FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6
LFA 198: JOHNS vs. DOUGLAS
Presented By: MONSTER ENERGY
MAIN EVENT:
CHAMPION
ELIJAH JOHNS
vs.
INTERIM CHAMPION
LERRYAN DOUGLAS
FEATHERWEIGHT WORLD TITLE UNIFICATION FIGHT
CO-MAIN EVENT:
CHAMPION
RICHIE LEWIS
vs.
CHALLENGER
RICHIE MIRANDA
LIGHTWEIGHT WORLD TITLE FIGHT
LIVE on UFC FIGHT PASS® at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW AT LFATIX.COM
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — LFA CEO Ed Soares announced today that the promotion will conclude its 2024 schedule in December when it returns to Southern California at LFA 198. The stacked event will feature a Championship Doubleheader in the featherweight and lightweight divisions, when the promotion returns to the Los Angeles metro area. LFA 198 will be the twentieth LFA event to take place in the Golden State.
LFA 198: Johns vs. Douglas, presented by Monster Energy, takes place Friday, December 6th at The Commerce Casino & Hotel in Commerce, California, which is located in southeast Los Angeles County. The main event will feature a featherweight title unification bout when champion Elijah “Baby” Johns faces interim champion Lerryan “Dougie” Douglas. The co-main event will feature a lightweight title fight when champion Richie “Savage” Lewis defends his title against top contender Richie “El Machete” Miranda. The entire main card will be available worldwide on UFC FIGHT PASS® at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.
“We are excited to bring a Championship Doubleheader to Southern California at LFA 198,” stated Soares. “The main event will see the fourth title unification bout in LFA history when LFA featherweight champion Elijah Johns battles LFA interim featherweight champion Lerryan Duglas. This is one of the most highly-anticipated fights in LFA history as they are the top two featherweights in the world currently fighting outside the UFC. Then in the co-main event, the LFA lightweight title will be on the line when undefeated champion Richie Lewis defends his title for the first time against top contender Richie Miranda. These two world title fights are the perfect way to end another incredible year of fights in the LFA!”
Tickets for LFA 198: Johns vs. Douglas are available for purchase through LFATIX.com.
Johns (10-2) is the younger brother of former LFA bantamweight champion and current UFC star Miles Johns. The 28-year-old prospect followed his brother from their native Kansas to Dallas, Texas where the two developed into world-class prospects and LFA champions at Fortis MMA. The younger Johns brother, affectionately known as “Baby Johns”, captured his first world title earlier this year in the promotion that he grew up in. That journey began all the way back at LFA 1, where he made his amateur MMA debut, and it culminated with him winning the title in what was a record-tying tenth professional fight for the LFA. Johns earned the title shot by dominating U23 World Wrestling Championships gold medalist Masuto Kawana at LFA 138. He then captured gold to continue the Johns brothers’ winning ways and championship pedigree by defeating Alfred Walker at LFA 176. Now the only man to compete in every year of LFA’s existence defends his title for the first time. The bout will give him the record for the most professional fights for the LFA (11), and if he wins, he will tie Victor Altamirano for the most professional wins in LFA history (9).
Douglas (11-5) is a Brazilian that has taken the LFA featherweight division by storm over the past 12 months. In that time, the 29-year-old has obliterated three of the division’s top prospects in Ivan Tena, Nathan Ghareeb, and Javier Reyes with his ungodly punching power. The human highlight reel captured the interim title this past summer by dispatching Reyes and he now looks to unify the crown. Douglas hails from Paranaguá, Paraná in southern Brazil. This is a city in the same Brazilian state that has produced MMA legends Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, Maurício “Shogun Rua, and Cris Cyborg. Douglas would later meet Cyborg upon moving to the United States and now calls the women’s MMA icon a friend and training partner. The man known as “Dougie” also has a head coach in the UFC Hall of Fame. That would be the legendary Cub Swanson, who has already produced two other LFA greats Dan Argueta and Danny Silva who are currently fighting in the UFC. Douglas trains with Swanson, Argueta, Silva and LFA 198 co-headliner Richie Miranda at Bloodline Combat Sports in Costa Mesa, California.
