Legacy Fighting Alliance 177: Smyth vs. Magomedov will be a mixed martial arts event promoted by Legacy Fighting Alliance and that take place on February 23, 2024 at the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls, New York, United States.
Fight Card
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Welterweight Devin Smyth vs. Shamidkhan Magomedov Interim Welterweight Championship
Women's Flyweight Shannon Clark vs. Thaiany Lopes Vacant Women's Flyweight Championship
Light Heavyweight Joe Taylor vs. Gabriel Thimoteo
Welterweight Mirafzal Akhtamov vs. Diego Bianchini
Heavyweight Cameron Kinzig vs. Denzel Freeman
Welterweight Egor Kostyuchenko vs. James Wallace
Preliminary Card
Women's Bantamweight Sierra Dinwoodie vs. Hope Chase
Lightweight Levan Khabalaev vs. Nikolay Plazinskiy
Middleweight Liam Anderson vs. Maurice Morris
Light Heavyweight Corey Norman vs. Darryl Booker
Welterweight Luis Francischinelli vs. Ken Burrs
Welterweight Luke Roberts vs. Farman Hasanov
Background
The LFA returns to New York in February with a Championship Doubleheader at LFA 177. The Main Event will feature an Interim Welterweight Title Fight between Devin “The Prodigy” Smyth and Shamidkhan Magomedov. And in the Co-Main Event, top Canadian prospect Shannon “MMA Barbie” Clark faces top Brazilian prospect Thaiany Lopes for the Women’s Flyweight Title.
LFA will return to New York in February with a Championship Doubleheader at LFA 177. The two title fights will include the interim welterweight and women’s flyweight titles being on the line. LFA 177 will be the fifth LFA event to take place in the Empire State.
LFA 177: Smyth vs. Magomedov takes place Friday, February 23rd at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino in Niagara Falls, New York. The main event will feature an interim welterweight title fight between Dana White’s Contender Series alum Devin “The Prodigy” Smyth and top Russian prospect Shamidkhan Magomedov. Then in the co-main event, top Canadian prospect Shannon “MMA Barbie” Clark faces top Brazilian prospect Thaiany Lopes for the women’s flyweight title.
“We are excited to bring two title fights to New York at LFA 177,” stated LFA CEO Ed Soares. “We have an incredible American and Canadian fan base that attend our events at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino, which is a world-class venue and worldwide destination. The venue will now host four of the top prospects from around the globe competing for two world titles. Devin Smyth is the godson of UFC Hall of Famer and Niagara Falls legend Rashad Evans. He will face top Russian prospect Shamidkhan Magomedov for the interim welterweight title. The winner will get a chance to unify the title against current champion Geraldo Neto later this year. Then in the co-main event, Shannon Clark of Canada and Thaiany Lopes of Brazil will meet for the vacant LFA women’s flyweight title.”
Smyth (10-3) is a man following in the footsteps of his legendary godfather “Suga” Rashad Evans and he is doing it right in the town where Evans still holds most of his high school’s wrestling records. Evans grew up in Niagara Falls before becoming the UFC light-heavyweight champion and a UFC Hall of Famer. Evans also helped guide Smyth’s transition to MMA, but has had a more direct impact and lead role on Smyth’s career over the past two years. The 28-year-old is now living and training with Evans in south Florida and the difference has been remarkable and clear for the world to see. That led to Smyth earning the 2023 LFA Fans’ Choice Awards: Knockout of the Year in the main event of LFA 167.
Magomedov (7-1) is a world-class wrestler from the famed Dagestan region of Russia and boasts some of the most impressive grappling credentials in the division. The 29-year-old is a Master of Sport in Wrestling, he is a two-time Russian National Champion in Wrestling, and he is a World MMA Association amateur champion. He also owns a pair of wins inside the LFA Octagon, which both took place in Niagara Falls. The first came against LFA veteran Kohlman Scribner via Rear Naked Choke in the first round after moving up to middleweight for their bout at LFA 155. Six months later, Magaomedov defeated top Uzbekistani prospect Bakhromjon Mashrapov via Unanimous Decision at LFA 167.
The co-main event of LFA 177 will feature the women’s flyweight championship, which recently became available after reigning champion Sabina Mazo vacated the title as she prepares to move up a weight class and make a run at the women’s bantamweight title. That sets the stage for a clash between top undefeated prospects Shannon Clark (4-0) and Thaiany Lopes (5-0). Clark is the top women’s prospect from Canada and wasted little time showing the world why in her LFA debut in October at LFA 170. The 31-year-old bullied the highly-touted Bosnian prospect Nejra Repp en route to a Unanimous Decision victory. She will now face Lopes, who is a 22-year-old native of Goiás in the Central-West Region of Brazil. Lopes, like Clark, is a regional champion in her home country and is excited to show the world what she can do in her international debut at LFA 177.
An interim LFA Welterrweight Championship bout between Devin Smyth and Shamidkhan Magomedov is scheduled to headline the event, while a LFA Women's Flyweight Championship bout between Shannon Clark and Thaiany Lopes to serve as the co-main event.
