LAS VEGAS – LFA CEO Ed Soares announced details about the promotion’s September event in New York. The main event and co-main event of LFA 167 will feature a pair of welterweight bouts involving four of the division’s top prospects when the promotion returns to the Empire State. LFA 167 will be the fourth LFA event to take place in the state.

LFA 167 takes place Friday, September 15 at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino in Niagara Falls, New York. The main event will feature a welterweight showdown between New York’s own Jonathan “War Hawk” Piersma and Dana White’s Contender Series alum Devin “The Prodigy” Smyth. Then in the co-main event, top Russian prospect Shamidkhan Magomedov faces top Uzbekistani prospect Bahromjon Mashrapov. The entire main card will be available worldwide on UFC Fight Pas at 9 p.m. ET.

“We are excited to return to New York in September,” stated Soares. “The American and Canadian fans that attend our shows in Niagara Falls bring incredible energy and excitement. Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino is a world-class venue, and Niagara Falls is a worldwide destination. Accordingly, we will be featuring four of the world’s top welterweight prospects at the top of the card. In the main event, proud New Yorker Jonathan Piersma will face Devin Smyth, who is the godson of UFC Hall of Famer and Niagara Falls legend Rashad Evans. Then in the co-main event, Shamidkhan Magomedov of Russia and Bahromjon Mashrapov of Uzbekistan will meet in a battle of top international prospects.”

Tickets for “LFA 167: Piersma vs. Smyth” are available for purchase now through Ticketmaster.com.

Piersma (6-1) will be making his LFA debut as the first New York native to headline an LFA event in the state. Piersma was born and raised in upstate New York and would later attend St. John Fisher University in Pittsford, New York, which is a suburb of Rochester. Piersma played four years on the St. John Fisher University Cardinals football team as a linebacker and led the team in sacks his senior season. Coincidentally, St. John Fisher University is home to the Buffalo Bills summer training camp, and Piersma has been spending his summer in training camp next door at Synthesis BJJ. The elite athlete made a seamless transition to MMA and grappling after graduation. Most notably, he competed against Rafael Lovato Jr. at the inaugural UFC Fight Pass Invitational in a grappling match, earned his brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and is currently a regional champion in the Northeast.

Smyth (9-3) is a man that will be looking to follow in the footsteps of his godfather “Suga” Rashad Evans, and he will get to do it in the town where Evans still holds most of his high school’s wrestling records. Evans grew up in Niagara Falls before becoming the UFC light-heavyweight champion and a UFC Hall of Famer. Evans also helped guide Smyth’s transition to MMA, will have a more direct impact on his training camp next month, than he did three summers ago when Smyth made his LFA debut in the 2020 bubble. The bubble was implemented to safely host MMA events during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Smyth was unable to train with Evans in Florida before that bout, which is something he has changed for this camp. Smyth is now living with Evans, while he prepares for this fight at Evans’ world-famous gym Kill Cliff FC, which is one of the most successful MMA gyms in the sport.

The co-main event of LFA 167 will also feature a high-stakes welterweight encounter between Magomedov (6-1) vs. Mashrapov (7-2). 

Magomedov is a combat sambo expert from the famed Dagestan region of Russia and owns a 100 percent finishing rate in his six wins. Mashrapov is a judo black belt from Uzbekistan and owns a similarly impressive finishing rate to his Central Asian neighbor at 86 percent. Both prospects are also coming off dominant debut performances for the LFA earlier this year. Magomedov submitted LFA veteran Kohlman Scribner via rear-naked choke in the first round after moving up to middleweight for their bout. One month earlier, Mashrapov showcased his world-class judo by throwing LFA veteran and Dana White’s Contender Series alum Logan Urban in the first round. The throw and ensuing ground and pound caused an injury, and Urban was not able to continue.

The current LFA 167 lineup includes:

• Jonathan Piersma vs. Devin Smyth
• Shamidkhan Magomedov vs. Bahromjon Mashrapov
• Ashley Nichols vs. Nadia Vera
• Jimmy Lawson vs. Billy Swanson
• Liam Anderson vs. Jay Manning
• Eduardo Penha vs. Jessen Ramcharan