The co-main event of LFA 198 will feature the first title fight of the night and it will be for the LFA lightweight world title.
Lewis (6-0) is one of the most talked about prospects in MMA for good reason. Born and raised in New Jersey, the Rutgers University alum followed in the footsteps of a UFC champion that happened to be from his hometown in the “Garden State”. That would be the legendary Frankie Edgar. The two men are 13 years apart in age, but are both graduates from Toms River High School East. Naturally, Lewis drew inspiration from the UFC Hall of Famer on the mats, and now in the cage, and the results have been undeniable. In junior college, he was a two-time NJCAA All-American at Iowa Central. Then at Rutgers, Lewis became an automatic NCAA Division I national qualifier after notching a 27-7 overall mark and 16-1 dual record in his first season with the program. However, it was what he did after college on the international wrestling scene that really turned heads. In November 2017, Lewis became the first American to win a U23 World medal after winning the gold medal at 70 kg. Presently, the man known as “Savage” is fully immersed in MMA, where he is currently undefeated and dethroned Kegan Gennrich to capture LFA lightweight title at LFA 185.
Miranda (9-1) is a man that has grown up in the LFA promotion with his sights set on the LFA lightweight world title for the past two and a half years. Like Lewis, Miranda has deep roots in wrestling. The southern Californian was a standout wrestler at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, California. In junior college, he competed at the NJCAA level at Santa Ana College (SAC) and placed in the Top 4 at the California CC State Wrestling Championships. That earned him the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Division II level at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK), which is the same wrestling program that produced LFA greats and MMA champions Kamaru Usman and Raufeon Stots. Miranda is now following in their footsteps in MMA with an ultra aggressive fighting style that has earned him 9 career victories (6 in the LFA) and an avid fan base wherever he competes. That raucous “Miranda Mafia” will only be amplified when he fights for the LFA lightweight world title in front of his home crowd in southern California. The man known as “El Machete” earned his well-deserved title shot on the heels of winning a “Fight of the Year” contender at LFA 190.
Currently Announced Fight Card (Main Card will be available worldwide on UFC FIGHT PASS®):
Main Event | Featherweight Title Unification Bout (145 lb)
Elijah Johns (10-2) vs. Lerryan Douglas (11-5)
Co-Main Event | Lightweight Title Bout (155 lb)
Richie Lewis (6-0) vs. Richie Miranda (9-1)
About LFA:
LFA is a professional Mixed Martial Arts promotion that was formed by the powerhouse merger between RFA and Legacy FC in 2017. It has launched the careers of over 300 athletes that have reached the pinnacle of MMA by competing in the UFC. LFA presents live Mixed Martial Arts events on a monthly basis around the world including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Phoenix, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. Based in Las Vegas, NV, LFA is one of the most active and respected MMA organizations in the fastest growing sport in the world. The promotion owns and operates LFA FIGHT NETWORK™, a premium YouTube channel that features live combat sports events alongside live LFA Prelims and historical fights.
Please visit LFA.com for updates and information. Visit the official LFA YouTube channel (LFA FIGHT NETWORK™) at @LFAfights. LFA is on Facebook at Facebook.com/LFAfighting. LFA is also on Instagram at @LFAfighting and X (formerly Twitter) at @LFAfighting.
About UFC FIGHT PASS®:
UFC FIGHT PASS® is the world’s leading digital subscription service for combat sports. Since launching in 2013, UFC FIGHT PASS is now available in more than 200 countries and territories. FIGHT PASS provides its members with unlimited access to live UFC FIGHT PASS Prelims; live mixed martial arts and combat sports from around the world; original series and historical programming; special features; behind-the-scenes content; in-depth interviews; and up-to-the minute reports on the world of combat sports. UFC FIGHT PASS subscribers also have 24/7 access to the world’s largest fight library, featuring more than 20,000 bouts from dozens of combats sports organizations, as well as every fight in UFC history. Fight fans can access UFC FIGHT PASS on personal computers, iOS and Android mobile devices, Apple TV, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs, LG Smart TVs, and Sony TVs with Android TV. For more information, please visit UFCFightPass.com.
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