I hate being able to chose between which high level promotion I want to watch. LFA and Bellator, get your stuff together. Great fights. I picked the LFA, 1. Because I like to see young talent & 2. I cover LFA. I only cover LFA because they started in Texas BTW. And it looks like I’ll be covering A LOT more Fury FC now that they’re on FightPass and their production has gotten a lot better. Gilbert Melendez was great on the mic, at this show
Main Event
Brandon Phillips vs Aaron McKenzie – Lightweight
Round 1
Phillips landing and looking faster. But McKenzie grows as the round goes on, McKenzie started the round looking very bad IMO
Round 2
Philips throwing good hands and working the body
Round 3
McKenzie begins to apply massive pressure. Phillips fights off the takedowns but gets his face bloodied in the process. 🚩McKenzie wins by unanimous decision.
I scored this fight as a draw, I thought Phillips won the 1st two rounds, and McKenzie got a 10-8 in the 3rd. Phillips just had a problem with the pressure. He needs to develop a clinch game and an elbow for that. McKenzie is a dog, that’s his no. 1 thing. He is a D-O-G. He fought off all those body strikes and walked through a lot of punches to get his win. I’m interested to see what the LFA does with him
Yuma Horiuchi vs Donovan Frelow – Flyweight
Round 1
Frelow goes hard at Horiuchi and blitzes him with punches. Horiuchi throws good punches and avoids the takedowns.
Round 2
Horiuchi throws good kicks but cant stop the Blitz. Horiuchi clinches, and the referee takes a point from Horiuchi for grabbing the cage, (I dont think he grabbed the cage). right after this sequence, Horiuchi gets dropped, Frelow goes down, and Horiuchi locks up a quick armbar. 🚩Horiuchi wins by submission.
Horiuchi is great fundamentally, but he has problems with unorthodox stuff. Horiuchi has a great gas tank, good defensive wrestling, good defensive Jiu-Jitsu and gives constant pressure when he’s on the attack. Very technical, but I think the Japanese flyweight lacks some brutality to his game. Frelow looks very good, he did NOT look like a short notice fighter in this bout. His blitzes were giving Horiuchi plenty of trouble, and he was getting his shots in. I’ll be looking to see how these two develop
Julien LeBlanc vs Joe Bauman – Middleweight
Round 1
Bauman throws some aggressive kicks and clinches. Leblanc clinches and gets reversed and Bauman does some work on the ground
Round 2
Bauman hits a big belly to belly suplex on Leblanc and does work on the ground
Round 3
Leblanc clinches , Bauman works himself out of it and gets a takedown.🚩 Bauman wins by unanimous decision
Bauman needs to go hard into Muay Thai, his kicks would be fantastic, And I think Muay Thai would really help his clinch game and his gas tank. Bauman has the athleticism, what he needs now is fundamentals- upgrade your striking bro! Leblanc needs better footwork and better wrestling
Kevin Rayford vs Chris Brown – Welterweight
Round 1
Brown throws some aggressive kicks and teeps to the thigh, disjointed round
Round 2
Brown throwing awkward strikes and kicks
Round 3
Teeps to the thigh, awkward kicks by Brown, but Rayford does nothing.🚩 Brown wins by unanimous decision
I dont know if Rayford was confused, or if he couldn’t get going, or if he was hurt, but the man did nothing. Brown used that teep to the thigh like this was a full-on Muay Thai fight, it was constant. Brown was keeping Rayford at kicking range with the teep, and throwing awkward kicks and punches, the whole fight. Brown’s style kind of reminded me of Elias Theodorou
Timothy Teves vs Javier Garcia – 150 lbs
Round 1
Kicks by both guys, Garcia shoots a bad shot and eats some shots on the ground. Garcia is able to stand up and exits with some good punches
Round 2
Teves throws good low kicks and lands some good counters
Round 3
Garcia throws some strikes, gets a takedown, works to the mount, locks up a triangle choke from the mount, and finishes it from his back, with less than 30 seconds left. 🚩Garcia wins by submission
Garcia IS fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. Garcia has excellent footwork, solid counters, he doesnt over-commit, a technical ground game, and technical wrestling. Garcia really fights like a veteran. Teves is also very good. The Hawaiian has fast hand and good wrestling, but his footwork needs a little more work. This was a high-level technical fight. Garcia says that he wants to fight for the LFA belt- I hope that he gets a DWCS call, and I’ll be watching what Teves does next
Odell Pantin vs Thomas Peterson – Heavyweight
Round 1
Peterson gets the takedown. Pantin fights well off his back. Peterson is able to pass the legs and tries for an Americana. Peterson then throws some elbows from the mounted crucifix position, he then takes back-mount and rains down punches.🚩 Peterson wins by TKO
Peterson looked good and smart. He came in this fight at around 255, I’d like to see him at 245, I think he’d be a lot faster than other heavyweights. Heck, I think he has room to go down to Light Heavyweight if he’s committed. Pantin didnt look bad in this fight, he stayed on his back for way too long, and paid for it in the end
Obinwa Ikebunna vs Roland Dunlap – Middleweight
Round 1
Dunlap uses good movement and gets some big takedowns
Round 2
Dunlap grapples and gets a big slam and knocks Ikebunna out.🚩 Dunlap wins by KO
That slam was a picture perfect slam in the center of the octagon, it will definitely be in the running for KO of the year. This was a high level fight. Both guys are top fighters. Ikebunna is very very talented, but he just gets in spots where he gets punished badly. Dunlap also has world class skills and looks dynamic at first glance. I need to see Dunlap again, I’ll be keeping my eye on him.
Javier Garcia was unbroken
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