LFA 69 trotted into Cabazon, California for some fights. California usually has fantastic world class MMA fighters, second only to Texas 😉 So I had to pay attention. The fights were fun.
Maikel Perez vs Brandon Moreno – Flyweight
Round 1
Moreno is throwing cautious strikes and Pat Miletich on the broadcast points out that, one of Perez’s arms is showing signs of atrophy. Perez is coming off a lengthy lay-off after suffering a neck injury.
Round 2
Perez is able to get 2 big takedowns in the round and finish on top.
Round 3
Moreno rocks Perez. He takes Perez’s back for the majority of the round and Perez stalls, and tries to survive. Perez is able to get to his feet before the round ends.
Round 4
After an eye poke, Moreno rocks Perez with an uppercut and then ground and pounds him.🚩 Moreno wins by TKO
This isn’t the same Perez I saw against Sid Bice. He was slow and less technical. Neck injuries and wrestling go hand in hand. Lets hope that Perez doesn’t make it worse for himself. – A fantastic talent that lost out to injury, the hurt business will do that to you. Moreno has holes in his stand up game, but he’s still as scrappy as ever. LFA flyweight champ as of right now.
Arthur Estrazulas vs Steve Kozola – Lightweight
Round 1
Kozola tees of on Estrazulas. Kozola throws a kick and Estrazulas is able to catch the kick and take Kozola down, and sink in the RNC. 🚩 Estrazulas wins by submission
I feel bad for Kozola, because he was dominating on the feet, but Estrazulas slapped on the choke so fast, it was unreal. Kozola knows now to work on a little Jits, and Estrazulas has to work on his striking
Jose Medina vs Desmond Torres – Bantamweight
Round 1
Both look similar on the feet. Torres catches a kick and takes Medina down. Medina is just looking to keep Torres in half-guard
Round 2
Torres gets Medina down and goes for a Von Flue and Medina reverses the position. Medina is able to take his opponent’s back and fight for a Rear Naked. The round ends.
Round 3
Torres goes for a throw and misses it, but use some technical wherewithal to get into locking in an Arm Triangle choke. 🚩 Torres wins by submission
The difference is aggression. I think Torres’ corner told him “You are a world beater, this guy has nothing for you” and Medina’s corner told him “Protect yourself and look for your openings” Both need striking work.
Kyle Estrada vs Ricky Furar – Bantamweight
Round 1
Furar looks tense, and Estrada looks wolf-like – attacking the leg with kicks and looking for weaknesses. Furar misses a flying knee, eats some hammer-fists and then scrambles to take Estrada’s back. Estrada is able to stand up and just wait until the round ends.
Round 2
Estrada comes out, fires some kicks and Furar goes down. 🚩 Estrada wins by KO
Furar looked nervous and tense. Its hard to believe that this is his sixth fight, and he had a long amateur career. He needs to work on his footwork and his endurance. Muay Thai is very big right now and he’ll have to face leg kicks again. Estrada looks good. I didnt get to see a lot of his arsenal, because he was focused on finishing this fight, but I’m curious to see how he handles a wrestler.
Vanessa Demopoulos vs Nadine Mandiau – Strawweight.
Round 1
Demopoulos comes in incredibly loose. The size difference looks significant, as Mandiau is tall and rangy. Demopoulos closes the distance and takes Mandiau down, spider-monkey style. Mandiau turns into her opponent and finds herself on top. Demopoulos cinches up a tight armbar from the bottom. 🚩 Demopoulos wins by submission.
I’ve seen all of Demopoulos’ fights in the LFA, and she always brings it. She is consistently unbroken. I’ve never seen her really hurt, and she always seems to be happy. She must be the baddest and the more happiest person in the strip club. Demopoulos always seems to have a good game plan, and she’s just a real fighter. She should be going to bigger organizations soon – Hey, and she has the stripper-angle to sell her fights, and sex sells – as they say.
Nick Badis vs Natan Levy – Featherweight
Round 1
Badis looks absolutely chiseled, and he punches his way into the clinch. Levy looks comfortable with it and has great defensive clinch fighting techniques. There is a lot of scrambling with Levy looking just a little more polished.
Round 2
Badis gets reckless and eats a few to go in for the clinch. levy reverses position and starts to chain together some goes submission attempts.
Round 3
Starts off the same way with Badis attacking Levy, and Levy reversing position. Levy has his opponent’s back for most of the round. 🚩 Levy wins by unanimous decision
Badis looks good, but he is not very technical, and Levy is very good fundamentally. I’ve seen Levy before and I wasn’t impressed by some of his wild striking, I was hoping to see some improvements, but Badis was never looking to strike in this fight. As I said in my last critique of Levy, a tighter offensive Jits game would work wonders for him.
Athena Christina as a stripper name is unbroken