This LFA card is a great card to have on a weekend where there is no UFC. The card is stacked with some of their best Brazilian talent is one of the best LFA cards of recent memory. Most LFA Brazil cards are stacked but this one is especially great as the fighters prepare for a potential call up for the Contender Series. The card is even broadcast around the same time period as the UFC, with the card starting at 05:00 PM ET on Saturday. The event will be broadcast on UFC Fight Pass.
INGLESSON DE LARA (10-1) vs. BRUNO HENRIQUE (18-4) – Featherweight
At first I felt like this could be a well matched main event between two guys in their prime, but after watching their fights I feel pretty confident in Inglesson de Lara. These guys are both strikers with similar skill sets and flaws. de Lara is a boxer who has pretty decent length for a 5'9″ featherweight and he uses it well. He fight behind a lot of straight punches and hits very hard. He has one punch KO power and a lot of first round finishes. He is very hittable though and as the fight extends his cardio isn't the best. Henrique has the same flaws, except he is having competitive fights with much worse fighters than de Lara. He is very inactive which likely doesn't help. He is small for the weight class and was getting tagged in moments in his most recent match up which is a huge red flag for me. Both guys have good take down defense from what I saw, and I don't think either are likely to shoot a take down. Ingelesson de Lara is not a perfect fighter and perhaps in the UFC he could get caught by better strikers with power, but I think he should be able to win this match up if he doesn't get too aggressive.
Pick: Ingelesson de Lara by KO/TKO. Medium confidence.
JOSEILTON SANTOS (10-0) vs. CARLOS PETRUZELLA (13-0) – Welterweight
It isn't very often we see two guys with strong undefeated records fight against each other like this. Carlos Petruzella was actually signed to the GFL but it seems like that promotion isn't even going to host a card, so he got out of that contract. It's hard to tell how good he really is and honestly he has had some very bad performances recently. He was taken down easily multiple times by Nicolas Martinez, and I couldn't even find his fight against Cristian Dominguez. His striking looks quite poor as he over reacts to everything thrown at him and just stands in the pocket for way too long. I think any decent striker could expose him. His grappling is pretty solid though and that is where he finds his success. He hasn't fought anyone great, and as much as Martin (his manager) and I are best buds, Martin does own the promotion he fights in and it's pretty obvious he hasn't fought great competition there. The exact same can be said about Joseilton Santos though. I don't know if this is true for sure but allegedly Demo Fight is owned by a lot of these prospects managers as well and is a pretty renowned record padding promotion. I honestly couldn't find any tape on his aside from a few instagram reels and training footage. LFA claims that he is a regional muay thai and wrestling champion. Just watching him spar I feel good about saying that he will be the better striker here but he is a small welterweight and tapology has him listed at 5'8″. Pretty much all of the highlights I watched were of him in top control landing ground and pound. I can't feel confident in the pick but at least I was able to see what Petruzulla brings to the table. I'm going to pick Petruzella to win using his wrestling and grappling but this fight migth not be as high level as their records suggest.
Pick: Carlos Petruzella by decision. Low confidence.
RODRIGO VERA (19-1-1) vs. JONATHAN CAETANO (8-1) – Featherweight
It's time to find out if Rodrigo Vera is the real deal. At this point he has beaten everyone there is to beat in Peru. He fights in between bantamweight and featherweight but he is definitely a bantamweight. His striking is okay but it's not amazing. He is a wrestler and can make fights pretty boring as he likes to stall against the cage, and if he does get a take down he likes to stall in top control. He has beaten some pretty good opponents in his career such as Rickson Zenidim who is a pretty good grappler, and Juan Diaz who will be fighting on the Contender Series this year. I don't know much about his opponent at all as he has fought in very obscure local Brazilian shows and I couldn't really find anything. On his instagram he very regularly competes in grappling though. I think to beat Vera you need to have a bit of power in your hands and with little information to go off of I have to go with him as he does seem to be pretty solid.
Pick: Rodrigo Vera by decision. Low-medium confidence.
PAULO DA SILVA (10-1) vs. HUGO PAIVA (9-2) – Flyweight
I am very excited for this fight as Hugo Paiva was part of one of my favourite fights ever, him vs. Felipe dos Santos. And honestly you could make a strong argument that he won that fight. Hugo Paiva is small for the division but he is a very scrappy boxer. He is pretty much a flyweight Kevin Vallejos. Paulo da Silva is another guy with a padded record but being a grappler he will present some problems to Paiva as Paiva has struggled with grapplers in the past. Felipe dos Santos was able to take him down quite a bit and he was submitted by Marcos Degli. Once again tape on him was very limited but I was able to watch some highlights. His boxing looks pretty decent and he is crazy aggressive. This will be an awesome fight if it stays on the feet. Once again, it's hard to make a definite call based on the lack of tape on the da Silva side but Paiva has proven to me to be a pretty good prospect and as long as the fight is on the feet he will be dangerous.
Pick: Hugo Paiva by KO/TKO. Low-medium confidence.
JUAN PABLO VIEIRA (8-0) vs. CARLOS CAVALCANTE (10-1) – Lightweight
Juan Pablo Vieira is a lot of fun. He is ridiculously aggressive, throwing a lot of volume on the feet. Where he is best though is in the grappling. He shoots for take downs against eh cage and does not stop trying until he gets the fight down to the ground. From there he looks for submissions. He doesn't have great control because of this, but it has resulted in a lot of quick submission wins. Most of his wins are in the first round, but against Marcos Bruno where the fight got extended his crazy pace did slow down. This fight could be interesting as Cavalcante fights in the exact same way, just against much lesser opponents and with a lot less finishes. Cavalcante also wants to get the fight down and get control. Juan has proven he can get submissions off his back though so as long as the fight is on the ground I think he is going to be dangerous.
Pick: Juan Pablo Vieira by submission. Medium confidence.
AIEZA BERTOLSO (5-0) vs. SAMARA SANTOS (12-9-1) – Women's Strawweight
Bertolso is a prospect I have kept my eye on since she made her pro debut. She has a 16-1 amateur record and multiple IMMAF world championship wins. She is pretty tall for the weight class and strikes from range well before trying to get take downs. She isn't very strong though which could hurt her when she starts to fight bigger opponents in larger promotions. She looks for take downs and then looks to find submissions from control. Her opponent was used for highlights in ONE and is now coming back after a few years to fight prospects. This seems to be a set up for Bertolso to get a win over a former ONE fighter and set her up for DWCS.
Pick: Aieza Bertolso by submission. High confidence.
REGINALDO JUNIOR (9-1) vs. GILBERTO SOUSA (10-4) – Welterweight
Reginaldo is a pressure boxer with very solid wrestling. Sousa is a powerful striker, but Junior should be able to take him down if he tries. He looked very good against Dallys Gama.
Pick: Reginaldo Junior by decision. Medium confidence.
DALLYS GAMA (7-5) vs. WELLINGTON MADEIRA (6-1) – Welterweight
Madeira is a 6'5″ welterweight. He looks like he still needs time to develop but he is still only 23 years old. He is a striker who hits very hard considering his lanky frame. Gama is pretty tough and LFA has put him in there against very tough competition but he gets pressured very easily. Hard to tell if Madeira can finish him but this feels like a showcase.
Pick: Wellington Madeira by decision. Medium confidence.
