Both claim victory! But who is taking the
belt home???
#LFA88 pic.twitter.com/A3GXDGZIgR— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass)
August 22, 2020
The
Legacy Fighting Alliance crowned a new welterweight champion at
LFA
88.
The promotion pitted prospects Vinicius
de Jesus and Jaleel
Willis against one another for the vacant belt and it was
Willis (13-2) that came out on top. The two men had a
back-and-forth battle on the feet over five rounds. Ultimately, de
Jesus (9-3) couldn’t keep up with his foe according to the judges,
who all awarded Willis the victory with scores of 49-46, 50-45, and
48-47.
The co-main event saw Aaron
McKenzie win a thrilling bout against Glaucio
Eliziario. McKenzie (8-2-1) was rocked early against Eliziario
(9-6) after getting hit with a flying knee but managed to battle
back into the bout. McKenzie would blast Eliziario and then
lock in a rear-naked choke that forced his opponent to tap out
4:15 into Round 1.
In a bout between featherweight contenders, Natan Levy
stayed undefeated in his professional career against Ben Lugo. The
superior grappling of Levy (5-0) won him Round 1 and 3 against Lugo
(5-4). However, Lugo nearly knocked out Levy in Round 2 and did
enough to earn a 10-8 scorecard from one judge. In the end, Levy
took a majority decision with scores of 29-28, 28-28, and
29-28.
The main card kicked off with Evan Elder
taking on Kegan
Gennrich at lightweight. Elder (4-0) lived up to his “Phenom”
nickname and kept his perfect record intact by winning a unanimous
decision over Gennrich (2-2). Superior striking helped him take
three 29-28 scorecards in a competitive bout.
In preliminary action, Jeff
Nielsen (2-0) won a split decision victory over Brady
Minner (0-1) at middleweight. Meanwhile, Charles
Alex (1-0) submitted Robiel
Tesfaldet (2-4)
via rear-naked choke 4:01 into Round 2 of their flyweight
contest.