The LFA rolled into The Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona for this one.
Main Event
David Michaud vs Christian Aguilera – Welterweight.
Round 1
Aguilera starts off looking to wrestle, as both guys look even on the feet. Michaud is able to drop Aguilera with a right, then he swarms him. Aguilera is defending himself, he gets put into a mounted Crucifix and the referee stops the fight.🚩 Michaud wins by TKO
This was a very early stoppage. Maybe the ref thinks that the fight is over when someone gets put into a mounted crucifix. I know Aguilera was intelligently defending himself, because he brought his feet up to the cage to push off and reverse the position, its just a shame that the referee wanted to be the star in this fight.
Steven Newell vs. Jared Gooden – Catchweight
Round 1
Gooden looks stiff, but he is limber enough to feed Newell with leg kicks, and Newell just accepts them. Gooden is kicking Newell’s left leg with his right foot, and for some reason Newell keeps circling towards the right foot. Keep in mind that Gooden is fighting in orthodox stance.
Round 2
The round starts with more of the same. Newell is finally able to get a takedown, and Gooden closes his guard around Newell in a defensive position. This tells me that Gooden is poor on the ground.
Round 3
Newell continues to circle to Gooden’s power hand, and he keeps getting his leg blasted, which is unfortunate, because, just looking at Newell, you can see that he has great physical tools, he has a longer reach than Gooden, and has a lean body type, but his fight IQ is atrocious. Late in the round, Newell gets a takedown, Gooden gets back up, Newell then gets busted up with elbows, the fight comes to an end.🚩 Gooden wins by Unanimous Decision.
Gooden isn’t a very good fighter. He naturally keeps his chin up in the air, and he is very stiff. Newell is lucky that he didnt face someone that could really damage him. He fought a very dangerous fight, and he looked like he should be fighting amateurs.
Seth Baczynski vs. Daniel Madrid – Middleweight
Round 1
Baczynski starts out very aggressive, and he rocks Madrid early, then he goes in for a takedown, which gives Madrid time to recover. Madrid looks more dangerous in the clinch than Baczynski. Baczynski takes Madrid down, Madrid catches him in a guillotine and finishes it.🚩 Madrid wins by Submission.
Baczynski was looking to clinch with someone that was better in the clinch than he is. He wasn’t confident enough to keep the fight on the feet. He also didnt have the technical ability to get out of, what looked like a lose guillotime.
Kevin Natividad vs. Andy Perez – Bantamweight
Round 1
Perez has zero head movement, and looks like a street fighter. I feel like Natividad has to finish him and get him out of here, but Perez is scoring more than Natividad. The two clinch and Perez opens up Natividad with an elbow. Perez looked better than his opponent in round 1
Round 2
Natividad comes out more aggressive and checks Perez’s chin several times. Perez is still in the fight, but Natividad looks to be the winner of round 2.
Round 3
Perez comes out throwing leg kicks. You have the feeling that if Perez survives, it is as if he won. Perez survives. 🚩Natividad wins by Split Decision.
The LFA threw Natividad a can, and he couldn’t crush it, in fact, the can crushed Natividad in the first round. Natividad is susceptible to leg kicks, and his wrestling game looked very weak. Perez exposed so many of his opponent’s flaws in this fight Even though he lost- He won.
Kyler Phillips vs. Emeka Ifekandu – Bantamweight
Round 1
Phillips looks to have better Muay Thai and Hammers Ifekandu’s legs with kicks. The fight looks basically like a Muay Thai fight. Ifekandu begins counter-punching. Phillips throws a kick to the body, then, immediately after. wraps his shin around Ifekandu’s dome. The ref is late to get in the picture, and Ifekandu eats some leather on the ground.🚩 Phillips wins by TKO
Ifekandu was not moving his head, and was fighting casually, he actually shrugged after Phillips landed a body kick. Phillips then put his lights out with a roundhouse- Phillips was fighting with bad intentions. We only got to see Muay Thai in this fight, and Phillips was the more aggressive Muay Thai fighter.
Jaime Hernandez vs Hunter Azure – Bantamweight
Round 1
Azure is rocking Hernandez, who looks very tentative. Hernandez has poor footwork, and he gets dropped with a body kick, and then pummeled on the ground. Azure lets him back up, then drops him with another body kick. Lamb to the slaughter.🚩 Azure wins by KO
Azure looked good. We didnt get to see his wrestling nor Jiu Jitsu, but he looked aggressive on the feet and showed a wide variety of strikes. I’ll be looking to see more of him
Andy Perez is unbroken