Chidi
Njokuani made Cristhian
Torres bleed, then made him pay.
The former Tachi Palace Fights champion was flawless in his
Legacy Fighting Alliance debut, as he brought down Torres with
a brutal knee strike to the body and follow-up punches in the
second round of their LFA
91 headliner on Friday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls,
South Dakota. Njokuani (19-7, 1-0 LFA) drew the curtain 4:10 into
Round 2.
The discrepancy in speed, power and skill was clear from the
outset. Njokuani uncorked ferocious kicks to the body, mixed in a
few jabs and opened multiple cuts on the Sanford MMA product.
Torres (15-11, 1-1 LFA) returned fire with ill intent but never
could pin down the moving target. A cut above his right eye
worsened in the early stages of the second round, where Njokuani
targeted the wound with a stepping elbow. He later floored Torres
with a head kick and backed it up with a sustained burst of
punches, turning the canvas into a slippery crimson mess in the
process. Once the two men returned to their feet, Njokuani drove a
knee into his fading counterpart’s solar plexus and closed him out
with punches.
The win was Njokuani’s first in nearly three years and put an end
to his two-fight losing streak.
Meanwhile,
MMA Lab export Kyle
Stewart put away Tim Caron
with punches in the second round of their middleweight co-main
event. Caron (10-3, 0-1 LFA) succumbed to blows 4:00 into Round 2,
as he suffered his second setback in three outings.
Stewart (13-3, 4-1 LFA) set the tone with sweeping power punches, a
hearty clinch and a trip takedown in the first round. His
aggression had Caron on his heels and set the stage for what was to
come. Stewart targeted the lead leg with kicks in Round 2, bullied
into the clinch behind a multi-punch combination and struck for a
takedown. He then progressed to full mount and cut loose with
punches and hammerfists until referee Vance
Swerdan had seen enough.
The 31-year-old Stewart has recorded back-to-back victories since
he was released by the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2019.
Elsewhere,
Dana White’s Contender Series alum Jamal
Pogues leaned on repeated takedowns, stifling positional
control and intermittent ground-and-pound, as he laid claim to a
unanimous decision over Tim Hiley in
a three-round light heavyweight showcase. All three judges scored
it the same: 30-27 for Pogues (8-3, 1-1 LFA).
Hiley (7-3, 2-2 LFA) saw a brief window of opportunity come and go
at the end of the first round, where he reversed into top position,
transitioned to the back and threatened with a rear-naked choke
until time ran out. From there, Pogues dominated. The Joe Stevenson
protégé employed a frustrating clinch complete with foot stomps and
put his stamp on the match with roughly a minute remaining in Round
3, as he took the undersized Hiley for a ride and executed a
powerful high-amplitude takedown.
Pogues has won four of his last five fights.
In other action, Kelly
Clayton (2-2, 1-0 LFA) dispatched Hailey
Cowan (5-2, 5-2 LFA) with a guillotine choke 46 seconds into
the second round of their women’s bantamweight pairing; Nick
Maximov (5-0, 1-0 LFA) submitted Johnny
James Jr. (1-2, 0-1 LFA) with a rear-naked choke 4:01 into the
second round of their light heavyweight encounter; Nate
Togbah Richardson (8-2, 2-1 LFA) took a unanimous decision from
Darius
Estell (6-3, 0-1 LFA) in a three-round featherweight scrap,
drawing 29-28 scores from all three judges; Josh
Quinlan (3-0, 1-0 LFA) wiped out Peter
Keepers (0-1, 0-1 LFA) with punches 1:29 into the second round
of their welterweight affair; and Edwin
Chavez (3-0, 2-0 LFA) submitted Keilen
Fantroy (0-1, 0-1 LFA) with a rear-naked choke 4:00 into the
first round of their catchweight clash at 150 pounds.