Legacy Fighting Alliance 122: Johnson vs. Mota is an upcoming mixed martial arts event scheduled for January 21, 2022 at The Factory at the District in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
Fight Card
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Flyweight Charles Johnson (c) vs. Carlos Mota Flyweight Championship
Lightweight Brant Moore vs. Arthur Estrázulas
Lightweight William Starks vs. Gláucio Eliziário
Featherweight Fred Freeman vs. AJ Cunningham
Preliminary Card
Women's Strawweight Kelly D'Angelo vs. Tiani Valle
Bantamweight Brittney Cloudy vs. Annette Nichols
Catchweight (130 lbs) Dan Moriarty vs. Jett Shell
Amateur Card
Heavyweight Will Monroe vs. Avery Wilson
Welterweight Jacob Highly vs. Arvin Mills
Background
The main event will feature a flyweight title fight when undisputed LFA flyweight champion Charles “Inner G” Johnson defends his title against top undefeated prospect Carlos “Tizil” Mota.
Johnson (10-2) returns home to St. Louis after enjoying a breakthrough year in 2021. The man known as “Inner G” made a triumphant return to the LFA Octagon on the historic LFA 100 card that crowned Victor Altamirano the new flyweight champion. The win came via Anaconda Choke against previously undefeated Karlee Pangilinan. More notably, it came after the Midwest grappler spent two and half years away from MMA to train his Muay Thai striking skills in Thailand. Johnson continued his run by winning the interim title at LFA 110 against Japanese standout Yuma Horiuchi since Altamirano set to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series. Then not wanting to wait for a title unification bout with Altamirano, Johnson defended his interim title against João Camilo eight weeks later at LFA 114. This was the quickest turnaround for a title defense in LFA history. Now with Altamirano in the UFC, Johnson is the undisputed champion.
Mota (6-0) is one of the most promising flyweight prospects to emerge from the MMA hotbed of Brazil in recent years. The Brazilian dynamo burst onto the global MMA scene with a thrilling performance in his North American debut at LFA 79. The jiu-jitsu black belt faced another top undefeated prospect George Martinez that night, but he surprised his American opponent with a body kick KO just 36-seconds into their encounter. The win earned him a shot at the title at LFA 100, but travel issues from his native Brazil prevented his title fight against Altamirano. Mota then set his sights on fighting on the first LFA event in Brazil this past July, but when his opponent was forced to withdraw at the LFA 111 weigh-in, the always game Mota moved up two weight classes and defeated Jeferson Oliveira just two days later at LFA 112. Now the 26-year-old is looking to become the first Brazilian to capture the LFA flyweight championship.