LAS VEGAS, Nevada — LFA CEO Ed Soares introduced at present that the promotion will have a good time its historic bicentennial occasion within the Land of 10,000 Lakes in January with a Championship Tripleheader at LFA 200. Every of the three world title fights will unify championships between present LFA champions and interim champions. LFA 200 would be the ninth LFA occasion to be held on a Saturday. The occasion can even be the twenty-third LFA occasion to happen within the state of Minnesota. Twenty-two of those occasions have taken place on the Mystic Lake On line casino Lodge, which is situated simply 25 minutes southwest of the Twin Cities.
LFA 200, offered by Monster Vitality, takes place Saturday, January twenty fifth on the Mystic Lake On line casino Lodge in Prior Lake, Minnesota. The primary occasion will characteristic a featherweight title unification bout when champion Elijah “Child” Johns faces interim champion Lerryan “The Gunslinger” Douglas. The co-main occasion will showcase a ladies’s flyweight title unification bout when champion Shannon “MMA Barbie” Clark meets interim champion Cheyanne “Chey” Bowers. The characteristic struggle will see a welterweight title unification bout when champion Vanilto Antunes battles interim champion Shamidkhan Magomedov. The whole principal card might be out there worldwide on UFC FIGHT PASS® at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.
“We’re excited to convey three Title Unification Fights to Minnesota to commemorate LFA 200,” said Soares. “In our 8 years as a promotion, we’ve got solely had three LFA title unification bouts, the place we’ve got a present champion and interim champion struggle to unify the title. On Saturday, January twenty fifth, that quantity will double to 6, after we convey three of those unbelievable bouts to the Higher Midwest. These three bouts will unify our featherweight, ladies’s flyweight, and welterweight world titles. The Mystic Lake On line casino Lodge is a world-class leisure vacation spot that has hosted extra LFA occasions than any venue on the earth. This made it the right location to host our historic bicentennial occasion.”
Tickets for LFA 200: Johns vs. Douglas can be found for buy by way of Ticketmaster.com.
Johns (10-2) is the youthful brother of former LFA bantamweight champion and present UFC star Miles Johns. The 28-year-old prospect adopted his brother from their native Kansas to Dallas, Texas the place the 2 developed into world-class prospects and LFA champions at Fortis MMA. The youthful Johns brother, affectionately generally known as “Child Johns”, captured his first world title earlier this yr within the promotion that he grew up in. That journey started all the best way again at LFA 1, the place he made his newbie MMA debut, and it culminated with him successful the title in what was a record-tying tenth skilled struggle for the LFA. Johns earned the title shot by dominating U23 World Wrestling Championships gold medalist Masuto Kawana at LFA 138. He then captured gold to proceed the Johns brothers’ successful methods and championship pedigree by defeating Alfred Walker at LFA 176. Now the one man to compete in yearly of LFA’s existence defends his title for the primary time. The bout will give him the file for probably the most skilled fights for the LFA (11), and if he wins, he’ll tie Victor Altamirano for probably the most skilled wins in LFA historical past (9).
Douglas (11-5) is a Brazilian that has taken the LFA featherweight division by storm over the previous 14 months. In that point, the 29-year-old has obliterated three of the division’s high prospects in Ivan Tena, Nathan Ghareeb, and Javier Reyes together with his ungodly punching energy. The human spotlight reel captured the interim title this previous summer season by dispatching Reyes and he now seems to unify the crown. Douglas hails from Paranaguá, Paraná in southern Brazil. It is a metropolis in the identical Brazilian state that has produced MMA legends Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, Maurício “Shogun Rua, and Cris Cyborg. Douglas would later meet Cyborg upon shifting to the US and now calls the ladies’s MMA icon a buddy and coaching accomplice. The person generally known as “The Gunslinger” additionally has a head coach within the UFC Corridor of Fame. That may be the legendary Cub Swanson, who has already produced two different LFA greats Dan Argueta and Danny Silva, who’re at the moment combating within the UFC. Douglas trains with Swanson, Argueta, Silva, and LFA contender Richie Miranda at Bloodline Fight Sports activities in Costa Mesa, California.
Clark (5-1) signed with the LFA as the highest ladies’s flyweight prospect from Canada and wasted little time exhibiting the world why in her LFA debut in October of 2023 at LFA 170. The 32-year-old bullied the highly-touted Bosnian prospect Nejra Repp en path to a Unanimous Resolution victory. The win earned the previous Canadian school soccer standout a shot on the vacant LFA ladies’s flyweight world title this previous February at LFA 177. That’s when the Canadian powerhouse confirmed the world she is extra than simply an elite athlete with punching energy. That evening, the girl identified as “MMA Barbie” fought a younger Brazilian prospect in Thaiany Lopes, who was a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu and practically a decade youthful. Lopes, like Clark, additionally signed with the LFA as a regional champion in her residence nation. None of that will matter because the Canadian striker flipped the script and submitted the grappling ace with a vicious Bulldog Choke halfway by way of the second spherical. The choke put Lopes to sleep and went viral on-line. Extra importantly, it made Clark the brand new LFA ladies’s flyweight world champion.
