Jeff Hughes to defend heavyweight title vs. Maurice Greene in LFA 38 headliner

The heavyweight title will be on the line when LFA returns to Minnesota next month.

Heavyweight champion Jeff Hughes (8-1) will put his title up against Maurice Greene (5-1) in the LFA 38 main event, the promotion today announced. Additionally, Beon Lewis (4-0) will take on Collin Huckbody (3-1) in a middleweight co-feature.

LFA 38 will take place April 27 at The Armory in Minneapolis. The main card will air on AXS TV.

Hughes, from Ohio, trains with UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. He won the LFA heavyweight belt at LFA 26 this past November with a unanimous decision win over Richard Odoms. That fight was Hughes’ LFA debut. The 29-year-old has half of his pro wins by stoppage, including three knockouts or TKOs.

The 6-foot-7, 265-pound Greene will present a formidable opponent for the champ, at least in terms of size. He has wins in both his fights with the promotion. At Legacy FC 60 (prior to its merger with RFA to form LFA), he knocked out Zach Thumb with a head kick. At LFA 19 in August 2017, he submitted Jermaine McDermott with a triangle choke.

Lewis made his promotional debut at LFA 10 11 months ago and took a decision from Sonny Yohn. Then this past August, he got a TKO win over Elias Urbina on Dana White’s Contender Series 8 in Las Vegas – though it didn’t earn him a shot in the UFC. Now he’ll try to impress against Huckbody to make it to the big show. Huckbody will fight in front of his home fans and hope to derail Lewis’ hype.

After Lewis’ win in front of UFC President Dana White, White said the promotion already was pegging Lewis for an eventual spot in the UFC>

“I think he has a ton of talent,” White said after Lewis’ win in August. “Both the matchmakers think this guy is special and can be something. What we’re gonna do is we’re gonna take this kid and put him in our developmental league. We have a place where we develop young up-and-coming fighters and we’re gonna put him there. So we’re gonna bring him in. He’s not getting a contract here, we’re gonna put him in this developmental league. We love this kid.”

The LFA 38 card includes:

• Champ Jeff Hughes vs. Maurice Greene – for heavyweight title
• Collin Huckbody vs. Bevon Lewis
• Tat Romero vs. Dane Sayers
• Chris Bachmeier vs. Charlie Brown
• Lou Radecki vs. Nate Richardson
• Kenn Glenn vs. Josh Shaw
• Marcus LeVesseur vs. Cody Lincoln

For more on LFA 38, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.