Vanessa Demopoulos!
#LFA85 pic.twitter.com/rpF6jPD90m— ShayMyName (@ImShannonTho)
July 18, 2020
Crystal
Vanessa Demopoulos exploited the narrowest opening.
The
Black House rep laid claim to the inaugural
Legacy Fighting Alliance women’s strawweight championship and
did so in spectacular fashion, as she choked Sam Hughes
unconscious with an inverted triangle in the fourth round of their
LFA
85 headliner on Friday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls,
South Dakota. Demopoulos (5-1, 4-1 LFA) cut off blood flow to the
brain 2:21 into Round 4.
Hughes (4-1, 1-1 LFA) built a commanding lead across three-plus
rounds with volume punching, leg kicks and merciless pressure. She
also benefitted from a foul at the end of Round 2, where Demopoulos
connected with an upkick that resulted in her being deducted a
point. It mattered not. Bleeding from her nose and mouth,
Demopoulos remained true to her submission grappling roots in the
fourth round, as she fished for a heel hook, then made the smooth
transition to an inverted triangle. She tightened her squeeze on
the neck, Hughes trying in vain to escape before losing
consciousness.
Demopoulos, 31, has posted four straight wins and now reigns atop
the LFA’s 115-pound weight class.
In the bantamweight co-main event, surging
Arizona Combat Sports standout Kevin
Natividad put away Bellator
MMA and
World Series of Fighting alum Kyle
Estrada with second-round punches. Natividad (9-1, 4-1 LFA)
sewed up his fifth consecutive win 1:37 into Round 2.
Estrada (10-6, 1-3 LFA) did some damage before he bowed out,
particularly with kicks to the lower leg. Natividad showed no signs
of weakness, even as a hematoma grew on his lead leg. He backed up
Estrada with a double jab and hook to the body in the second round,
then cut loose with a devastating right hook that hit its intended
target. “The Hoosier” hit the deck, where Natividad met him with
another plunging right hand before referee Vance
Swerdan could secure the scene.
Meanwhile, unbeaten
Syndicate MMA representative Jordan
Leavitt submitted Leivon
Lewis with an anaconda choke in the second round of their
lightweight feature. Leavitt (6-0, 1-0 LFA) drew the curtain 2:01
into Round 2, as he executed his fourth successful submission in
six career appearances.
Lewis (3-1, 1-1 LFA) controlled much of the first round, where he
held his own in the grappling exchanges and zeroed in on his
opponent with close-range knees to the body and standing elbows.
Early in the middle stanza, Leavitt swept the
Jackson-Wink MMA product, clamped down on a front headlock and
cinched the anaconda choke for the finish.
In other action,
Kings MMA’s Leandro
Gomes (6-1, 3-0 LFA) took a unanimous decision from Jacob
Thrall (6-3, 1-1 LFA) in a three-round featherweight affair,
drawing 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 marks from the judges; Arizona
Combat Sports prospect Christian
Natividad (1-0, 1-0 LFA) dazzled in his professional debut, as
he knocked out Michael
Aquila (1-2, 0-2 LFA) with punches 2:48 into the first round of
their bantamweight pairing; and
Dana White’s Contender Series alum Mitchell
Sipe (5-2, 0-1 LFA) cut down Darion
Abbey (1-2, 0-1 LFA) with a knee strike and follow-up punches
1:37 into the first round of their heavyweight tilt.