LAS VEGAS – LFA CEO Ed Soares announced that the promotion will return to the Brazilian coastal city of Caraguatatuba in May with a championship doubleheader at LFA 159. This will be the third LFA event to be held on a Saturday and it will be the 10th LFA event to take place in Brazil after the promotion’s international expansion began in the summer of 2021.
“LFA 159: Polastri vs. Conceicao” takes place Saturday, May 27 at the CIDE Casa Branca Sports Complex in Caraguatatuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The main event will feature a women’s strawweight title fight when champion Julia “Psyco” Polastri defends her title against top undefeated challenger Rose Conceicao. The co-main event will feature an interim light-heavyweight title fight between top prospects Rodolfo “Trator” Bellato and Acacio “Pequeno” Dos Santos. The entire main card will be available worldwide on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. ET.
“We are excited to bring two championship fights to the southeast coast of Brazil at LFA 159,” stated Soares. “The main event will feature the first title defense of the LFA women’s strawweight champion Julia Polastri. She will face top undefeated prospect and fellow LFA standout Rose Conceicao. Then in the co-main event, we will crown an interim light-heavyweight champion when top prospects Rodolfo Bellato and Acacio Dos Santos fight for the interim light-heavyweight title. The winner will then get a chance to unify the title against current champion Bruno Lopes later this year.”
Polastri (11-3) returns to the LFA for the third time looking for a third win, but this time she will arrive with her championship belt in tow. The proud Fluminense won the title in January by defeating top undefeated Argentinian prospect Brenda Gottig with a first round arm-triangle choke in the co-main event of LFA 151 in Cajamar. Now the newly crowned champion, affectionately known as “Psyco,” heads to the coast of Sao Paulo for her first title defense and first LFA main event. A win will see Polastri join elite company as the only three women to successfully defend their LFA titles were all signed by the UFC. Those women are Andrea Lee, Sabina Mazo and Jaqueline Amorim. The 25-year-old will also, once again, be looking to gain bragging rights. After winning an international rivalry against an Argentinian opponent in her last fight, she is now set to face a rival from the north of her country in a classic southern Brazil vs. northern Brazil showdown.
Conceicao (6-0) is a top undefeated prospect from the Natal, Rio Grande do Norte in the northeast of Brazil. The Norte-Rio-Grandense won her LFA debut in September when the promotion visited her region of the country at LFA 143. Conceicao defeated Pernambuco fan favorite Mayara Thays with an impressive unanimous decision. The win kept her undefeated record intact and earned her a nominee for LFA Fans’ Choice Awards “Female Fighter of the Year.” Now the 26-year-old has her sights set on a woman who was also nominated for the same award. More importantly, it will write the next chapter in the country’s north vs. south rivalry. This friendly rivalry has produced many of the country’s greatest fights and in turn the two regions have become two of Brazil’s biggest hotbeds for producing MMA talent. The stakes are high, and Conceicao is ready to challenge for the title in the first LFA event in Brazil headlined by women.
The co-main event of LFA 159 will feature an interim light-heavyweight title fight between two of Brazil’s top prospects as Bellato (9-2) and Dos Santos (15-5) vie to become the LFA’s seventh light-heavyweight champion. This interim opportunity became available to both men as the promotion await the return of its sitting champion Bruno Lopes. The undefeated champion is expected to fight the winner of Bellato vs. Dos Santos in a title unification bout later this year. Bellato and Dos Santos have taken similar paths over the past 12 months. After picking up wins early in 2022, both men were invited to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series last summer. Now they are looking to get back on the UFC boss’ radar. That began earlier this year with both prospects earning dominant TKO wins. Now it continues as both men have their sights set on striking LFA gold at LFA 159.
The LFA 159 lineup includes:
- Champ Julia Polastri vs. Rose Conceicao – for strawweight title
- Rodolfo Bellato vs. Acacio Dos Santos – for vacant light heavyweight title
- Fernando Laurenco vs. Marciley Alves
- Geraldo Neto vs. Argemiro Delmandes
- Lucas Rocha vs. Matheus Da Silva
- Hugo Cunha vs. Fernando Batista
- Vinicius Pires vs. Kaua Fernandes
- Gabriel Silva vs. Lerryan Douglas
- Marcos Degli vs. Hugo Paiva
- Isaias Simoes vs. Joao Paulo Santos
- Rafaela Silva vs. Aieza Bertolso
