LAS VEGAS – LFA CEO Ed Soares announced that the promotion will return to Brazil in January with a championship doubleheader at LFA 151, which will feature the LFA featherweight tournament final.
This will be the second LFA event to be held on a Saturday, and it comes just seven days after UFC 283, which will be the UFC’s first event in Brazil in nearly three years. UFC 283 will also feature a championship doubleheader, as both events are stacked with action-packed fights to coincide with the UFC launch of UFC Fight Pass in Brazil. The launch will take place January 1, 2023 and will provide Brazil with a fully localized version of its pioneering combat sports streaming service.
“LFA 151: Delano vs. Santos” takes place Saturday, January 28 at the Ginasio do Polvilho in Cajamar, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The main event will feature a featherweight title fight between top prospects Jose “Ze” Delano and Gabriel “Mosquitinho” Santos. The co-main event will feature a women’s strawweight title fight between Julia “The Dragon” Polastri and “Arenita” Brenda Gottig. The entire main card will be available worldwide on UFC Fight Pass at 8 p.m. ET.
“We are excited to bring two championship fights to Brazil at LFA 151,” stated Soares. “The main event will feature the LFA featherweight tournament final between top prospects Jose Delano and Gabriel Santos. The winner will become the new LFA featherweight champion. Delano and Santos secured their spots by winning their semifinal bouts in brutal fashion. The highlight-reel knockouts also earned them both nominees for LFA ‘Male Fighter of the Year’ and LFA ‘Knockout of the Year.’ Then in the co-main event, we will crown a new women’s strawweight champion when Julia Polastri of Brazil faces Brenda Gottig of Aregentina in a heated South American rivalry.”
Delano (12-2) is looking to finish a job he started nearly a year ago. The Brazilian was training for his LFA debut at LFA 126, where he was set to face top undefeated prospect Gabriel Braga to kick off the main card. However, when Rafael Barbosa withdrew from the title fight during fight week, Delano jumped at the opportunity to fight Jonas Bilharinho for the LFA featherweight title in the main event. Delano defeated Bilharinho that night, and Michael Stack three months later at LFA 133, but was not eligible to win the title in either bout due to missing weight. The talented Murilo Bustamante protege then entered the LFA featherweight tournament at LFA 143 looking to make a statement on the scales and in the octagon. The 26-year-old did both by knocking out Jair Jesuino and now finds himself in the LFA featherweight tournament final looking to finally capture the title.
Santos (9-0) is a 26-year-old undefeated prospect from Beberibe, which is a coastal municipality in the state of Ceara located in the Northeast region of Brazil. The proud Cearense now trains under Andre Dida at Evolucao Thai MMA in Curitiba, Parana in southern Brazil. The regional kingpin won all nine of his fights since turning pro two months before his 18th birthday. The man known as “Mosquitinho” earned a spot in the LFA featherweight tournament after winning the Future FC featherweight title, which is one of the most prestigious regional titles in Brazil. The dynamic Brazilian would enter the tournament in the main event of LFA 146 against feared finisher Marcio Barbosa. The two would engage in one of the most violent, back-and-forth fights of the year, with Santos eventually putting an end to things via knockout after landing a highlight-reel head kick.
The co-main event of LFA 151 will feature a women’s strawweight title fight that will ignite South America’s most famous sporting rivalry between Brazil and Argentina. Brazil will be represented by Dana White’s Contender Series alum “The Dragon” Polastri (10-3). She returns to the LFA octagon after winning her debut for the promotion by knocking out Bianca Sattelmayer last month at LFA 146. Argentina will be represented by top undefeated prospect “Arenita” Gottig (6-0). She is the first female fighter from Argentina to fight for the LFA and will look to become the first Argentinian to capture LFA gold. Polastri and Gottig will vie to become the LFA’s fifth women’s strawweight champion. The strawweight championship is considered one of the LFA’s most glamorous titles, as all four women that have won it currently fight in the UFC. Those four women are Vanessa Demopoulos, Lupita Godinez, Piera Rodriguez and Jaqueline Amorim.
The LFA 151 lineup currently includes:
- Jose Delano vs. Gabriel Santos – for featherweight title; featherweight grand prix final
- Julia Polastri vs. Brenda Gottig – for vacant strawweight title
- Milson Castro vs. Roosevelt Roberts
- Jonas Bilharinho vs. Caio Machado
