Fight Facts: LFA 2020 Phase 2

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Fight Facts is a breakdown of all the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF LFA EVENTS: 92
TOTAL NUMBER OF LFA FIGHTS: 771
TOTAL NUMBER OF LFA FIGHTS IN PHASE 2: 28
TOTAL NUMBER OF LFA FINISHES IN PHASE 2: 15

The Legacy Fighting Alliance staged its second phase following the COVID-19 pandemic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The promotion ended its residency at the Sanford Pentagon after eight total shows, with Phase 2 covering LFA 88, LFA 89, LFA 90 and LFA91. These four events featured a bevy of unbeaten finishers keeping it rolling, a “U.S. vs. the World” series that saw the Americans get shellacked and the biggest LFA upset of the year.

DAKOTA ON MY MIND: This eight-event stretch in the Sanford Pentagon is the longest the promotion had ever stayed in one location for consecutive events. The LFA is moving to Wichita, Kansas. For three shows starting in October.

WHAT’S UP, HARDCORES?: Although the two first two matches on LFA 88 were unaired, the promotion decided to air preliminary bouts on its Facebook channel for LFA 90 and LFA 91. Two of the three prelims for those shows ended by rear-naked choke submissions.

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LFA 88

WAIT FOR WELTER: Jaleel Willis needed all 25 minutes to defeat Vinicius de Jesus for the vacant welterweight crown. Of every LFA 170-pound title fight, only one has ended inside the distance, when Derrick Krantz captured the inaugural throne over Ben Neumann in the second round due to strikes.

MCKENZIES OF A FEATHER: Notching his eighth career win by tapping Glaucio Eliziario with a rear-naked choke, all eight of the wins for Aaron McKenzie have come by stoppage. McKenzie’s only two setbacks came on the scorecards, while he also fought to a draw with A.J. Nichols in 2018.

SOME WEEKEND FOR THE SYNDICATE: Taking a majority verdict over Ben Lugo, Natan Levy advanced his undefeated record to 5-0. Three of those five wins for the Syndicate MMA product have come on the scorecards.

THE LEVY WAS ANYTHING BUT DRY: With five wins in five LFA appearances, Levy is now tied with six other fighters for the fifth-most triumphs in company history. Brandon Royval and Austin Lingo each have six wins, while Damon Jackson and Victor Altamirano both have won seven times.

CONTENDER SERIES COMING RIGHT UP: Levy is one of four fighters in LFA history to go unbeaten after at least five fights with the LFA. Altamirano, Lingo and Casey Kenney are the others to do so.

WHEN YOU’RE FEATHERIN’ IT, BROTHER: Across all the majority decisions to take place in the LFA cage, following Levy’s win as a featherweight, 44 percent have come in bouts scheduled for 145 pounds.

ELDER IN PERFORMANCE, NOT IN YEARS: Young in his career now at 23 years of age and now 4-0, Evan Elder captured a unanimous decision against Kegan Gennrich. Elder had never fought out of the first round as a pro.

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LFA 89

SPLITTING TIME WITH THE IN-LAWS: Both Ricardo Dias and Steven Jones won split decisions over Desmond Torres and Tyler Ray, respectively, in back-to-back outings. This marked only the seventh time in company history that two straight split decisions have been read.

WATCH THE STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: Lowering his career finish rate to 78 percent with a decision win against Torres, Dias had recorded his previous four victories all by stoppage within two rounds.

WRONG TIME TO VISIT: Dias made his first trip to the United States for his appearance in LFA 89. All of his prior bouts went down in either Brazil or South Korea.

GET A MOP: Smashing Lamar Gosey with a knee in 86 seconds, Josh Fremd earned the fifth-fastest clean knockout from a knee strike in LFA history. It is the fastest finish coming from a knee in LFA light heavyweight history.

THE FIGHTER AND THE CARPENTER: MMA Lab prospect Clayton Carpenter is now 3-0 after taking a decision over MMA newcomer Manuel Medina. The 24-year-old has won once by knockout, once by submission, and a third time on the scorecards.

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LFA 90

NOT OK, USA: Seven of the fights taking place on the card saw an American fighter taking on an international opponent. Only two of the U.S.-based combatants emerged victorious at the end of the night.

THE LION DOES NOT SLEEP TONIGHT: Throughout the night, three bouts ended via rear-naked choke. Just eight other events in LFA history have featured at least this many tapouts from a mata leão. Only two cards—LFA 13 and LFA 40—had more than three during the course of the evening.

THE PREVIOUS RECORD IS UNDER REVIEW: According to the promotion, Zviad Lazishvili lifted his perfect record to 13-0 by submitting Ricky Steele in the first round. If this record is accurate, the Georgian has finished his opponent in nine of those wins.

A DANGEROUS 50/50: With Lazishvili taking home the bantamweight strap by dispatching Steele in Round 1, half of the 135-pound LFA title fights have ended in the first round. The other half have gone all five rounds.

A REAL SHOWMAN: A 4-0 fighter by tapping fellow unbeaten Mando Gutierrez in the second round, Mo Miller has stopped three of those four adversaries before the final bell. “Mo Show” has now recorded stoppages in Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 early into his early career.

FABER AND THE BOYS: Team Alpha Male’s Allan Begosso stopped the also undefeated Sean McPadden in 48 seconds with strikes. Across five career bouts, the Brazilian has won four while also fighting to a draw. Each of his three stoppages came within the three-minute mark.

YOU ARE FILLED WITH DETERMINATION: Now an unblemished 5-0, Dan Argueta needed 15 minutes to beat Jackson Filho. Prior to this appearance, “The Determined” had stopped each of his first four adversaries in the first round.

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LFA 91

QUITE A LEGACY: In his LFA debut, Chidi Njokuani busted up Cristhian Torres with a knee and follow-up punches to earn the victory. Njokuani is now one of 15 fighters to ever appear under the LFA banner as well as its predecessor organizations: Resurrection Fighting Alliance and Legacy Fighting Championship.

UPSET? HAVE SOME SKITTLES: As a +345 underdog, Kelly Clayton evened her record to .500 by submitting massive -470 favorite Hailey Cowan. The upset for “Skittles” is the biggest of Phase 2, as well as the most substantial in 2020 from the released odds on major books. A +335 Jones came close to that tally when he edged Ray on the scorecards at LFA 89.

HIS POWER IS MAXIMOV!: In the longest fight of his professional career, Nick Maximov secured the rear-naked choke to tap out Johnny James Jr. at 4:01 of the second. The California native has yet to reach the third round in any fight.

RETRIEVED FOR A BOUNTY: In his third pro fight, Josh Quinlan tapped Peter Keepers in the second round. Across those three wins, “The Renegade” has stopped his opponent in each before the 6:30 mark.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into these four events, nine fighters had never been defeated, seven had never been finished, another two had never been knocked out, three others had never bene submitted and six had never lost on the scorecards.