On Friday, Sept. 12, Resurrection Fighting Alliance held its 18th event from the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, N.M.
In the night’s main event, flyweight champion Matt Manzanares defended his 125-pound title against Brazil’s Alexandre Pantoja. Originally, Manzanares was expected to face Joby Sanchez, but Sanchez received a contract from the UFC. The 28-year-old Manzanares captured gold at RFA 14 in April with a decision win over Junior Maranhão. The 24-year-old Pantoja made both his promotional and US debut at the event. The dynamic Brazilian fighter is the Shooto Brazil champion and rode a seven-fight winning streak that included five finishes.
In the night’s co-main event, former UFC fighter and multiple-division Tachi Palace title holder Ulysses Gomez stepped into the RFA cage for the first time against DREAM and King of the Cage veteran Abel Cullum. Eighteen of the pair’s 27 wins had come via submission.
Also on the card, Chidi Njokuani faced submission specialist Steve Hanna, Brenda Gonzales took on Heather Bassett in a women’s bantamweight match-up, France’s Mehdi Baghdad faced Evan DeLong in lightweight action and Justin Linn and Adrian Cruz squared off in a 140-pound catchweight.
The RFA 18 main card aired live on AXS TV on Friday, Sept. 12, beginning at 10 p.m. ET.
For the full results and recap of the event, click here.
Above are video highlights of the entire main card (courtesy of AXS TV).
Ulysses Gomez vs. Abel Cullum
Chidi Njokuani vs. Steve Hanna
Brenda Gonzales vs. Heather Bassett
Mehdi Baghdad vs. Evan DeLong
Adrian Cruz vs. Justin Linn
Tim Sosa vs. Zac Riley
Jesse Long vs. Federico Betancourt
Nicco Montano vs. Allison Price (a)
Jess Martinez vs. Bronson Mitchell (a)
Ernesto Salvidrez vs. Ian Velasquez (a)
(a) – denotes amateur contest