{"id":10671,"date":"2020-03-03T11:17:34","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T19:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.combateamericas.com\/?p=10671"},"modified":"2020-03-03T10:18:18","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T18:18:18","slug":"rafa-garcia-the-future-of-the-lightweight-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/rafa-garcia-the-future-of-the-lightweight-division","title":{"rendered":"Rafa Garcia: The Future of the Lightweight Division"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an MMA fan you can\u2019t help but be excited by the 155 division. Whether you\u2019re looking for speed, power, knockouts,\u00a0 or submissions, the lightweights have it all. Some of the biggest stars in the history of the sport have come out of this weight class. The undisputed champion of the UFC Khabib Nurmagodov puts his belt on the line this year, while undefeated Combate Americas reigning champion Rafa Garcia is on an impressive 12 fight win streak. These athletes are dominating the toughest division in an impressive field.<\/span><\/p>\n

The UFC is home to some of the biggest lightweight stars in the sport. With men like Khabib Nurmagomdov (28-0) who has gone through his career without a single flaw to his record, or those that transcend MMA into superstardom like Connor Mcgregor (22-4).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bellator has its own powerhouses, with phenomenal double champ Patricio Freire (30-4) Michael Chandler (20-5) is another fighter and ex champion so well versed he shouldn\u2019t be counted out against any lightweight on the planet. Let\u2019s not look past Goiti Yamauchi (25-4) with an impressive twenty wins by submission.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the 155 division is out to conquer the world. The One Championship has the Asian market in a choke hold. The well rounded Christian Lee (13-3) is the current lightweight king of One, and there\u2019s a whole roster of fighters looking to take him down a peg.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another hot spot for MMA is Mexico and Central America. These fighters have always been known for the grit, tenacity, and heart they bring into battle. Cambell McLaren (Co-creator of the UFC) saw this opportunity and created Combate Americas. The undefeated lightweight champion of the promotion Rafa \u201cGifted\u201d Garcia (12-0) has been dominant his entire career. Rafa defended his title for the first time on Feb. 21, 2020 at <\/span>Combate 55: Mexicali<\/span><\/i> and proved he is the king of the division. Rafa possesses unstoppable takedowns accompanied by nasty Jiu Jitsu. With knockout power and crisp ever-improving striking, the opponent is never safe.\u00a0 He has been a high level finisher on the mat with seven of his wins coming by a variety of submissions. Once Rafa takes his opponents down, they get peppered with elbows and punches until he sees an opening, and they\u2019re forced to tap. He moves forward relentlessly, keeping up a grueling pace until the final bell. Ignore Rafa Garcia at your own peril; he\u2019s on his way to becoming a household name. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an MMA fan you can\u2019t help but be excited by the 155 division. Whether you\u2019re looking for speed, power, knockouts,\u00a0 or submissions, the lightweights have it all. Some of the biggest stars in the history of the sport have come out of this weight class. The undisputed champion of the UFC Khabib Nurmagodov puts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fighters"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combateglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}