It took Zviad
Lazishvili less than four minutes to dismantle Ricky
Steele.
The unbeaten Georgian captured the vacant
Legacy Fighting Alliance bantamweight championship, as he
submitted Steele with a rear-naked choke in the first round of
their LFA
90 headliner on Friday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls,
South Dakota. Lazishvili (6-0, 2-0 LFA) closed the deal 3:42 into
Round 1.
Steele (6-1, 0-1 LFA) went nowhere despite five-inch height and
reach advantages. Lazisvhili corralled the SBG Idaho product along
the fence, secured a takedown and immediately scrambled to the
back. From there, he pestered Steele with punches, hunted for
openings and cinched the choke, setting his hooks once his arms
were in place. The tapout followed soon after.
Meanwhile, surging Black House export Maycon
Mendonca cut down Devin Smyth
with punches in the second round of their welterweight co-main
event. Mendonca (10-4, 4-3 LFA) brought it to a close 4:21 into
Round 2, as he extended his run of consecutive victories to
four.
Smyth (9-3, 0-1 LFA) struck for a takedown in the first round,
settled in half guard and applied his ground-and-pound before the
two men returned to their feet. He more than held his own in the
initial standup exchanges with Mendonca, as he snapped back the
Brazilian’s head with a right hand and connected with a spinning
backfist. However, Smyth did not enjoy the middle stanza. Mendonca
doubled over the Murcielago MMA rep with a spinning back kick below
the navel and pressed him backward with jabs and leg kicks. He then
countered a spinning backfist from Smyth with a scorching right
hand, followed him to the mat and knocked him senseless with
punches and hammerfists.
The godson of former
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder
Rashad
Evans, Smyth has lost back-to-back bouts.
Elsewhere,
Team Alpha Male prospect Allan
Begosso remained undefeated and did so in spectacular fashion,
as he wiped out Sean
McPadden with punches in the first round of their bantamweight
showcase. McPadden (4-1, 3-1 LFA) bowed out 48 seconds into Round
1.
Begosso (4-0-1, 1-0 LFA) needed no time to warm up, firing punches
with ill intent from the start. McPadden waded into danger, ran
into a devastating left hook and collapsed backward. Sensing the
finish was near, Begosso pounced with punches and let his hands go
until referee Vance Swerdan had seen enough.
The heavy-handed Begosso has rattled off four straight victories
since he battled Mauricio
Donoso to a draw in his March 12, 2016 debut.
In other action, Ignacio
Bahamondes (10-3, 1-0 LFA) eked out a split decision—28-29,
29-28, 30-27—over Chris Brown
in a three-round welterweight encounter; Mo Miller
(4-0, 1-0 LFA) submitted Mando
Gutierrez (4-1, 1-1 LFA) with a rear-naked choke 4:26 into the
second round of their bantamweight tilt; Tabatha
Ricci (3-0, 1-0 LFA) laid claim to a unanimous verdict over
Kelsey
Arneson (0-1, 0-1 LFA) in a three-round strawweight affair,
earning 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 scores from the judges; Dan Argueta
(5-0, 2-0 LFA) took a unanimous decision from Jackson
Filho (4-2, 0-1 LFA) in a three-round featherweight scrap,
drawing 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 marks on the scorecards; and
Alden
Coria (3-0, 1-0 LFA) submitted Calvin
Harbaugh (2-2, 1-1 LFA) with a rear-naked choke 2:20 into the
first round of their bantamweight pairing.