Brendan Allen
Middleweight | 23 | St. Louis, Missouri | 11-3 | Win Streak- 3 | 4 KO/TKO, 6 Submissions
A product out of Roufusport MMA Academy, Allen at only 23 has already been in so many memorable fights. His only losses are to current UFC fighters Eyrk Anders, Trevin Giles, and Anthony Hernandez. With a few setbacks, Allen still managed to capture the LFA title and still has it today. His grappling is outstanding, he has great scrambles and moves very freely on top, and he can take the back or the mount with ease. Allen can either rain down elbows for the TKO or grab a choke. Allen isn’t known for a lot of power, but he likes to get into the clinch to get knees flowing along with mixing in takedowns.
Justin Gonzalez
Featherweight | 27 | Greely, Colorado | 8-0 | 2 KO/TKO, 1 Submission
Undefeated as a pro, Gonzalez also went undefeated as an amateur at 8-0. Gonzalez has always been an excellent wrestler who was an All-American but he’s been adding a lot of striking to his resume. J-Train could use better footwork but he stays aggressive and has a good right and left hook he throws. That said he really just uses strikes to set up takedowns.
Robin Van Roosmalen
Lightweight | 29 | Den Bosch, Netherlands | 2-0 | 2 KO/TKO
Roosmalen is well-known in the kickboxing world as he fought for the likes of Glory. He may be only 2-0 as an MMA fighter but he has a kickboxing record of 51-18 so he has the combat experience. Kickboxers have appeared in the past on the Contender Series but Roosmalen would without a doubt be their best addition.
Cesar Balmaceda
Lightweight | 24 | Atlantic City, New Jersey | 6-0 | 3 KO/TKO
Balmaceda is a nice prospect who has beaten some solid competition as his combined record (pro and amateur) is 12-1. The sole loss came to UFC fighter Mike Trizano. Balmaceda is the current CFFC interim champion. Balmaceda is a very skilled martial artist who was a high school wrestler and has shown well-executed takedowns throughout his MMA career. He is an even better striker who has power in his hands and is dangerous in bursts.
Miranda Granger
Strawweight | 26 | Snohomish, Washington | 5-0 | 1 KO/TKO, 4 Submissions
Miranda Granger has been in martial arts since a young age, capturing a black belt in taekwondo before transitioning over to MMA years later. Granger is still green, but at 5-0 she has a 100% finish rate against more experienced fighters, which is very impressive. In her last fight, Granger beat two-time Contender Series fighter Jamie Colleen and stopped her in the first round.
Charles Jourdain
Featherweight | 23 | Beloeil, Quebec | 8-1 | Win Streak- 3 | 5 KO/TKO, 3 Submissions
Jourdain is excellent on the feet, leveraging athleticism in the form of flying knees. He is also a skilled kickboxer, and very good in the clinch. Jourdain does an awesome job landing big shots on the break, an undervalued tool in MMA. Jourdain gets the takedown mainly from the clinch where he utilizes primarily trip takedowns. Lastly, his ground-and-pound and conditioning have proven solid thus far. He is really getting better and better and is one of Canada’s brightest stars.
Linda Darrow
Strawweight | 28 | 6-0 | 8-1 | 4 KO/TKO
Last year, the UFC announced a scholarship program and a partnership with AirAsia, where recipients will receive a paid trip to the US to train at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada. Darrow was the first fighter selected and she did indeed go to Vegas to get some time in. Her level of competition has been borderline awful, but in Indonesia, you aren’t going to find a great amount of talent to compete against, and she is fun.
Victor Henry
Bantamweight | 31 | Los Angeles, California | 17-4 | Win Streak- 5 | 4 KO/TKO, 6 Submission
Victor Henry has shown he’s well-rounded to go along with his successful background in catch wrestling. He thrives in scrambles and hunts for submissions actively, being well-versed on the mat. His striking is getting better with a solid base of kickboxing. Henry has never looked better and has key wins over current UFC fighter Anderson Dos Santos, and good prospects in Kyler Phillips, Denis Lavrentyev, and many more.
Nohelin Hernandez
Bantamweight | 25 | Gilroy, California | 10-2 | Win Streak- 4 | 3 KO/TKO
Fighting out of top camp in American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) Hernandez is a very talented striker. He has beautiful head movement and uses feints perfectly to set up heavier strikes. He doesn’t have much power but he has the timing and accuracy to do very well. He is an excellent counter-striker but he does a great job a fighting tall, using his jab and setting everything up. Hernandez doesn’t do much wrestling but he does have very powerful ground-and-pound, stopping two of his fights that way. He’s an action fighter who always brings it.
