No promo, no tough talk, all honesty from
the champ.Good night from
#LFA128!! pic.twitter.com/qEC3D1ttaT— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass)
April 9, 2022
The
Legacy Fighting Alliance put on quite a show for the fans
attending the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as
seven out of eight fights ended inside the distance. The LFA
128 main event featured Aaron
McKenzie and Lucas Clay
colliding for the vacant lightweight championship. McKenzie
(11-2-1, 4-0 LFA) imposed his suffocating grappling style over Clay
early in Round 1, taking his opponent on the mat and keeping him
there for the whole frame while teasing submission attempts. In
turn, Clay (8-2, 3-1 LFA) made the proper adjustments when he
returned for a much better second round where “Cassius” showcased
sharp boxing skills that stopped McKenzie’s takedown attempts and
punished his opponent’s face in the process. In Round 3, Clay gave
McKenzie some of his own medicine after taking his adversary on the
mat, capturing his back, and attempting to choke him out with an
unsuccessful rear-naked choke attempt.
While his foe looked ahead on the scorecards as the fight went into
the championship rounds, McKenzie caught a second wind in Round 4
and implemented a strategy similar to the one seen in the opening
frame, pinning Clay with his back on the canvas once more. The
contestants grappled for most of the fifth stanza, where McKenzie
seemed to have an edge over his opponent, taking a significant lead
in control time. Clay attempted a last-minute assault with a flying
knee followed by a nice punch, but the clash went the distance.
After 25 minutes of action, two officials gave 48-47 nods to
McKenzie, while the third judge sided with Clay winning 48-47. It
was enough for the Rafael
Lovato Jr.-protegé to become the sixth 155-pound titleholder in
promotional history.
A heavyweight clash between Jimmy
Lawson and Marino
Eatman served as the event’s co-headliner, which was solved in
a matter of seconds. Lawson (4-1, 2-0 LFA) moved the action on the
floor right out of the gate thanks to a successful takedown. Once
he pinned Eatman (5-5-1, 0-1 LFA) with his back on the canvas, he
unleashed his punches. Eatman put on a shy attempt to defend
himself, but “Greedy”
was relentless in his offensive attack. Referee Aaron Menard
stepped in to stop the action when he noticed that Eatman wasn’t
defending himself intelligently anymore. The official stoppage came
34 seconds into the first frame.
Elsewhere, Cage Warriors Fighting Championship alum Richie
Miranda (4-0, 1-0 LFA) choked out Devon Dixon
(4-1-1, 0-1 LFA) thanks to
a guillotine that ended the contest at the 2:07 mark of the
third stanza in a 160-pound catchweight; three-time All-American
wrestler Bryce
Meredith (2-0, 2-0 LFA) stopped 47-year-old Jay Viola
(3-4, 0-2 LFA)
with punches 64 seconds out of the gate in Round 3 of their
140-pound catchweight; bantamweight
Jalen Jackson (0-2, 0-1 LFA)
with relentless ground-and-pound action at the 2:02 of the
first frame; Thad Jean
(3-0, 1-0 LFA) wrecked Sarek
Shields (2-1, 1-1 LFA)
thanks to a heavy combination that stopped their 172-pound
catchweight bout at 3:40 of the second stanza; Adamu Isah
(1-0, 1-0 LFA) induced Andrew
Triolo (0-1, 0-1 LFA) to tap to due to strikes at the 2:24 mark
of Round 1. In amateur action, Cheyanne
Bowers submitted Kaeley
Fenhaus due to armbar at 2:50 of the second round.