Tag: CFFC 99

CFFC 99 Results: DeAndre Anderson floors Jose Perez 11 seconds into main event

DeAndre Anderson wasted little time getting his hand raised in the main event of CFFC 99 on Saturday.

The main event of CFFC 99 was over just as quickly as it started.

[autotag]DeAndre Anderson[/autotag] faced Jose Perez in the main event at the Fitz Tunica Casino & Hotel in Tunica, Miss., and didn’t need to do much work to get his hand raised.

There was a quick striking exchange that saw Anderson (5-0) land a couple of quick punches and an outside leg kick, but it was the strike immediately after that caused a stop to the contest.

Anderson unleashed a hard left hand that landed flush, and it was clear Perez was out as he crashed to the canvas. From that point, the celebration for Anderson was on as he danced around the cage.

“I feel like I’m one of the best fighters in the world and I think I just proved that,” Anderson said during his post-fight interview.

“I want belts, I want checks. I’m actually a ’35’er, I came in at ’44. I didn’t even have to cut weight. If you look at my Instagram, I was dancing all yesterday. That’s how I cut the .2 (pounds) or whatever it was that I thought I had to cut.”

Anderson improves to 5-0 in his professional MMA career and has his sights set on big things next.

“So, I’m ready to be in the UFC,” Anderson stated. “Take ’35 belt, ’45 belt, ’55, I can go down to ’25. It don’t matter who it is. I’m winning.”

After it was all said and done, Anderson also got the selfie with commentator CM Punk that he hoped for all week long.

Official main card results of CFFC 99 include:

  • DeAndre Anderson def. Jose Perez via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:11
  • Nah-Shon Burrell def. Khetag Pliev via knockout (punch) – Round 3, 1:56
  • Da’Mon Blackshear def. Mateo Vogel via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
  • Tim Cuamba def. James Lyons via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-25)
  • Lydell Poag def. Stavros Moustakakis via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 0:22
  • Ben Coyle def. Joseph Tran via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:59

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqvpne7c1q486dvv player_id=01f5k5h8pz3brj4xqb image=https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=665176]

CFFC 99 Video: Watch Lydell Poag win debut with 22-second knockout from vicious elbows

Watch Lydell Poag’s spectacular 22-second knockout victory at CFFC 99.

Debut performances don’t get much better than what [autotag]Lydell Poag[/autotag] turned in at CFFC 99 on Saturday.

The second fight on the main card didn’t last very long as Poag put out his opponent Stavros Moustakakis in just 22 seconds.

Moustakakis looked like he was in deep on a takedown attempt, however, Poag reversed the attempt and ended up in guard. From there, the fight would end a second later after Poag postured up and unloaded a vicious elbow that found the mark.

Moustakakis was out after just one, but Poag landed another and the referee called a stop to the bout. After getting back to his feet, Moustakakis appeared to not realize he went out momentarily from the first strike on the ground.

Poag is now 1-0 in his professional career and the JacksonWink MMA product has an incredible moment on his highlight reel.

Up-to-the-minute main card results of CFFC 99 include:

  • Lydell Poag def. Stavros Moustakakis via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 0:22
  • Ben Coyle def. Joseph Tran via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:59

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqvpne7c1q486dvv player_id=01f5k5h8pz3brj4xqb image=https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=665176]

CFFC 99: Perez vs. Anderson live and official results

Keep up with the official results of CFFC 99: Perez vs. Anderson from the Fitz Tunica Casino & Hotel in Tunica, Miss.

Cage Fury Fighting Championships returns Saturday evening for CFFC 99, and you can follow along with live and official results beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

The event takes place at the Fitz Tunica Casino & Hotel in Tunica, Miss., with the main card airing live on UFC Fight Pass.

The main event of CFFC 99 is a bout between two undefeated featherweights DeAndre Anderson (4-0) and Jose Perez (4-0). In the co-main event, Khetag Pliev (5-1-1) takes on Nah-Shon Burrell (17-11) in a catchweight fight at 175 pounds.

The full official CFFC 99 results include:

MAIN CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 8 p.m. ET)

  • DeAndre Anderson def. Jose Perez via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:11
  • Nah-Shon Burrell def. Khetag Pliev via knockout (punch) – Round 3, 1:56
  • Da’Mon Blackshear def. Mateo Vogel via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
  • Tim Cuamba def. James Lyons via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-25)
  • Lydell Poag def. Stavros Moustakakis via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 0:22
  • Ben Coyle def. Joseph Tran via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:59

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqvpne7c1q486dvv player_id=01f5k5h8pz3brj4xqb image=https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

After briefly putting MMA dream on hold, Jose Perez now eyes title shot with CFFC 99 win

Jose Perez remembers sitting on the couch, watching the UFC and thinking to himself, “I bet I could do that.” Then he did.

[autotag]Jose Perez[/autotag] remembers sitting on the couch, watching the UFC and thinking to himself, “I bet I could do that.”

Most people in that position are probably a bit delusional. Perez, however, was not. This was a dream he had held since he was a child.

