XFC 14 results: Jamie Varner staves off retirement with a quick TKO victory over Nate Jolly

XFC 14: "Resurrection" took place last night (Fri., Oct. 21, 2011) from the UCF Arena in Orlando, Florida.

The main event featured former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) lightweight champion Jamie Varner looking to rebound from a loss against the always dangerous Nate Jolly.

In his last fight, Varner was upset by Dakota Cochrane at Titan Fighting Championships 20 on Sept. 23 in Kansas City, Missouri. "C-4"reminded fans the reason he was once considered a highly touted 155-pound mixed martial artist in a quick and decisive, first round technical knockout victory over the vastly overmatched Jolly.

It looks like retirement will have to wait for Varner, who seems to have a little bit of swagger left in the reserves.

Let's take a look at the rest of this card:

Former UFC light heavyweight Carlos Marrero tried to get his mixed martial arts (MMA) career back on track in a heavyweight showdown against the one-time Bellator Fighting Championships competitor Scott Barrett.

With nicknames like "The Fury" and "The Bear," you can expect one thing, for sure: Fireworks.

From the opening horn, these two plus-sized brawlers came out swinging for the fences (they even connected with said target on a couple of occasions). In the first round, Marrero did the majority of the damage in the stand up exchanges, causing Barrett's right eye to swell up a bit because of punches.

At the beginning of the second round, both men came out throwing ill-willed haymakers, much to the delight of the fans in attendance. The pace was chaotic and non-stop. At points, one could have easily confused Marrero and Barrett for "rock 'em sock 'em robots."

In a very bloody third round, Barrett appeared to have his nose broken by an uppercut from Marrero. Though it likely scored well with the judges on hand, the injury did not seem to slow Barrett down at all.

After a brutal battle that went the distance, the judges gave Marrero the well-deserved unanimous decision.

Marianna Kheyfets took on Molly Helsel in a women's flyweight bout where "The Crushen Russian" attempted to live up to her nickname. Kheyfets came in as the favorite, but appeared to be outstruck by Helsel in a first frame that provided very little highlight material.

The second round revealed a much more aggressive Kheyfets, as she consistently came forward and sought to land multiple well-timed punch combinations. Several times, Kheyfets was able to answer kick attempts with jabs and overhand rights that landed and sent her opponent staggering backwards.

By the end of round two, Helsel's face was a bloody mess.

Kheyfets had found her groove by the third round and was landing power punches in bunches. Though she did eat a decent amount of punches herself, every time Kheyfets was able to answer with a precision strike or two that caused the Orlando crowd to gasp.

To put the official stamp on things, Kheyfets hit two outstanding double-leg takedowns, closing out a dominant third round and securing the unanimous decision win.

Reggie Pena started off his fight against Josh Clark looking to put on a takedown clinic. In the first round, Pena was able to take Clark down, pretty much at will.

In the second round, it was Clark who imposed his will with the takedowns. Unfortunately, he found out that Pena is more than just a wrestler. Pena was able to land several second round knees that looked to do some damage, as well as another nice takedown that yielded some positive ground-and-pound results.

The third round saw Clark come out in desperation, clearly knowing that he was behind in the fight. Clark was able to land a solid takedown and threaten with a couple decent submission attempts. Ultimately, Pena's ground game was too slick, as he was able to reverse and finish strongly, earning himself a very nice unanimous decision victory.

Fans of submission finishes were satisfied yet again after a fight between Nicolae Cury and Elijah Harshbarger. If you got up to get a drink or go the bathroom, you probably missed this one.

It only took a minute and 27 seconds for Cury to toss his adversary to the mat, grab top position and use some very good jiu jitsu to throw on an armbar that had Harshbarger to quickly tap.

Great win for the American Top Team product.

Orlando fans were treated to a middleweight match up between Carlos Mikey Gomez and Mike Bernhard. Gomez, the Gracie Barra Orlando jiu jitsu specialist looked to prove that he could finish fights in an impressive fashion.

Mission accomplished.

After a first round that almost definitely went in Bernhard's favor, the tides turned when Gomez was able to land a powerful leg kick that sent his opponent reeling and to the floor.

Gomez was too much for Bernhard on the canvas and it was only a matter of time before he was able to sink in a very tight rear-naked choke.

The fight was stopped by the referee at 3:50 of the second round.

In the first fight of the main card, John Mahlow and Bruce Connors got the ball rolling with a fast-paced three round war.

Before tonight, Mahlow hadn't fought in over year, having lost via first round guillotine submission in his last bout to Junior Assuncao at XFC 10 on Mar. 19, 2010 in Tampa, Florida. 

If cage rust was present, it had little effect on the 39-year old veteran.

After three rounds, the judges saw all they needed to see. Mahlow handily won the unanimous decision, handing Connors his third straight loss.

XFC 14 MAIN CARD FULL RESULTS:

Jamie Varner def Nate Jolly via TKO (strikes) at 1:09 of round one
Carmelo Marrero def Scott Barrett via unanimous decision
Marianna Kheyfets def Molly Helsel via unanimous decision
Reggie Pena def Josh Clark via unanimous decision
Nicolae Cury def Elijah Harshbargar via submission (armbar) at 1:27 of round one
Michael Gomez def Mike Bernhard via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:50 of round two
John Mahlow def Bruce Connors via unanimous decision