High Fives: Flying Knees, Karate Poses and Rear-Naked Chokes

---

UFC Fight Night 136 on Saturday may have been the primary focus of the MMA world during the weekend of Sept. 14-16, but there was plenty of entertainment to be found elsewhere. Legacy Fighting Alliance 49 on Friday in Atlantic City, New Jersey, staged some compelling battles, and Deep Jewels 21 gave rise to a number of impressive finishes on Sunday in Tokyo.



KNEE-PUNCH KO … LFA 49 featured a welterweight showdown between Stephen Regman and Will Santiago Jr. The early going saw two illegal Regman eye pokes. Santiago Jr., who opted against taking time to recover, tried to land big overhand punches on his taller adversary. Regman ended the encounter with a jumping right knee-right hook combination to the head that crumpled Santiago Jr. to the canvas. The official time was 4:34 of Round 1. With his fourth consecutive stoppage by knockout or technical knockout, Regman upped his record to 9-3. Santiago fell to 9-6.

Dakota "Hairy" Bush (real nickname) submits Patrick Rivera with 11 seconds left in R3 #LFA49 pic.twitter.com/tKBIcNPafy

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) September 15, 2018

LATE STOPPAGE … Dakota Bush met fellow lightweight Patrick Rivera on the LFA 49 undercard. Rivera had his moments while upright, but he was overwhelmed by his opponent’s superior wrestling ability. With only 11 seconds remaining in the bout, Bush prompted the stoppage via rear-naked choke. It came after a sustained period of heavy ground-and-pound from mount. The finish was the fourth-latest in LFA history, as “Hairy” Bush improved to 5-1 and Rivera slipped to 2-2.



KARATE-DO … Deep Jewels 21 witnessed a flyweight showdown between Satsuki Kodama and Hikari Sato. Both pugilists were in dire need of a win. From the get-go, it was evident that Sato was no match on the feet for “Komachi Karate.” Sato did not help her cause by retreating in a straight line, which made her an easy target. In the second stanza, a flurry of Kodama punches was followed by a left to Sato’s face that felled her on all fours. When the referee waved off the contest 1:41 into Round 2, Kodama struck a karate pose. It marked Kodama’s first pro win, as she moved to 1-2. Meanwhile, Sato dropped to 0-3.



SLICK SUBMISSION … In other Deep 21 affairs, Mika Nagano and Izumi Noguchi squared off in a strawweight clash. Late in the first frame, Nagano responded to a barrage of Noguchi punches by shooting for a takedown. Having forced Noguchi to the mat, Nagano transitioned to her opponent’s back before throwing her right leg over her fellow Japanese fighter’s head to set up the fight-winning armbar. Noguchi was forced to tap at the 4:02 mark of Round 1. In victory, Nagano climbed to 16-10, with 13 of those wins (81 percent) resulting from submissions, all but one of them by armbar. Noguchi dipped to 5-8-1.



REAR-NAKED RELIEF … Deep 21 also featured an atomweight duel between Yuko Kiryu and Nanaka Kawamura. In the first stanza, Kiryu planted her adversary to the canvas with an easy double-leg takedown. After some scrambling on the floor, Kiryu utilized her grappling advantage to take her kneeling rival’s back and apply the winning rear-naked choke. The squeeze left Kawamura with no option but to tap 3:23 into Round 1. In victory, Kiryu rose to 7-6, while “Nijika” slumped to 1-2.