It was another exciting night of fights deep in the heart of Texas.
Legacy Fighting Alliance made its UFC Fight Pass debut with LFA 78 on November 15, from Belton, Texas. The card was the first for the promotion since September when the company’s then broadcast partner AXS TV was acquired by Anthem Sports and Entertainment, who subsequently dropped LFA from their programming. After some speculation that the UFC’s premier developmental league may sign on with the streaming service, the announcement that UFC Fight Pass would be the new home for LFA was made official during the UFC 244 broadcast. Under the new deal, LFA 78 and LFA 79 on November 22 will be the promotion’s last cards in 2019 before kicking off a 20-event season in mid-January 2020.
The main event of LFA 78 featured an exciting back-and-forth bout between Adrian Yanez and Kyle Estrada that saw Yanez take home the split decision victory. Yanez has been a staple of LFA since his Legacy FC days, and after losing a split decision to Miles Johns for the promotion’s 135 lbs. belt at LFA 55, has been working his way back into championship contention. Estrada was looking to put together a three-fight win streak after back-to-back wins at LFA 69 and LFA 73, but the judges didn’t see it his way. Yanez will most likely get the next crack at LFA’s vacant bantamweight championship.
The co-main event saw a scrap between two other prospects in the 135 lbs. division, with Jose Johnson getting a knockout for the ages. Since losing to Armando Villarreal by unanimous decision at LFA 52 Johnson had been on a tear, putting together four consecutive first-round stoppages, and tonight was no different. Johnson landed a brutal elbow to the side of Costa’s head that laid the Brazilian out flat–literally. The original co-main event was set to be a battle between rising flyweight prospects Hailey Cowan and Lisa Mauldin, but due to issues with Cowan’s weight cut the fight was called off.
Other fights on the card included Dana White Contender Series alum J.P. Buys breezing past Cristian Rodriguez, undefeated nation Gibrick getting submitted by Brant Moore, and Miles Johns’ brother Elijah Johns getting a decision win over Michael Murphy.
Check out full LFA 78 results below:
Adrian Yanez defeated Kyle Estrada via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Jose Johnson defeated Rafael Costa via Knockout — R1 1:59
Brant Moore defeated Nation Gibrick via Submission (Arm-Triangle) — R1 3:23
J.P. Buys defeated Cristian Rodriguez via TKO (Punches) — R1 1:13
Vernon Lewis defeated Tra’von Butler via Majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28)
Cheyanne Buys defeated Rebecca Adney via Unanimous Decision (30-27,30-27,30-27)
Elijah Johns defeated Mike Murphy via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-37)
Steven Jones defeated Mario Nelson via TKO (Punches) — R2 1:56
(Amateur bout) Michael Duran defeated Artwaun Steele via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) — R3 1:16
(Amateur bout) Jose Holguin defeated Marquis Jones via Submission (Armbar) — R2 0:29
