By Press Release

LFA CEO Ed Soares announced today that the promotion is bringing the featherweight championship to Colorado in April. LFA 85 will feature a featherweight championship bout between two of the top 145-pound prospects in the sport. The winner will become the fourth featherweight champion in LFA history.

The main event of LFA 85 will feature a featherweight title fight between top prospects and Contender Series victors Justin “J-Train” Gonzales and Steve “Mean Machine” Garcia. LFA 85 – Gonzales vs. Garcia takes place Friday, April 3rd at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado. The entire main card of LFA 85 will be available worldwide on UFC FIGHT PASS® at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.

“I am excited to bring the LFA featherweight championship to Colorado,” stated Soares. “Justin Gonzales and Steve Garcia are widely considered the top two featherweight prospects in MMA. Gonzales has been fighting for nearly 8 years and has never lost a fight, while Garcia made a huge statement in the first LFA headliner of 2020. Both men have also won in front of Dana White on the Contender Series. This will be one of the biggest title fights of 2020 and it’s coming to the Rockies on April 3rd.”

Tickets for LFA 85 – Gonzales vs. Garcia TICKETS will go on sale Wednesday February 21st
at 10:00 am MST through Altitudetickets.com

Gonzales (10-0) will be making his long-awaited LFA debut in front of his avid fanbase in Colorado. The 28-year-old Coloradan began competing as an amateur in his home state in 2012 and has paved a path of destruction in the Rockies that has been admired far and wide. In 19 combined bouts, which include 10 as a professional, the man known as “J-Train” has been an unstoppable freight train en route to compiling a staggering 19 consecutive wins. Gonzales’ most recent victory came last summer on Dana White’s Contender Series, where he earned praise from the UFC boss after a securing a dominant unanimous decision win over Zach Zane. “This kid is undefeated and realistically if you look at his amateurs, which I never do, but his is so impressive… I did. He is 19-0. After tonight, he is 19-0. And even more impressive, his opponent’s records are 52-15. You never see that. You never see a guy that has faced that caliber.” Now Gonzales will look to go 11-0 as a pro and 20-0 overall with a win in his LFA debut. If successful, that 20th win will also earn him LFA gold.

Garcia (11-3) is one of the hottest prospects in the sport right now after making a stellar LFA debut in January. The 27-year-old is coming off a TKO win over LFA standout Chepe Mariscal at LFA 80. That win came on the heels of a TKO win over Desmond Torres on Dana White’s Contender Series. That result could have earned him a UFC contract if it were not for a weight-cutting mishap. Garcia came in heavy for the bantamweight contest, but did enough to impress the UFC President to the point where White gave him advise in his post-fight comments. After stating that, “The kid looked really good tonight. You can’t look better than he looked tonight”, White added that Garcia should move up a weight class. “What I would like to see this kid do is move up a weight class to 45. He’s getting older, it’s going to be harder to make that weight, and he’s huge. He’s huge at that weight. Get a couple of fights and see how does at 45 and we’ll take a look at him again.” Garcia heeded the advice of the UFC boss and will look to win LFA gold in his second fight at featherweight.

Currently Announced Main Card (Watch worldwide on UFC FIGHT PASS® at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT):

Main Event | Featherweight Title Bout (145 lb)
– Justin Gonzalez (10-0) vs. Steve Garcia Jr. (11-3)

In 2017, RFA and Legacy FC merged to form LFA, the premier developmental organization in Mixed Martial Arts. The combined forces of LFA launched the careers of over 180 athletes that have reached the pinnacle of MMA by competing in the UFC. In 2018, the promotion joined the Imperial Family Companies group (formerly London Trust Media). In 2019, the promotion announced a broadcast partnership with UFC FIGHT PASS®.

LFA 85 will be the eighth time that LFA has traveled to the state of Colorado. RFA visited “The Centennial State” eight times before the merger. The entire main card of LFA 85 will be televised live and nationwide on UFC FIGHT PASS® at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.