LFA has an incredibly busy start to the new year planned. The promotion is scheduled to host numerous events in the coming weeks, with a few shows being their debut in some U.S. states.
Their 2022 schedule will kick off on Friday night when they present LFA 121 from The Factory in Deep Ellum in Dallas, Texas, USA. The event was set to be headlined by lightweights Aaron McKenzie and Joshua Jones. However, after Jones said he couldn’t make the lightweight limit and the fighters couldn’t agree to a catchweight, their bout was removed from the card.
Instead, it will be welterweights Chris Brown and Steve Jones headlining the eight-fight card. Here’s a preview of it all.
Click here to skip to a preview of the main card.
Preliminary Card
Bout 1: Caleb Jensen (0-0) vs. Harrison Layne (0-0) (Welterweight)
Welterweights Caleb Jensen and Harrison Layne will make their pro debuts in the opening prelim.
MMA database Tapology shows that Jensen has put together a strong seven-fight undefeated record as an amateur from 2015 to 2020. Layne has fought twice as an amateur, winning both bouts via submission in 2021.
Bout 2: Zumar Archer (0-0) vs. Akeem Lewis (2-0) (Middleweight)
Zumar Archer will get his long-awaited pro debut on the prelims against Akeem Lewis.
Archer has attempted to get a pro fight for roughly a year now, with numerous bookings falling through.
Lewis has picked up two wins as a pro, although he is returning after nearly two full years outside of the cage.
Main Card (9:00PM EST / 8:00PM CST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 3: Siteu Senghor (2-0) vs. Jakori Savage (0-0) (Heavyweight)
Heavyweights will kick off the card, as Siteu Senghor and Jakori Savage will fight.
Senghor fought twice as a pro, previously earning two finish wins in 2019. This included his pro debut, which he stopped in just 14 seconds.
Savage is switching from amateur to pro after attaining four wins and one loss. His last amateur fight was just last month when he stopped Eris Alvarado.
Bout 4: John Pham (4-2) vs. Anvar Boynazarov (2-0) (Featherweight)
Featherweight prospects will collide when John Pham and Anvar Boynazarov fight.
Boynazarov, a former GLORY Kickboxer, made his MMA debut in 2020. He has seen success in the sport thus far, picking up two first-round finish victories.
Pham is riding a two-fight winning streak. He went the distance in both of his last appearances, winning via unanimous decision at the end of both.
Pham has fought in LFA before, losing a bout to Christian Rodriguez in October 2020.
Bout 5: Isaiah Gutierrez (6-1) vs. Keeton Gorton (6-5) (Bantamweight)
Bellator alum Isaiah Gutierrez will compete on Friday night against Keeton Gorton.
Gutierrez has been out of the cage since early 2020 but has a strong record of six wins and just one loss. He has fought in Bellator before, defeating Aaron Vickers in 2019. His LFA debut was unsuccessful in 2018, as Kevin Wirth handed him his sole pro loss in that outing.
Gorton has struggled in recent years, flipping between winning and losing. He is currently riding the momentum of a win that he picked up against Michael Billups in October.
Bout 6: Alden Coria (5-0) vs. Michael Cyr (3-0) (Bantamweight)
Undefeated bantamweights Alden Coria and Michael Cyr have been matched for Friday night.
Coria has been honing his skills with LFA for the past year or so. He earned his third win for the promotion in July 2021, submitting Donnie Ballou in just a round via guillotine choke.
Cyr has quickly attained three wins since his November 2020 pro debut. He last appeared two months back, submitting Kameron Jordan on a B2 Fighting Series card. He has yet to go into the third round as a pro.
Bout 7: Elijah Johns (7-2) vs. Brandon Phillips (8-4) (Featherweight)
Former LFA headlining acts Elijah Johns and Brandon Phillips will look to get back into the win column in the co-main event.
Phillips will be coming back to featherweight for this fight. He was up at lightweight in his last appearance, losing a main event to Aaron McKenzie in April 2021. He has appeared in combat sports one more time since then, losing a kickboxing bout to Alfred Walker in June.
Johns lost a main event fight last time around, dropping a split decision to Bruno Souza in March 2021. He had attained a long winning streak in LFA prior to then, scoring five wins from 2019 to 2020.
Johns missed weight for the fight on Thursday, coming in four-and-a-half pounds over the non-championship limit at featherweight.
Bout 8: Chris Brown (7-3) vs. Steve Jones (8-2) (Welterweight)
In what is now the main event for this card, Chris Brown and Steve Jones will fight at welterweight.
Brown is coming off a strong 2021 that saw him turn things around. He struggled in 2020, losing two fights – one of which came against now-UFC fighter Ignacio Bahamondes. But in 2021, he earned two victories. After beating Kelvin Rayford at LFA 104 in April, he returned in July to stop Glaucia Elizario in the second round of a fight.
Jones had a winning streak of five fights snapped in March 2021, as he lost to Nikolay Veretennikov at LFA 102. He will look to get back on the right track on Friday.
Brown missed weight for this bout, going over the limit by three pounds on Thursday.
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