LAS VEGAS – LFA CEO Ed Soares recently announced that the promotion will return to Brazil in July with a championship doubleheader at LFA 162. This event will be a part of UFC International Fight Week and will take place on the eve of UFC 290. This will be the 11th LFA event to take place in Brazil after the promotion’s international expansion began two summers ago. This will also be the sixth LFA event to take place in the state of Sao Paulo, which is Brazil’s most populous state. LFA has also visited the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco.
“LFA 162: Neto vs. Antunes” takes place Friday, July 7 at the Ginasio do Polvilho in Cajamar, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The main event will feature a welterweight title fight between dynamic Brazilian finishers Geraldo “Luan Santana” Neto and Vanilto Antunes. Then in the co-main event, top contenders Rose Conceicao and Elaine Lopes meet for the interim women’s strawweight title. The entire main card will be available worldwide on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. ET.
“We are excited to bring a championship doubleheader to Brazil at LFA 162 as part of UFC International Fight Week,” stated Soares. “The main event will see Geraldo Neto and Vanilto Antunes square off for the vacant LFA welterweight title. Antunes was originally scheduled to fight Carlos Prates for the title in the main event, but Prates is now set to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series. Neto will now receive the title shot after securing an impressive submission win against Argemiro Delmandes last month at LFA 159.
“Then in the co-main event, Rose Conceiccao faces Elaine Lopes for the LFA interim women’s strawweight title,” Soares added. “Conceiccao was scheduled to challenge our women’s strawweight champion Julia Polastri for the title in the main event of LFA 159, but Polastri withdrew from the bout due to an injury. Polastri is now set to return to Dana White’s Contender Series, which created this interim title fight in her absence.”
Neto (17-6) knew his LFA debut bout against Delmandes would have heavy implications riding on the outcome of their bout at LFA 159. He just did not realize how high the stakes were until it was all said and done. Neto came into that bout with a fearsome reputation for his incredible finishing ability and wasted no time displaying his killer instinct by locking in a rear-naked choke in the first round. That was the 17th win of his career and 16th coming via stoppage to increase his ferocious finishing rate to just over 94 percent. More importantly, it secured the man known as “Luan Santana” an LFA title shot as Prates had just signed on to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series. The 32-year-old Mato-Grossense, who trains under UFC and PRIDE veteran Cristiano Marcello at CM System, will now return to the LFA octagon looking for LFA gold.
Antunes (15-6) is a man that earned his shot at the LFA welterweight title the good old-fashioned way. This happened when the muay Thai stylist left zero doubt about who the new “King of Rio” was by emerging victorious in a “winner takes all” double title fight this past December. This happened when two of Brazil’s top regional promotions – The Conqueror and Favela Kombat – squared off in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with the winner of the main event taking home both promotions’ titles. The Tata Fight Team product defeated UFC and “TUF” veteran Wendell Oliveira via TKO. The end came when a doctor called a stop to things after two rounds and Antunes walked away with both The Conqueror and Favela Kombat welterweight titles. Now the 28-year-old Fluminense looks to add his first world title to his collection when he battles Neto during UFC International Fight Week.
The co-main event of LFA 162 will feature an interim women’s strawweight title fight between two of Brazil’s top prospects as Conceicao (6-0) and Lopes (6-1) vie to become the LFA’s sixth women’s strawweight champion. This interim opportunity became available to both women as the promotion awaits the status of its sitting champion Polastri. The reigning champion was originally set to defend her title against Conceicao in the main event of LFA 159 but withdrew due to injury. Polastri is now set to return to Dana White’s Contender Series later this summer.
Conceiçao vs. Lopes now represents one of the most intriguing grappler vs. striker championship matchups to take place in MMA this year. Conceicao is a Brazilian national wrestling champion that is perfect after a half dozen fights in pro MMA. The most recent win came against Thays in Thays’ home state of Pernambuco at LFA 143. That event drew the largest crowd in LFA history with nearly 10,000 fans in attendance. She will now face a woman with a pedigree just as advanced, but it happens to be in the striking department instead of grappling.
Lopes made her debut for the promotion at LFA 112, which was part of two events in one weekend for the LFA as it expanded internationally in July 2021. Then in the summer of 2022, Lopes would then represent the Kingdom of Bahrain at the International Federation of Muay Thai Associations (IFMA) Senior World Championships, which took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Lopes would receive the silver medal, but is best known in the striking world for another reason. She is also the first woman to defeat Aline Pereira (sister of Alex Pereira) in pro kickboxing.
The LFA 162 lineup currently includes:
- Geraldo Neto vs. Vanilto Antunes – for vacant welterweight title
- Rose Conceicao vs. Elaine Lopes – for interim strawweight title
- Wellington Prado vs. Marcio Barbosa
- Jefferson Nascimento vs. Italo Gomes
- Fernanda Barbosa vs. Estefani Almeida
- Rafael Tobias vs. Miguel Porto