Bowers (5-1) is a lady that can return residence to Minnesota trying so as to add to the lengthy listing of athletic accomplishments she has racked up within the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Bowers set a number of athletic data in her hometown of St. James, Minnesota, whereas attending St. James Excessive College. The 30-year-old excelled in Cross-Nation and Observe & Discipline. She was a four-time MVP, two-year captain, four-time All-Convention, two-time Educational All-State, and held all crew and particular person data in cross nation and pole vault upon commencement. These achievements earned her a scholarship to compete on the NCAA Division I stage at South Dakota State College, the place she competed on the Jackrabbits Cross-Nation and Observe & Discipline groups. Bowers’ athleticism, work ethic, and endurance has since translated seamlessly into MMA as she trains below Bruce Hoyer at Subsequent Edge Academy in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 5 of her six professional bouts have taken place between Minnesota and South Dakota, however none have been extra necessary than her subsequent struggle as she seems to unify the LFA title in her residence state.
Antunes (16-7) is a person that earned his shot on the LFA welterweight title the great old style method. This occurred when the Muay Thai stylist left zero doubt about who the brand new “King of Rio” was by rising victorious in a winner takes all double title struggle in December of 2022. This occurred when two of Brazil’s high regional promotions The Conqueror and Favela Kombat squared off within the state of Rio de Janeiro with the winner of the primary occasion taking residence each promotions’ titles. The Tata Battle Crew product defeated UFC and TUF veteran Wendell Oliveira through TKO. The top got here when a health care provider referred to as a cease to issues after two rounds and Antunes walked away with each The Conqueror and Favela Kombat welterweight titles. That achievement earned the 29-year-old Fluminense a shot on the LFA welterweight world champion Geraldo Neto in the primary occasion of LFA 179. The occasion came about at Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, which was residence to the 2016 Summer season Olympics. Antunes made the a lot of the alternative by shortly dethroning the champion within the first spherical with a superb show of hanging.
Magomedov (9-1) is a world-class wrestler from the famed Dagestan area of Russia and boasts among the most spectacular grappling credentials within the division. The 30-year-old is a Grasp of Sport in Wrestling, he’s a two-time Russian Nationwide Champion in Wrestling, and he’s a World MMA Affiliation newbie champion. He additionally owns 4 wins contained in the LFA Octagon, which have all been one-sided. The primary got here in opposition to LFA veteran Kohlman Scribner through Rear Bare Choke within the first spherical after shifting as much as middleweight for his or her bout at LFA 155. Six months later, Magaomedov dominated high Uzbekistani prospect Bakhromjon Mashrapov at LFA 167. Magomedov captured the LFA interim welterweight title this previous February by ending fan favourite Devin Smyth within the first spherical with a brutal onslaught of punches. He then defended his interim crown by scoring a spotlight reel walk-off knockout win in opposition to two-time Olympic wrestler Alfonso Leyva in October at LFA 194.
Battle Card (Principal Card might be out there worldwide on UFC FIGHT PASS®):
Principal Occasion | Featherweight Title Unification Bout (145 lb): Elijah Johns (10-2) vs. Lerryan Douglas (11-5)
Co-Principal Occasion | Ladies’s Flyweight Title Unification Bout (125 lb): Shannon Clark (5-1) vs. Cheyanne Bowers (5-1)
Function Battle | Welterweight Title Unification Bout (170 lb): Vanilto Antunes (16-7) vs. Shamidkhan Magomedov (9-1)
Welterweight Bout (170 lb): Joey Hart (6-2) vs. Chris Mixan (5-1)
Flyweight Bout (125 lb): Devon Lozej (7-2) vs. Enrique Pacheco Parra (8-1)
Heavyweight Bout (265 lb): Alvin Hines (4-0) vs. Matt Adams (4-1)
Bantamweight Bout (135 lb): Santos Verdinez (6-1) vs. Ethyn Ewing (6-2)
Heavyweight Bout (265 lb): Steven Asplund (3-1) vs. Hammer Morton (3-1)
Bantamweight Bout (135 lb): Jeremy Strobel Jr. (2-0) vs. Shad Walters (4-0)
Light-weight Bout (155 lb): Kelton Sneve (3-0) vs. Steve Collins (3-0)
Light-weight Bout (155 lb): Canon Swanson (2-1) vs. Jake Bower (3-2)
Featherweight Bout (145 lb): Felipe Donis (5-3) vs. Alex Coover (7-3)
Heavyweight Bout (265 lb): Ezayah Gomez (3-0) vs. Jackson Ross (7-0)
Middleweight Bout (185 lb): Mac Kukowski (2-1) vs. Brett Wittmann (3-1)
Light-weight Bout (155 lb): Mitchell Wilson (5-2) vs. Brok Hopwood (4-2)
Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Government Author, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a ardour for Fight Sports activities and in addition a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s additionally a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.
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