Steve Collins Archives - Cageside Press

Kyle Pufahl Eyes Breakthrough Moment Ahead Of Collins Fight at LFA 223

Eddie Law — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 23:25:58 +0000

Kyle Pufahl steps into the spotlight at LFA 223 on Friday night, carrying momentum, maturity, and a growing sense of urgency as he prepares to face fellow prospect Steve Collins in a matchup that could shape the next chapter of his rise.

Pufahl (6-2) is a natural finisher, with four of his six wins coming by knockout. In his most recent outing, he went the distance in a hard-fought decision over Kevin Carrier, proving that the 26-year-old doesn’t chase finishes, he capitalizes on them when the moment is there.

“I think it’s all about reading situations and stuff. Instead of just going right in the fire, which isn’t probably the best thing unless you’re down in rounds and stuff, but early on you got to be calculated,” Pufahl told Cageside Press.

“If you’re landing shots, see what his reactions are, what it could set something up. That’s how I really stay patient. Reading body language, and how he reacts to whatever I’m doing.”

Pufahl isn’t the type of fighter who backs out easily, even when his body gives him every reason to. He made it clear that once he’s committed, he’ll do everything in his power to make sure the fight happens. He suffered a rib injury right before the fight with Carrier, but refused to withdraw from the fight.

“I don’t think there was any thought that I wasn’t going to fight. Prior to that night fighting Kevin, we were booked originally in Niagara, and that got canceled. When that situation happened, my rib popped out, I was like, “No f*cking way I’m pulling out,” he said.

“That’d suck for me, that’d suck for Kevin because he put in all that work for two camps too.”

At LFA 223 he takes on the undefeated Steve Collins who is 3-0 in LFA with two TKO finishes to his name in that span. Pufahl has spent time studying Collins, and the first thing that stood out was the pace he brings. He sees Collins as the kind of fighter who refuses to slow down, no matter the moment.

“He’s got a good tank man. He just keeps throwing and throwing. Good pressure, he brings a competitive aggression to it too when he’s fighting and stuff. That’s what I see the most. There’s other stuff too. He’s a good skillful fighter,” he said.

“Good competitive spirit that comes forward and pushes.”

“You never want wars. I mean, maybe you do, but you want to just save your brain as much as you can until you get into a war in the higher rankings or in the UFC. A quick finish would be cool, that’d be great, get the fan base up a little bit,” said Pufahl.

For Pufahl, the long game is just as important as the fight in front of him. Every training session and every win is part of a bigger picture he’s constantly replaying in his mind. The goal of getting to the UFC is never far from thought.

“I think about it all the time. I always have it on my mind thinking about it,” he said.

“Visualizing the process to getting to the fight or in the fight itself. Like the finish, the steps you need afterwards, winning the next couple fights to wherever you need to get into the UFC.”

Watch the entire interview with Kyle Pufahl above. He takes on Steve Collins at LFA 223 this Friday night Nov. 21 from the Seneca Niagara Falls Resort and Casino.

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Steve Collins Says Metzgar is “Going to have a rude awakening,” is Ready For DWCS

Eddie Law — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 19:38:39 +0000

LFA lightweight Steve Collins has a tough test in fellow undefeated opponent Max Metzgar at LFA 214 on Friday night, but if his opponent thinks this fight is going to easy, well, think again.

“He thinks he can take me down. Hold me down. He’s going to see that I can grapple, bruh. I keep that in my back pocket because I know I can do it,” Collins told Cageside Press.

“I go out there and purposely strike with guys because I know that’s not where I come from. I come from wrestling. Wrestling for five minutes is tough so I rather punch on the feet than force you to take a takedown or I take this takedown after I just pieced you up.”

Collins (5-0) has shown that exact strategy in his fights. His two finishes in his pro career come via KO or TKO. One of them a slam KO over Gabriel Brown at LFA 210 in June.

“He’s going to have a rude awakening. I’m excited to see how on the feet goes with me and him,” Collins said before giving a one-word answer as to where he has a leg up in the matchup.

“Hands.”

A stand-up battle between two wrestlers might be in order at LFA 214. Collins isn’t sure his opponent can stack up against him in the striking.

“I haven’t him throw his hands for real. I’m going to make him throw his hands and see what he can do,” said Collins.

