Show in Tennessee

The XFC is reporting that they will host the first ever regulated MMA show in Tennessee on Friday, February 20, in Knoxville. TUF 6 alum Dan Barrera will be on the card as well as women's MMA fighter and former pro boxer Chevelle Hallback, in addition to up-and-coming Light Heavyweight Louisville, KY native CT Turner.

Check after the jump for details from the XFC press release.

From an XFC press release:

For the first time in Tennessee sports history, the state’s Athletic Commission has approved a professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight card. XFC, the Southeast’s largest independent MMA promotion and the company dedicated to launching the careers of the champions of tomorrow, is pleased to announce that XFC 7: “School of Hard Knox” will be held on Friday, February 20 in Knoxville, in Tennessee’s 21 thousand-capacity Thompson-Boling Arena. This will be the first-ever professional MMA event sanctioned anywhere in Tennessee.

“Rarely can a fight card be considered historic even before the first bell chimes,” said John Prisco, president of XFC, “but February 20 will signal a brand new era in Tennessee Mixed Martial Arts. And I’m so ecstatic that we’ll be able to offer Tennessee sports fans a night of outstanding cage fights that’s truly worthy of the historic moment. We’re going to be showcasing some of the greatest emerging talent in the entire world of MMA – and the next generation of superstars.”

The XFC show will happen approximately six weeks before the UFC makes their inaugural venture into the Tennessee MMA market. Seeing how the XFC managed to beat some of the UFC's attendance numbers in Florida, I'm interested to see how the two promotions will stack up when host events in such a close proximity to one another.

-PreView