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FIGHT ODDS

Sherdog’s Top 10: Regional MMA Promotions

Patrick WymanApr 07, 2015
Brandon Thatch honed his skills in Resurrection Fighting Alliance. | Photo: Isaac Hinds/Sherdog.com


7. Resurrection Fighting Alliance


We touched on the rich talent that southern California offers to promoters in the entry on Tachi Palace Fights, but no one promotion offers enough opportunities for all of the promising fighters in the region. Resurrection Fighting Alliance travels all over the country, but its physical and spiritual home is the fight scene in the greater Los Angeles area. Ed Soares, perhaps best known as the manager of such Brazilian stars as Anderson Silva and formerly Jose Aldo and Junior dos Santos, has built an outstanding regional promotion on the premise that young talent is looking to move up.

RFA explicitly presents itself as a feeder organization for the UFC. Unlike many regional promotions, particularly those of yesteryear, RFA makes no effort to prevent its fighters from moving to the biggest stage if and when an offer comes. The promotion constantly touts its record of producing talent for the UFC and treats that as a selling point when it comes to bringing in fighters. Thus far, there is no reason to assume that strategy is lacking.

While Soares has only been at the RFA helm for a little more than two years, the list of future top-notch competitors to pass through the promotion is already strong. Brandon Thatch, Sergio Pettis, Pedro Munhoz and Zach Makovsky are just a few of the skilled fighters who got a boost from the fledgling promotion, and the next wave is already on the way. A co-promoted show with the aforementioned Legacy promotion is slated for May, and it promises to be one of the very best regional events in years.

Number 6 » Singapore is the promotion’s physical and spiritual home, and its close connections to Evolve MMA have provided some of its best fighters over the years. It operates throughout Southeast Asia, however, and has run shows in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China and even Cambodia. After running a few events stocked largely with expensive name fighters from overseas, it stepped back and focused on developing local talent in its various markets.