LFA lightweight champion Richie Miranda made his octagon debut at UFC Vegas 120 on Saturday, facing off against Manoel Sousa.
Miranda had taken the long road to the UFC, defending his LFA belt twice, though he was at least getting to skip the Contender Series. Sousa had won his own promotional debut last time out.
The first action of the fight came from a heavy left hand by Sousa, who was looking to make the fight happen in close quarters. When there was more space, Miranda did land a long left hand. Sousa would eventually overswing on a punch and throw himself off balance, allowing Miranda to secure the takedown.
Miranda took Sousa’s back and immediately got to work. He secured both hooks and stayed busy with ground-and-pound. Sousa did a good job staying safe by fighting the wrists, but Miranda eventually abandoned the submission attempt and started landing some heavy ground-and-pound until the bell. Sousa did manage to get back to his feet at the bell, but it was a difficult round for him.
Round two started with a heavy leg kick from Sousa. Miranda was already hurt to that leg coming into the round, and Sousa was immediately all over it. He began attacking the lead leg consistently, which had Miranda desperately shooting for takedowns. Miranda would shoot, Sousa would defend, and then Sousa would start ripping into Miranda against the cage.
Two minutes in, Miranda was in full retreat, seemingly hoping to buy himself some time to recover. Sousa was patient and waited for his opportunities. A few inside leg kicks followed by a body shot dropped Miranda. Miranda showed great heart, grabbing onto Sousa to survive the moment, but he couldn’t get him down or hold onto him for long.
With thirty seconds left, Sousa was swinging for the fences. He clipped Miranda with a couple of powerful hooks before landing another heavy leg kick at the bell. Heading into the final round, it was one round apiece, but all of the momentum was with Sousa.
The third round started with both fighters whiffing on some early strikes. It wasn’t long before Sousa began finding his range. He landed several good leg kicks along with a heavy left hook that got Miranda’s attention. Sousa continued mixing in a lot of cage work, which seemed to give Miranda more time to breathe than anything else.
Back at range, Sousa landed another heavy leg kick and sprawled on a takedown attempt. The Brazilian continued pushing forward and kept Miranda on his back foot. With a little over a minute remaining, Sousa was firmly in control. Miranda landed some nice shots of his own, but they weren’t having the same impact as Sousa’s offense.
With thirty seconds left, Miranda got deep on a takedown attempt, but Sousa defended and stayed upright until the final bell. A less resilient fighter might have gone down early, but Miranda at least took it to the bell. The hard-hitting Sousa, however, took home the unanimous decision win.
Official Result: Manoel Sousa def. Richie Miranda by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
