By Astrid Bidanec

TAMPA, Flo—The Real Fighting Championships (RFC) put on a great show at the University of Florida (USF) Sundome on September 15, 2007 for all Mixed Martial Arts fans, who came to watch the long awaited Caged Warriors.

Photo by Alex Valetta

As highlight of the evening, the reigning lightweight champion, James Edson "Little Tiger" Berto, successfully defend his title against the challenger, Juan Barrantes from Costa Rica, in five long and grueling rounds.

In the last fight of the evening, the newly debuting pro fighter, Eddie Boza, ended the show with an amazing performance and a bang, by literally sweeping RFC veteran, Chris Adams off his feet within the first two minutes of round one.

In the title fight, Berto clearly set the pace for Barrantes, who seemed to run out of gas quickly. Berto’s powerful kicks and punches opened several gushes in Barrantes’face, who started bleeding severely, only few minutes into round one. Barrante’ counter-strategy to force Berto into a ground fight was not only unsuccessful, but made the challenger look rather passive and scared.

Photo by Alex Valetta

 Berto’s dominance and preference for stand up fighting left Barrantes sitting on the floor- all by himself- more often than not.  While Berto grew increasingly impatient with Barrantes lack of activity, it became obvious to the referee and fans alike that Berto would have to either force Barrantes into action or end the fight with a knock out. Finally, in the last round, Barrantes delivered a few punches to Berto, which seemed to be too little too late. The bout ended with Berto retaining his title by unanimous decision.