A win over Metzgar on the main card portion of LFA 214 can open up doors for Collins. One leads to more LFA success and glory. The other leads to the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

“I believe my talents could fight on the UFC. I believe I can fight Dana White’s Contender Series, but if I’m not ready I’ll fight again for LFA. LFA is still new to me. I fought three times, but it’s still new to me,” he said.

“Whatever my team and my coach decide to do that’s what we’re going to do.”

Oh, and no more YouTube prelims for Scuba Steve! Main card slot belongs to the man out of Chicago, Illinois.

“I put on a show twice I was in my head after that. I’m like ‘I got to be on the main card now. They got to put me on the main card,” he said.

“Yeah no more YouTube for me. UFC Fight Pass.”

Watch the entire interview with Steve Collins above. He faces Max Metzgar at LFA 214 on August 15 in Sioux Falls, SD.

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Max Metzgar On Collins, “We never heard of this dude!”, Aims For DWCS, Livingston Fight

Eddie Law — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 15:37:57 +0000

LFA lightweight Max Metzgar isn’t very impressed with his opponent at LFA 214 where he faces Steve Collins in Sioux Falls, SD on Friday night.

Metzgar (5-0) faces a fellow undefeated lightweight in Collins at LFA 214. Someone’s 0 will have to go, but Metzgar isn’t focusing on that at all.

If anything he doesn’t seem worried about much of what his opponent will bring to the cage on Friday.

“Records don’t really mean a lot. He’s 5-0, but he’s not on my level,” Metzgar told Cageside Press.

“I’ve watched film on him. There’s really nothing that stands out to me that’s particularly impressive.”

When the skillsets matchup Metzgar truly doesn’t feel like Collins stacks up to him. Outside of his striking Metzgar doesn’t feel like Collins has a lot to offer against him.

“He’s a small 55er. Not particularly great wrestling, not particularly great kickboxing, not particularly great Jiu-Jitsu. He lets his hands go, that’s what I will say, he has a good calmness to him, but I’ve seen him get dropped in the first round in multiple fights of his,” he said.

“I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I will. I’ve never been dropped, never been taken down, never lost a round in 12 fights. I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to go out there and make it look easy.”

Both Metzgar and Collins are from Chicago which brought a hilarious response from Metzgar and his friends.

“We never heard of that dude, man! I was asking the boys in the group chat. I was like this guy wrestled. Have ya’ll ever heard of him? He said he’s from Harvey. A lot of my teammates grew up wrestling for the Harvey twisters which is an elite youth program in Harvey, Illionis,” said Metzgar.

“I have a lot of buddies that I grew up with all wrestling for Harvey and they never heard of him. We’ll see who the king of Chicago is, but I’m based in Columbus (OH) now so it might be a little bit of a conflict of interest.”

A win at LFA 214 gets Metzgar to 6-0, and with dreams of making it to the big show, his sights are set on the UFC. If not he definitely has a name in mind for his next target.

“The path forward I see for myself after this is pretty direct. There’s actually some 6-0 guy that I watched. Adam Livingston I think his name is? He’s also a lightweight. He’s like 6-0 right now,” he said.

“6-0? This dude looks like food. I want that matchup or I want to fight for the LFA world title after this.

While the hope is that the big boss at the UFC gives him a call he’s not beyond stacking up wins in LFA and grabbing a belt as well. With the title up for grabs at LFA 215 between the champ Richie Miranda and Ilay Barzilay coming up later this month Metzgar has plenty of options.

“What I really want is hopefully Dana White calls on the Contender Series which is obviously about to start up. If I’m one-and-done at LFA that would obviously be ideal. If not, either the title fight against the winner between that fella from Israel and the dude that just knocked out Richie L. They’re fighting for the title,” said Metzgar.

“I’d like to be next in line for that. Or scrape off this dude Adam Livingston who’s 6-0. 5-0, 6-0 opponents back-to-back. Go out there and finish both of those guys that’s definitely going to turn some heads. That’s what the UFC wants to see’s that you’re not ducking any matchups.”

Watch the entire interview with Max Metzgar above. He faces Steve Collins at LFA 214 on Friday night in Sioux Falls, SD.

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