The first challenger to Anthony Birchak’s (11-1) MFC Bantamweight crown at MFC 40 will be “The Hard Hitting Hillibilly” Kevin Croom (13-4).
This promotional debut for Croom also starts off a mutli-fight deal with the MFC.“The Hard Hitting Hillbilly” is currently on a 9 fight winning streak. Croom’s last 7 wins have all been by 1st round stoppage including a TKO of Aslan Toktarbaev, in which Croom won the Kazakhstan Bantamweight title; his first world championship. Born and raised in Missouri, Croom moved to New Mexico to take his MMA game to the next level and has done so by training at Jackson’s/Winekljohn’s, Luttrell’s MMA, Danny Romero’s Hideout, ABQ Kickboxing & MMA, and Gracie Barra. Kevin Croom is also scheduled to compete at Titan FC 27, against Bryan Goldsby (17-15), and with a loss will lose his MFC title shot.
At MFC 38 with a 2nd round rear naked choke of Tito Jones, Birchak became the first ever MFC Bantamweight champion and extended his win streak to 5. A bout prior in his promotional debut Birchak claimed a unanimous decision win over current UFC Fighter Ryan Benoit; which came after consecutive knockouts of John Green, Roman Salazar, and Matt Leyva.
This fight pits two highly talented fighters that have similar skill sets against each other. Both fighters started off as wrestlers who took that knowledge and devolved complete ground games adding jiu jitsu. Both Birchak and Croom as of late have really been working on the development of their striking, shown by both having all 3 of their knockouts over the last 2 years. Both men are well versed in submissions but it’s Birchak who has the higher Jiu Jitsu belt and has been wrestling for a longer time. Croom is the bigger fighter having fought up at Lightweight before and has a 3 inch advantage in the height category.This bout is one of 3 title fights that will co-headline MFC 40: Crowned Kings, on May 9, at the Shaw Conference Center in Edmonton Alberta, Canada.
