RFA 12 Results: Brian Ortega Captures Featherweight Title; Pedro Munhoz Defends

Resurrection Fighting Alliance took over the Shriner Auditorium in Los Angeles on Friday night with two fighters positioning themselves front and center on the UFC radar.

Brian Ortega won the vacant featherweight title, while Pedro Munhoz defended his bantamweight strap.

Ortega’s victory over Keoni Koch wasn’t an easy one. He established his reach in the stand-up game early, but just when he edged ahead, Koch adjusted, and started landing some heavy leather.

As the fight wore on, neither man took his foot off the gas pedal, but Ortega, more often than not, was able to take control with his submission attacks.

In the fourth round, Ortega appeared particularly close to finishing the fight, locking on a triangle choke and hitting the angle on it. He adjusted and squeezed, but as he had with Ortega’s earlier submission flurries, Koch somehow worked his way out.

Koch ramped things up a notch in the final round, starting strong with hard left elbow and a guillotine attempt, but again Ortega escaped. They both continued to attack until the final horn, but it would be Ortega that earned a split decision from the judges.

“Ready [for the] UFC when they call,” said Ortega after the fight. “Call me, I’ll be ready.”

Munhoz didn’t have to go through the epic back-and-forth struggle that Ortega did. Almost as soon as the fight started, he put a finish to it.

Billy Daniels attacked right away, shooting for a takedown, but Munhoz immediately locked him up with an arm-in guillotine choke and dropped to the mat. He cinched the choke tight, and held on for the submission 41 seconds into the fight.

“I wanna say something right here. Joe Silva, Sean Shelby, guys, I’m ready, please give me the opportunity to fight with the best fighters in the world [in the UFC],” said Munhoz after the fight.

RFA’s champions don’t tend to remain such for long. As the unofficial feeder league to the UFC, most of their champions quickly make the move.

RFA 12 Results

Main Card Bouts
-Brian Ortega def. Keoni Koch via Split Dec, R5
-Pedro Munhoz def. Billy Daniels via Sub (Guillotine Choke) at 0:41, R1
-Kevin Casey def. Eddie Mendez via Verbal Sub (Strikes) at 3:38, R1
-Justine Kish def. Randa Markos Thomas via Unan Dec, R3
-James Moontasri def. Rick Reger via Tech Sub (Rear Naked Choke) at 0:28, R2
-Boston Salmon def. Perceu Friza via TKO (Strikes) at 3:13, R1

Preliminary Bouts
-Terrion Ware def. Zac Chavez via Tech Sub (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:58, R2
-Dmitry Gerasimov def. Jordan Isorida via Sub (Guillotine Choke) at 4:04, R1
-John Hackleman Jr. def. Howard LaCroix via TKO (Strikes) at 0:11, R1
-Cameron Diffley def. Jeff Roman via Sub (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:13, R2