Josh Perreira looking to impress at LFA 160
Interview with Josh Perreira above
Josh Perreira is set to make his LFA debut at LFA 160 this Friday night in Owensboro, Kentucky, when he faces Itzik Yakobov in a preliminary matchup.
Perreira has been on the radar for the top talent producing promotion for awhile.
“LFA actually contacted us the same week that we were fighting for OCL when I was making my pro debut,” Perreira said when he joined the debut episode of the Ohio MMA Podcast. “They wanted me to make my pro debut on their card, they gave me a couple of names. But sadly we were already committed to [Ohio Combat League]. I made my debut as an amateur for OCL, and I wanted to make my debut for those guys.”
Nicknamed “The Flyin’ Hawaiian,” Perreira moved to Ohio from his native Hawaii in 2018 and started training at UFC fighter Matt Brown’s Immortal Martial Arts gym in Columbus. He came up short in his MMA debut in 2020, but he then reeled off seven wins with just one draw, including three submissions and two TKOs.
After a couple of false start attempts to make his pro debut fell through, Perreira was finally able to make his pro debut with a nearly flawless victory over Greg Spearman at Ohio Combat League 23 in January.
Although he was able to earn the win, he called it an “emotional roller coaster”:
“I think my performance speaks for myself that I was ready for anything that he threw at me,” Perreira said.
The fight against Yakobov is a bit of a question mark, as he made his pro debut at a Bellator Israel event in 2019, losing in the first round. That’s the only fight on his record, as he went on to serve in his country’s military shortly thereafter.
“I’m going in to expecting anything,” Perreira said. “He’s going to be seeing my footage and seeing this kid throwing wild crazy capoiera kicks. I’ve been a lot more consistent and fighting much longer than he has.”
