A new Featherweight champion to be crowned at LFA 79
Legacy Fighting Alliance will be back on the west coast this Fall for LFA 79, to crown a new Featherweight champion in the main event.
The 145-pound title is up for grabs as Team Alpha Male‘s Tyler Diamond (10-1) collides with Machida Brother’s protégé, Rafael Barbosa (12-1).
Quote from LFA.com: “I am excited to bring the LFA featherweight championship to southern California,” Ed Soares LFA CEO exclaimed. “This will be our second trip to the Inland Empire, and we will be crowning a new featherweight champion on October 11th. Tyler Diamond and Rafael Barbosa will give our west coast fight fans a memorable title fight at LFA 79.”
Diamond got onto the wrestling mats at the age of 11 and took his wrestling skills all the way to Division I South Dakota State. A 9-0 start to his pro MMA career led Diamond to season 27 of The Ultimate Fighter. In the quarterfinals Diamond would submit Dulani Perry. The semifinals would see Diamond lose to TKO by Jay Cucciniello. At the TUF 27 Finale Diamond would suffer his first official loss, being on the wrong end of a majority decision with Bryce Mitchell. The 28-year-old would rebound in his promotional debut, a unanimous decision victory over Jon Neal at LFA66.
Barbosa is a 21-year-old from São Paulo, Brazil, on a 7-fight win streak. “Coxinha” made his LFA debut in March defeating Cameron Graves by unanimous decision, in a bout that was featured on Season 4 of Dana Whites Looking for a fight. The Karate black belt followed up the performance by scoring his 5th win by knockout, stopping Nate Jennerman in the first round of the LFA68 main event.
LFA 79 takes place on October 11th at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California.
