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Welcome everyone to the preview of the very first Lightning Fight League show, entitled "LFL 1: Venn vs. Brooks", which will be taking place at the Micro Arena in New York on Saturday April 13th. We're going to run through every fight on the card to show you the array of talent that the LFL has managed to get hold of in one way or another.
The very first LFL fight will be in the Welterweight division between Tommy Goldman (7-6) and Andrew Trent (7-1). Goldman is one of the most experienced fighters in the organisation after fighting several times in Montreal for ACME, unfortunately his time there wasn't very successful as he amassed a 1-5 record before being released. Thankfully the QFC came to the rescue to give Goldman six wins and make him look better than he actually is. Andrew Trent has a very impressive record and is currently riding a six fight win streak. During that time he won the ECF Welterweight title in New York before the org closed, and has finished his last four fights in Rounds 1 or 2. These two fighters are very evenly matched so I'm expecting a boring decision.
In the Light Heavyweight division we will see LJ Warner (3-0) take on Jacob Alexander (7-2). This is another very even battle with the only real advantage going to Warner if the fight goes to the ground due to being better at BJJ. Warner lacks the experience of Alexander but also has a 100% record, two of the wins coming in the QFC and one in his brief stay at TTFC in New York which was a devastating 3 minute KO. Jacob Alexander is a ground and pound specialist, of his 7 wins 3 of them have been by TKO on the ground and 2 times he has forced his opponent to submit due to the power of his ground strikes. If this fight does go to the ground it will be very interesting to see who is able to come out on top.
The close battles continue into the Lightweight division when Robbie Hartford (2-1) takes on Edilberto Nestuta (9-4). Both of these fighters have a Muay Thai base and actually spent several years training together before they made their MMA debuts. Hartford has had less fights and didn't look very impressive in them, his victory was a close decision and his two other fights were TKO losses. Nestuta got off to a great start to his career thanks to his vicious knees and killer instinct, but began to suffer losses to fighters who were able to negate his clinch game. I think it's fair to say these two are likely to battle in the clinch for the majority of the fight.
Finally we come to a fight between fighters that don't belong to me. In the Lightweight division Alberto Rodriguez (0-0) takes on Jon Penn (1-0) in a match where both fighters are almost polar opposites. Rodriguez will come in with a significant striking and wrestling advantage whilst Penn is better at Muay Thai and BJJ. The only fight either of these two have had gives us a good indication of the strength of Penn's ground game, he was able to submit Valnor Perrea with a heel hook in Round 3. It will be interesting to see where the fight mainly takes place, the winner will depend on who is able to get the fight where they want it.
In the third Lightweight fight Bret Hill (18-13) takes on Lance Marcy (0-0) in what looks like a mis-match in experience terms. However Hill is coming out of retirement to take this fight and Marcy is a well-trained striker who will likely dominate if the fight stays on the feet. Hill is the most experienced fighter on the roster with 31 fights and 3 championships to his name in the SFC, ECF and UFF. However they were all at Featherweight and Hill is much lighter than his opponent. Marcy is a well-rounded fighter whose 0-0 record is misleading, significant training has made him a dangerous fighter wherever the fight takes place and as such is a heavy favourite.
Next up is another fighter making his professional debut as Edgar van der Houst enters the cage to take on Tank Goldman (0-1). Van der Houst is pretty much your one-dimensional kick boxer who has very ordinary skills in everything except striking. His biggest weakness is in the clinch where he seems to have absolutely no clue but he also isn't great off his back and his wrestling is just about good enough to defend himself if necessary. Tank Goldman may have lost his professional debut but he seems to have some potential, the 20 year old came across a fighter under the tutelage of veteran manager and master tactician Dave F (once a mentor to me before he saw sense) so the defeat could be expected. Goldman should have no problem winning this one.
In the Light Heavyweight division Blight Phears (0-1) will take on Lorenzo Fabricio (0-0) in the typical striker vs. grappler battle. Phears will have the advantage on the ground with some decent BJJ skills, however when the fight is standing it is Fabricio who is likely to outshine Phears significantly. In Phears' only fight he was grinded on for three rounds without ever being put in any danger of being finished, Phears did manage to secure three takedowns during the fight but may need to adjust his tactics a bit to be less one-dimensional.
Another fight in the 205lb division sees the strangely named Arm Bar (0-0) take on the equally weird Du Frukost (0-2). Again it's going to come down to Boxing vs. Jiu-Jitsu, Frukost has some impressive boxing skills which can also be utilised inside the clinch whereas Arm Bar, as you'd expect with a name like that, is more proficient on the ground and will be hoping to get the fight there as soon as possible. Frukost's losses have come at the hands of the vastly more experienced Bam Boon I and a very skilled ground fighter called Mike Westfield.
Finally we move on to the biggest two fights of the night, firstly in the co-main event we will see Kova Naama (2-3) take on Dalip Rana (0-0). On paper it seems that Naama is the more proficient fighter with strengths in boxing, Muay Thai and BJJ, however Rana does have the wrestling edge which could give him the opportunity to dictate where the fight takes place. Naama also struggles with inconsistency, whilst his record from his time in SPNY has two TKO victories it also has three losses, one by KO, one by submission and one decision. Rana definitely has the chance to score an upset here; the important thing for him is to make sure he is tactically astute.
Finally the very first LFL main event will be in the Heavyweight division as Hayden Venn (0-0) takes on CM Brooks (0-0) amazingly despite both of these fighters never having competed before their match is the one that has the biggest hype behind it. That may be mainly due to their former lives, Venn who is a former celebrity chef who has traded in his knives for hand-to-hand combat whilst CM Brooks is a local professional wrestler. Venn will have an advantage in both Muay Thai and Wrestling going into the fight but in a pre-match interview he stated he was going to go out there and trade punches despite Brooks having the edge in Boxing. If that's the case I would expect Brooks will be able to come out victorious.
That's the card so join us at the Micro Arena on April 13th for the first ever LFL show, it's a bargain price of $150 per ticket (seriously) and I'm sure you'll get your money's worth!
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