LFA 165: Hometown hero Daniel Compton set for main event showcase in Santa Cruz

Legacy Fighting Alliance will make its debut in Northern California this weekend, with a middleweight clash set for the main event in Santa Cruz.

LFA 165’s headliner will pit two of the promotion’s top middleweight contenders head to head, as local star Daniel Compton takes on Brazil’s Renato Valente in a three-round main event at the Kaiser Permanente Arena on Friday night. The main card will stream live on UFC Fight Pass.

“Daniel Compton and Renato Valente are two of the most exciting middleweight prospects in the sport and will finally get to face each other in the main event of LFA 165,” said LFA CEO Ed Soares.

“They were originally scheduled to meet in the co-main event of LFA 161 … so the anticipation will be at an all-time high. This gives our fight fans in the Bay Area the perfect headliner for our first event in Northern California.”

Compton (8-2) is considered to be one of the biggest prospects to emerge from the “Surf City” of Santa Cruz in years. “Santo” is currently riding a five-fight win streak and returns to the LFA cage after announcing his arrival in the promotion in dramatic fashion last summer by becoming the first man to defeat top Samoan prospect Billy Elekana in Commerce, California.

Compton followed up that success by capturing the Tuff-N-Uff middleweight title with a third-round submission of former UFC competitor Maki Pitolo in Las Vegas. Now the 35-year-old is ready to return to the LFA cage in a bid to extend his win streak to six.

Compton was originally set to return to Commerce to face Valente in June at LFA 161 only for injury to force those plans to be pushed back. Now both men are ready to go, and will face off in Friday night’s headliner, with Compton enjoying the additional boost of competing in his home town.

Standing in his way is the latest Brazilian LFA middleweight off the production line. Valente is looking to follow in the footsteps of predecessors Alex Pereira and Gregory Rodrigues and earn his spot on the world stage.

Valente is set to make his sixth appearance in the LFA cage, and he’ll be keen to pick up a crucial victory. To date, the Brazilian has alternated wins and losses under the LFA banner, and he’ll be eyeing his 10th career victory on Friday as he looks to play spoiler against local hero Compton.