Heavyweight Title Up for Grabs at June 30’s LFA 15

Houston-based Legacy Fighting Alliance announced Saturday afternoon that its inaugural heavyweight champion will be crowned next month. LFA 15 takes place on June 30 at FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and the belt will go to either Richard Odoms or Jared Vanderaa.

Standing at a towering 6’5” and a robust 265 pounds, San Antonio police officer Odoms has won four of his last five, with three of those wins coming via vicious knockout. The Legacy Fighting Championship veteran made his LFA debut in March when he blitzed William Hoffman via kick and punches at LFA 6. At 42 years of age, the time is now or never for “The Black Eagle.”

Vanderaa, meanwhile, has been running roughshod in regional shows and has yet to taste defeat. He has stopped every man he’s faced and though he has only a fraction of the experience as Odoms does, Vanderaa is considered by mixed martial arts experts as one of the best young prospects in the heavyweight division.

The LFA 15 co-feature will see a border war between Oklahoma’s Cortez Coleman and Kansas’ Chris Harris. Both combatants are veterans of the Bellator MMA cage and are looking for bragging rights as to who is the best middleweight in the area.

Rounding out the main card will be a welterweight battle between Braden Smith and Manny Meraz; Derrick Adkins against fellow lightweight Dan Moret; Tyler Shinn versus Kendall Carnahan at bantamweight; Justin Rader against Emmanuel Rivera at featherweight; and a 185-pound clash between Chibwikem Onyenegech and Stephen Skoch.

The action will be televised live on AXS TV beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.