RFA and Legacy promotions to merge into LFA

[Edge Guerrero]

the 'NCAA of mixed martial arts'

By Chuck Mindenhall Sep 19, 2016

The future is now, at least for the springboard promotions for upcoming talent in MMA

On Monday, Resurrection Fighting Alliance president and longtime fight manager Ed Soares broke the news on The MMA Hour that two prominent second-tier promotions are merging into one.

"Well, I'm here to tell you that the RFA and Legacy Fighting Championship has merged," Soares said during his appearance on the show. "We merged into one organization, and we just signed a five-year deal with AXS TV. Starting in 2017, we're going to be doing 30 shows a year on AXS TV, and it'll be called the Legacy Fighting Alliance. LFA is the name of the new company."

Soares, who will act as the CEO of LFA — with RFA's Sven Bean acting as COO — said that the FC merger has been in the works for six to eight months. Soares said the reasons for coming together were to unify efforts as a developmental league for fighters to gain experience before joining the bigger shows.

"I just felt that between RFA and Legacy we were the two organizations that were sending the most people to the UFC and to Bellator," Soares said. "We were the two premiere development organizations.

"I felt that when we joined forced, we'd be much stronger together as a unit that we would be separately, and that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to create the NCAA of mixed martial arts. And by Legacy and RFA coming together, that's exactly what we've built.

The LFA press release that was sent out on Monday further explain the thinking behind the merger.

"Our athletes will have an unrivaled platform to compete in front of a nationally televised audience — not to mention in more than 40 countries around the world — and prove they are worthy of a spot at the sport's highest level. Our existing companies have placed more than 100 fighters in just the UFC and Bellator, alone. Quite simply, for the fighters on our roster, the future is now."

Full read http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/9/19/12975496/rfa-and-legacy-promotions-to-merge-in-2017-to-be-called-legacy