Dave Courchaine Taking it One Fight at a Time for XFC; Not Blinded by Shiny Gold Belts

For Washington welterweight “Insane” Dave Courchaine, taking a step up against former Bellator contender Lloyd Woodward this past March proved to be the fight of his career so far.

“He was one of the toughest guys I’ve fought to date,” said Courchaine of Woodard. “My hat’s off to the guy.

“We had a three-round war. It was a dramatic fight. When the judges were making their decision, I didn’t honestly know if I won. I was just as shocked as he was that he lost and I won.”

Courchaine believes the judges gave the split-decision victory to him because he was able to weather the storm early and finish the fight strong.

“When I watched the video the next day, I knew why it was a split-decision,” said Courchaine. “He got on top of me and the ref almost stopped it, and when I rolled over he tried to get me with a rear naked choke and I kind of got saved by the bell at the end of the first round.

“I think I got my composure back and was relaxed and dominated rounds two and three.”

The win was Courchaine’s eighth in a row and helped catch the eye of the XFC, whom he’ll be making his debut for on Friday in Tampa, Fla., against another former Bellator veteran, Luis “Sapo” Santos, live on AXS TV.

“It’s awesome knowing that I’m going to be fighting on TV so all my fans and family can watch it and I can show the world who I am,” Courchaine told MMAWeekly.com.

“It’s kind of like the same thing with Lloyd. I want to see how good I am. The best way to find out how tough you are is to fight the toughest guy they offer. They offered me him and I wasn’t about to turn down the fight, I jumped on it.”

As for how he feels he matches up with Santos, Courchaine responded, “My Jiu-Jitsu is as strong in submission defense as it is offense, and I think on my feet I’m going to really surprise him with my power.

“I know he’s a Muay Thai champ out of Brazil, but I’ve been training my body into a piece of iron and I know I can push it to the limit right now.”

Should Courchaine get past Santos, he could very well set himself up for a welterweight title shot, but he’s not looking at that right now. Instead he’s focused on the task at hand on June 14.

“I want to take it one fight at a time and not overlook anybody,” he said. “I’m not going to look two fights down the road because I’m focused on Luis. Yeah, I would love to fight for a title for them eventually, but that’s down the road.”