“I started in jiu-jitsu when I was 9, and then I started competing just after my 10th birthday,” Perez said. “Once you hit high school, everybody is going to try football and all these other little things, but I was only really drawn to combat sports. So I did jiu-jitsu, and then I tried wrestling.”

Perez admits he enjoyed the jiu-jitsu much more than wrestling, but he was also watching MMA and realized he would need to be skilled in both if he really wanted to compete in the sport.

“They talk about these guys that back in the day used to be wrestlers turned MMA fighters, or boxers turned fighters,” Perez said. “You have these styles, but Georges St-Pierre was the prototype. I always knew that I was going to be a fighter, so I did the wrestling – not necessarily because it was my first and foremost love, but I always knew that MMA was going to be at the end of this road for me, so I knew that was a really important facet of martial arts and I needed to like it.”

Perez continued chasing his dream, and in 2017 made his amateur debut. Things couldn’t have gone much better: Three fights, three stoppage wins, all in the course of just six months.

Then that journey took a very large detour.

“I ended up having a bunch of babies – well, two babies back-to-back, and that can definitely slow you down in the fight game,” Perez said. “So we started worrying about the financial side of things – tried to get a house together, put a life together for them, because I do love fighting, but at the amateur level and the regional scene, that wasn’t really going to pay for too much.”

So Perez got a job that paid the bills and went about building a family. It made him happy, but that childhood dream never faded away.

“To be honest, I wasn’t really sure if I was going to ever turn pro,” Perez said. “There was something that I was missing, something I had stepped away from. It was hurting me. It was time away, and it was bothering me. I felt like there were some stones left unturned.

“I’d watch the UFC fights like everybody else and sit there on the couch, and you know, you get those guys like, ‘Oh, I know I could do that,’ and I actually did. I brushed myself off three years later, and I got back in the gym.”

Thus far, it’s seemed like a rather wise decision. In just 11 months as a professional, Perez has built a 4-0 record, including three first-round submission wins.

Perez (4-0) looks to build on that record in the headlining bout of Saturday’s CFFC 99 event, which streams live on UFC Fight Pass from Fitz Tunica Casino & Hotel in Mississippi, where he’ll take on fellow undefeated prospect DeAndre Anderson (4-0).

“I love it,” Perez said of the matchup. “That mystique, that undefeated mystique, that’s something special. When a guy comes in and they have zero losses, it’s an eerie feeling, like it almost feels like it can’t be done. But, you know, obviously I bring that same mystique.”

With another win, Perez would likely be a frontrunner to compete for CFFC’s featherweight title, which was left vacant when former champion Pat Sabatini was signed by the UFC. It’s a prestigious title that Perez is certainly eyeing moving forward.

“The approach thus far has been a sprint, so I’m going to say we’re going to stick with that theme, that it’s going to be a sprint,” Perez said. “We’re trying to go to the top as fast as we can, but reasonably fast. So my next step, I’m still keeping my head kind of right at my peers where I’m at right now.

“I think the next step, if I do get this win – which I will get this win – the next step would be for a title shot.”

From the couch to the CFFC title in one year would be a pretty remarkable run, but Perez has already shown that he’s capable of remarkable things. Now in this headlining role on UFC Fight Pass, the 26-year-old prospect is ready to shine.

“I’m guessing they’re trying to make sense of this 145-pound division now that Pat Sabatini is up in the big show and trying to figure out who’s ready for the title shot,” Perez said. “I definitely am going to take this as an opportunity to try to prove that I’m one of those guys and that I need to be in the red corner for that fight.”

(This story first published at CFFC.tv)

Dues paid, James Lyons done making up for lost time ahead of CFFC 99

James Lyons didn’t always know he wanted to fight, but once he decided to pursue that course, he dedicated everything to doing it right.

[autotag]James Lyons[/autotag] didn’t always know he wanted to be a professional fighter, but once he decided to pursue that course, he dedicated everything to doing it the right way.

“I walked into a kickboxing gym when I was 17, but really jiu-jitsu is where I started when I was 18,” Lyons said. “I started doing a ton of jiu-jitsu, and it just was all in trying to catch up to all these guys that started when they were super young, and I feel like I’m doing that. I’m catching up to anyone who started at a young age. It’s not really becoming much of a factor anymore.”

Lyons‘ results speak for themselves.

After opening his amateur career at 1-2, Lyons finished off his run with seven straight victories before turning pro. All seven of those wins came via submission.

“Pretty much that was always the plan,” Lyons said. “I kind of stopped working my full-time job as soon as I got my first amateur fight, and I just wanted to commit to fighting. My goal was always 10 fights. I think 10 amateur fights was a good experience level for me. I didn’t want to rush it.”

The patience seems to have paid dividends. In his first two fights in the pro ranks, Lyons has earned two first-round stoppages.

Lyons said that is completely by design, as well.

“I go in there to finish you in round one,” Lyons said. “If not, I’m going to finish you in round two. If not, I’m going to finish you in round three, and that’s kind of always my mindset.

“You know, the decisions don’t do much. I feel like in this sport, they don’t carry the same weight, and if you’re not going out and finishing, it doesn’t matter if you’re winning decisions or not.”

