More LFA at the Sanford Pentagon. LFA 89 rolls a long. I kinda miss the different cities that the LFA travel to. Each city has a different feel, and I really miss the fan experience in the LFA. -More so than the UFC
Brant Moore was able to grapple himself to a unanimous decision victory over Joe Giannetti in the Main event of LFA 89
Main Event
Brant Moore vs Joe Giannetti – Lightweight
Round 1
They clinch. Moore gets the takedown and advances to high-half mount
Round 2
Moore gets Giannetti down and gets in high-half mount. Giannetti stands and Moore takes him down again
Round 3
Grappling. Moore has top control. 🚩Moore wins by unanimous decision
Moore decided to lay and pray for large portions of this fight, and Giannetti wasn’t very urgent off his back. There are still a lot of questions I have about Moore. Can he strike? Is his defensive Jiu Jitsu any good? How does he fair against someone with great takedown defense?
Adrian Hadribeaj vs Demarques Jackson – Welterweight
Round 1
Hadribeaj hits Jackson with a leg kick and drops him. Jackson is able to scramble, shoot a single-leg and get Hadribeaj down. Demarques Jackson then takes the back and eventually works to lock in the RNC. 🚩Jackson wins by submission
Jackson was just able to be patient, and the fight fell in his lap. He just flowed with what the fight gave him. Experience gets you wins like this sometimes. Hadribeaj looked a little herky-jerky on the feet for the short time that I saw him
Ricardo Dias vs Desmond Torres – Bantamweight
Round 1
Torres is applying pressure and Dias is throwing big shots, and circling
Round 2
Sane as round 1
Round 3
Torres gets a takedown and beats up Dias on the ground. Dias is able to defend well, and get back to a standing position. 🚩Dias wins by Split decision
Torres has a very high upside, I just dont think his skill-level has caught up with his style. To be successful with the style that Torres has, you have to be very skillful. He needs to be a slicker striker, he needs a wider variety of strikes, he needs to throw more feints, he needs better footwork. Torres does have a good gas tank, and an entertaining style, if he gets the right coaching, he could be a very special fighter. Dias is also very good -heck, he won this fight, but he was mainly fighting on the defensive, I’d like to see him dictate the pace a little more.
Steve Jones vs Tyler Ray – Welterweight
Round 1
Jones is having the better of the exchanges
Round 2
Ray goes for a guillotine, and ends up on top in mount, Jones is able to fight out of it.
Round 3
Ray’s hands look slow. Ray shoots and Jones sprawls and gets Ray down. Jones gets in mount and does work. Ray eventually escapes being mounted by kicking off the fence. 🚩Jones wins by Split decision
I wasn’t very impressed with Tyler Ray in this fight, he relied on his wrestling way too much, and Jones seemed like the better wrestler. Ray’s hands were also very very slow, and Jones saw everything that was coming his way. Jones had some holes in his game too -Jones didn’t move his head well, and he didn’t move his feet well
Lamar Gosey vs Josh Fremd – Light Heavyweight
Round 1
Gosey goes for the takedown and gets it, and puts Fremd on his back. They stand and clinch, and Friend pushes Gosey’s head down, Muay Thai style and knees him into oblivion. 🚩Fremd wins by KO
We didn’t get to see a full game from either fighter, but Fremd shows that he has a little Muay Thai clinch game. When you’re in the clinch in Muay Thai, you never want to turn your back, and you never want to get your head pushed down, Gosey did both, and he paid for it with his consciousness. Fremd is big, and he has room to bulk up a little more at Light Heavyweight. Gosey has a long way to go
Manuel Medina vs Clayton Carpenter – Flyweight
Round 1
Carpenter clinches against the cage and gets the takedown. Carpenter goes into high half, then into mount and delivers some elbows on the ground
Round 2
Carpenter hits Medina with some strikes and a big knee and gets a takedown, and does some damage on the ground
Round 3
They stand, Carpenter is having the better of the exchanges, then there is a shift later in the round and Medina is starting to edge Carpenter and throw some damaging leg kicks. 🚩Carpenter wins by unanimous decision
I like Carpenter a lot. He showed me total MMA in this fight. The one thing that he got wrong, was that his use of energy was disjointed and he got a little tired and out of ideas in the third round. Medina is not bad either, what I didn’t like about Medina was that he just accepted defeat in this fight. He also didn’t look very impressive off his back. But this was Medina’s first pro fight, so we have a ways to go with him
Clayton Carpenter in his 3rd pro fight was unbroken at LFA 89