By Danny Jones, @Tidy_MMA on X.
Of the nine LFA athletes to achieve a 3-0 promotional record with LFA in 2024, Chey Bowers was the only woman to attain all three victories inside the distance – an endeavor she achieved in a little over eight months.
Subsequently receiving a warranted nomination for LFA’s Female Fighter of the Year, the 30-year-old notably earned a deserved “Performance of the Night” for capturing the interim LFA Women’s Flyweight Championship in just 130 seconds at LFA 193, with a sensational armbar submission of then 6-0 Veronika Borisova. Marking her fifth consecutive win, and fourth consecutive stoppage, “The Boss” maintained her undefeated status as a flyweight with victory at LFA 193 to become only the second American woman to hold a 125lbs LFA championship.
“I went from not being on a main-card ever, to all of a sudden [being] the main-event for LFA!” Chey says. “…It was just kind of surreal. I did not expect it to end as quickly as it did. We always train for the full fight, but I almost told my coach at the end I kind of wish [the bout had] gone just a little bit longer, because we put so many weeks of training in… It still seems like a little bit of a dream, but that’s exactly what we game-planned; we just didn’t know what round it was going to happen in”.
Those career highs of 2024, however, were soon dealt a cruel blow in 2025.
In the co-main event of LFA’s bicentennial event, Chey competed against returning champion Shannon Clark in LFA’s first women’s flyweight championship unification bout. To the surprise of many, the judges awarded Shannon Clark the split decision victory to retain the flyweight championship.
Make no mistake, the five-round unification bout was a highly competitive, closely contested affair. As highlighted by LFA commentator Ron Kruck at the time of broadcast, both athletes secured a takedown, both athletes attempted a submission, and only a single strike separated the number of strikes landed by each athlete.
However, there was a shared consensus that Chey had done enough to secure the victory. Gilbert Melendez stated on commentary he was “leaning towards Bowers” prior to the announcement of the judge’s scorecards, whilst Shannon Clark herself was visibly puzzled upon hearing the result. Indeed, when asked by Alan Jouban of her thoughts ahead of the scorecards in the post-bout interview, the 32-year-old candidly replied “that I lost”.
“I wasn’t shocked, but I was definitely heartbroken” Chey admits. “… I gave Shannon a hug afterwards, and she was very shocked; the crowd was very shocked. None of that really mattered in the moment. I was just like ‘I want to get out of here. [I] just want to get back to the locker room’. I still think I won it, but I know how it kinda goes; where people lean when things are close”.
“I had my breakdown in the locker room afterwards” Chey adds. “I had a tiny, tiny, little scrape on my eye – like just a Velcro scratch kinda thing – and I had a little bit of a bloody lip. Otherwise, I walked out of there unscathed again, and so got right back to the training of course. But I spent many weeks very, very angry – kinda training off of that anger. It fuelled me through those weeks; I had awesome training sessions – I was going ham! And then I think it finally crashed where I was like I can’t be angry forever, because it’s not gonna help me in the long run”.
“I actually had a therapy session where I wrote a letter to the refs, the commentators, and then the judges – just explaining how I felt, questioning why they did it, and then ultimately forgiving them” Chey continues. “At the end of the day they are human and people make mistakes, and I can forgive them for that. I just need to make sure that next time I get in the cage, I keep it out of their hands and make sure I get a finish”.
On April 18th 2025, Chey returns to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to contest Mexico’s Elizabeth Rodríguez at LFA 207. Incredibly, the matchup marks the first time “The Boss” competes on a main-card in her hometown across both her amateur and professional career.
Training out of Next Edge Academy of Martial Arts in Sioux Falls under head coach Bruce Hoyer, Chey enters LFA 207 holding a 5-1 professional record at flyweight. With two first-round submission victories and two-second round TKO victories, only Aline Pereira and Shannon Clark have endured the distance with the 30-year-old at 125lbs.
Such ruthless efficiency will certainly be put to the test against 33-year-old Elizabeth Rodríguez. After all, the Mexican flyweight is yet to be stopped inside the distance across her professional career, making for a tantalising contest at LFA 207.
Comparatively, of course, there is a notable difference in Chey Bowers’ and Elizabeth Rodríguez’s competitive activity. Indeed, Chey has competed in eight amateur bouts and seven professional bouts since launching her amateur MMA career in January 2021. Conversely, “Eli” has competed in just six professional bouts since launching her professional career in November 2019.
However, despite only making her LFA debut on December 6th 2024, Elizabeth Rodríguez was nominated for LFA Female Fighter of the Year following her split decision victory over heavy favourite Mariana Piccolo on the preliminary card of LFA 198; the bout itself was also nominated for LFA Fight of the Year.
Furthermore, Ron Kruck revealed during the LFA 198 broadcast that LFA alumnus Lupita Godinez had approached the promotion to book “Eli”, as the Mexican was unable to secure an opponent in her homeland.
Put simply, one should not be deceived by the 3-3 professional record of Chey’s LFA 207 opponent.
“She trains in a really good gym with a lot of really good girls, so if they’re pushing her, they’re pushing her for a reason” Chey explains. “They’re trying to get her into these promotions. There’s clearly something there. I’m at the stage of my career where everybody is well-rounded. Everybody has a good skill set; nobody is missing this giant hole in their game. So, I’m just expecting a well-rounded fighter out of her”.
As LFA returns for a nineteenth event in The Mount Rushmore State with LFA 207, Chey returns for her fifth LFA event in Sioux Falls. Having predominantly fought at bantamweight in the Sanford Pentagon historically, Chey’s matchup with Elizabeth Rodríguez will mark just her second LFA bout competing at flyweight in her hometown.
Conceivably, a win for Chey at LFA 207 will offer some catharsis for the events of LFA 200. A dominant performance, however, will firmly remind the division – and the world – that Chey Bowers is “The Boss”.
“I want to be The Boss again” Chey affirms. “Our mentality is go in, make it a dog fight, have a performance, get a win at all costs. Whether that’s striking, going back to the basics, get a takedown, get on-top, choke her out, that type of thing. Try to bring a little bit of an attitude with it. It’s a fight after all. I tried to be super technical and stay at range and out strike this person that was kinda known as the brute. I think it’s time to go back the other way a bit for this one and see what happens”.
The author extends his utmost gratitude to Chey Bowers and Jamie McClintock for making this article possible.
Image kindly provided by Chey Bowers from Instagram (@chey.bowers).