Lyons (2-0) returns to action at Saturday’s CFFC 99 event, when he takes on fellow undefeated featherweight Tim Cuamba (2-0) at Fitz Tunica Casino & Hotel in Mississippi. The event streams live on UFC Fight Pass.

The 25-year-old Lyons believes it’s a perfect next step in his career, with the Dewey Cooper-trained fighter presenting an intriguing challenge.

“I study all my opponents,” Lyons said. “I think he’s well-rounded, good. I think he has a good camp. He has a good team, as do I, and I like the matchup for me.

“I think my submissions are the best tool that I have, and most people just view me as a jiu-jitsu guy. That always works in my favor because lighting them up on the feet is always part of my plan, as well. I just know if I hit the mat, I can submit anyone at any level in MMA.”

Should he keep his finishing streak alive, Lyons is hoping to book another appearance before year’s end. After that, the Renzo Gracie Philly and Team EEFC fighter has eyes on a future shot at the CFFC title, and ultimately an invitation to the UFC. But “Lyonheart” isn’t getting ahead of himself.

Despite the relatively late start to his combat sports training, Lyons wants to make the right moves in his run.

“I just want to make sure I have the fights and I get the right opponents to keep building myself and pushing myself more and more,” Lyons said. “I feel Like Cuamba is a good step up. He’s confident. He has a good win streak, and I’m looking forward to snapping it.”

(This story first published at CFFC.tv)

Just four months after gruesome injury nearly cost him a finger, Khetag Pliev eyes big-show call at CFFC 99

Khetag Pliev didn’t seek to become a viral sensation, but that’s exactly what happened – and in perhaps the most bizarre fashion ever seen.

[autotag]Khetag Pliev[/autotag] certainly didn’t enter this past April’s CFFC 94 expecting to become a viral sensation, but that’s exactly what happened – and in perhaps the most bizarre fashion ever seen in an MMA event.

In one of the wildest moments in Cage Fury Fighting Championships history, Pliev’s ring finger appeared to have completely severed from his left hand during the second round of a fight with Devin Goodale, and “Lion” was handed a TKO loss before being rushed to the hospital to undergo emergency surgery.

All the while, Pliev was pleading to be allowed to continue fighting – a shocking insistence that stands in stark contrast with how most people likely would have reacted to the moment.

“Where it comes from, I couldn’t say that one, honestly, but maybe from all the years of fighting and training and competing and having to have so many injuries,” Pliev said. “I saw when my finger broke. I didn’t see when it came out completely – and like, the bone came out only after the second round. When the round ended, I didn’t know, but I knew I hurt the finger, but I had to just continue to keep fighting with the injury.

“It’s a fight, and so injury happens, but if I’m able to continue, that’s what I try to do. But yeah, when I did see it, my first reaction was also, ‘Wow, where is my finger?’ I thought I lost a finger and at the same time, a lot of a lot of different emotions, I guess – upset, and pissed that I lost a finger and I’m going to, you know, be without finger.”

Fortunately, the finger was still partially attached and lodged inside his glove, and the emergency surgery to repair the hand was successful. Now just four months later, Pliev is ready to fight again.

“It was a very long process, the rehab I did back in Cincinnati,” Pliev said. “The surgery was done in Philadelphia, the emergency room, but then I did see another doctor in Cincinnati, and thank God, I didn’t need any other additional surgery. I did all the MRI and CT scans and X-rays and everything was good, but I did do a long time of physiotherapy, and it’s good now.”

Pliev also got another bit of good news during his stint in rehab, when the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission overturned the result of the bout to a no contest, wiping a rather dubious loss off Pliev’s record when it was determined Goodale had pulled on the glove during the contest, helping to create the tension on the digit that caused the freak injury.

“I don’t care about disqualifying him – it was not a win for me,” Pliev said. “That was not a win for me, but I can tell you one thing: That was not a not a technical knockout because that didn’t happen.

“First round, the judges give to him. In the second one, I got it. So it had to be a no contest, at very minimum. I am satisfied with that decision.”

Pliev (5-1) returns to action at Saturday’s CFFC 99 event, where he takes on veteran middleweight Nah-shon Burrell (17-11) at Fitz Tunica Casino & Hotel in Mississippi. The main-card matchup streams live on UFC Fight Pass.

Pliev had initially hoped for a rematch with Goodale but says he’s even happier to get an opponent with a more established name, with Burrell having previously fought for the UFC, Bellator and Strikeforce, among others.

“He’s more experienced,” Pliev said. “He’s fought in every type of organization, and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s even better. Let’s take the fight because the guy has a better name.'”

With Olympic wrestling credentials and a professional boxing record, as well, Pliev hopes a positive result will earn him a look at the sport’s biggest promotions, but at 37, he also knows his window of competition is closing.

So perhaps another viral moment this time around might do the trick – though Pliev certainly hopes in slightly less bizarre fashion this time around.

“The viral part is in God’s hands again, and we’ll see if it happens,” Pliev said. “But, yeah, my plan is to go in there and get a win in the first round. That’s what I want to do.

“Obviously I want the finish. I don’t want to fight three rounds. But we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes.”

(This story first published at CFFC.tv)