Fight Facts: LFA 61
Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.
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TOTAL NUMBER OF LFA FIGHTS: 537
TOTAL NUMBER OF LFA EVENTS: 62
The
Legacy Fighting Alliance on Friday brought another event to its
second home in Prior Lake, Minnesota, and produced some unusual and
entertaining results. LFA 61 featured the first defense of the
promotion’s middleweight title, the most lopsided scorecard in
company history and an ultra-rare multiple-point deduction.
LAKEFRONT PROPERTY: Although its headquarters are in Texas, the LFA has held more events (nine) in Prior Lake, Minnesota, than any other city. The promotion has traveled to only two other cities at least five times: Phoenix (six) and Dallas (seven).
EARNING THEIR SALARIES: Just five bouts in length, the LFA 61 main card became the first one in the history of the promotion in which every fight reached the scorecards.
LONG DISTANCE CHARGES APPLY: Having ended with five straight decisions, LFA 61 set the record for the most consecutive bouts going the distance at a single event in company history.
ON THE FIVE: Brendan Allen and Nate Jennerman recorded wins at LFA 61, moving into a second-place tie for the most wins in organizational history with five. They trail Damon Jackson (six).
TRENDSETTERS: Allen and Jennerman also competed in their record seventh LFA bouts, tying Jackson and Bobby Lee for the most in company history.
NOT MIDDLE OF THE ROAD: Despite the fact that the LFA’s middleweight division saw its championship successfully defended for the first time, it has seen more title fights (six) than any other weight class.
THE FIRST DEFENDER: Allen became the first middleweight champion to ever attempt to defend his title, as the previous three -- Eryk Anders, Anthony Hernandez and Ian Heinisch -- were all signed by the UFC before putting the belt on the line.
KEEP CONTROL: In going to the scorecards in an incredibly lopsided decision win over Moses Murrietta, Brendan Allen won the first fight of his career on points. He had finished his opponent in his previous 10 victories.
NEVER IN MUCH DOUBT: With two scorecards of 50-43 and another of 50-42, the bout between Allen and Murrietta resulted in one of the widest margins of victory for a five-round decision in MMA history. Over in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the widest margin in a five-round fight came at UFC 58, where Rich Franklin also took 50-43, 50-43 and 50-42 scores from David Loiseau.
MAJORITY OF THE MAJORITY: The bout between Jennerman and Ken Beverly ended with one judge scoring the fight a draw and two others siding with Jennerman, giving him the fourth majority decision win in promotional history. Of the four, three have taken place in the featherweight division.
DUDE, YOU GOTTA CONTROL YOUR WEAPONS: To reach that aforementioned majority decision, Beverly was deducted three points in the second round for landing strikes to the back of Jennerman’s head on two separate occasions. This marked a rare instance in which a referee deducted two points for a single declared foul. This type of deduction famously occurred at UFC 180, where Jose Alberto Quinonez lost two points -- and later the judges’ decision -- for headbutting Alejandro Perez in 2014. In addition, Alex Caceres lost two points for landing kicks to Edwin Figueroa’s groin at UFC 143 in 2012. Caceres also lost the decision.
WOULDN’T HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE: After coming in 1.2 pounds over the featherweight limit, Beverly dropped a decision to Jennerman. In the last 10 bouts in which a fighter has missed weight, the heavy fighter has lost eight times.
SPLIT DOWN THE MIDDLE: Jake Childers remained unbeaten at 6-0 after capturing a decision over Josh Marsh. He has tapped three opponents with three different maneuvers while winning unanimous decisions against the other three.
HEART OF GLASS: The previously-scheduled co-main event between Brandon Jenkins and Mike Plazola was scratched during the broadcast when Plazola started experiencing dizziness and lightheadedness. Plazola’s withdrawal from his fight backstage was reminiscent of heavyweight Stefan Struve, who was pulled from his 2014 main card bout at UFC 175 after almost fainting in the dressing room.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into LFA 61, Allen had never won a fight that went the full five rounds, Murrietta had never lost a fight on the scorecards (nine fights) and no LFA fighter had ever lost three points in a single round before (Beverly).
Sherdog Contributing Editor Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012, and writing for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on Twitter at @jaypettry.
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