Charles Johnson Finishes Carlos Mota in 5th to Retain LFA Flyweight Title at LFA 122

One of the greatest championship fights ever on UFC FIGHT PASS! #LFA122

(C) Charles Johnson via KO in Round 5

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Charles Johnson may have fought inside the Legacy Fighting Alliance cage for the last time as he defended his flyweight title for the third time and in spectacular fashion.

Johnson improved to 11-2 as he eventually wore down challenger Carlos Mota in what is easily an early candidate for Fight of the Year. Mota (6-1) took the fight to the champ, applying insane pressure and throwing punches and kicks virtually nonstop round after round. Johnson obliged, standing both in the pocket and on the outside with pinpoint kicks, jabs and hooks. But while the two tore into each other with a torrid pace from the start, neither man landed anything hard or clean until Johnson did so in the fifth.

A slick right-left to the head rocked the Brazilian early in the final frame and Johnson smelled blood. Mota had slowed down just a pinch but once he was dazed by the left to the jaw, he couldn’t recover. Johnson landed three more lefts to the head, switched to a conventional stance and then dropped his foe with a right cross to the jaw. The punch crumbled Mota, who collapsed onto his face and knees, prompting referee Mike England to intervene, ending the LFA 122 main event 48 seconds into the fifth.

After the war, Johnson and the LFA commentary team inside The Factory at the District in St. Louis, Mo., suggested that his time in the LFA is over and that the UFC is next.

Brazilian bomber made quick work of Brant Moore a day after the American failed to make weight in their 167lb catchweight battle. Estrazulas (13-5) was aggressive with punches early but it was a left kick to the liver that spelled doom for Moore. Estrazulas closed the gap as Moore (9-2) retreated once that kick connected, and when he landed a hard left hook to the liver, Moore collapsed. Estrazulas pounced, but Moore was already finished and agonizing in the turtle position, ending the co-main event in stellar fashion in just 68 seconds.

After going winless in three LFA fights, Brazil’s Glaucio Eliziario finally got his hand raised when he out-dueled Will Starks over three grueling rounds. The two met in a 160lb catchweight tussle and while Starks (7-3) tried to keep it a tactical, technical affair, Eliziario brought the brawl to the American. Eliziario (10-7) landed thudding leg kicks and badly rocked his opponent with a vicious right elbow, cutting Starks’ face wide open. In the end, two judges had it 29-28 and the third saw it 30-27 for Eliziario, who walked away with a unanimous decision win.

Sarek Shields was far too much for fellow welterweight Jeremiah Curtright to handle as “The Berserker” scored multiple takedowns and punched and elbowed him from on top. After mounting and pounding on Curtright (4-3) for the duration of the second frame, the ringside doctor deemed Curtright unable to continue in between rounds two and three and waived it off. The TKO win allowed Shields to improve to 3-0.

Jett Shell (3-1) withstood a knee to the head and chest early in the second to submit foe Dan Moriarty. Shell tried an assortment of submissions in the first, but when Moriarty (1-1) knocked him to the canvas with the knee, Shell simply wrapped him up in a heel hook and forced the tap. The end came just 48 ticks into the second, ending the 130lb catchweight battle.