Earl Thomas carted off, and this is why he held out

Earl Thomas carted off, and this is why he held out by Matt Verderame

LFA middleweight Kailan Hill spoke to FanSided about his first-round highlight reel knockout at LFA 51 and the weigh-in drama leading up to the fight.

For Legacy Fighting Alliance’s Kailan Hill, Friday night’s LFA 51 victory was just another highlight in the books. The middleweight, who fights out of Blackhouse MMA and Jog Center is slowly becoming the name to know as he’s secured back-to-back first-round finishes, his latest even ending up on ESPN’s SportsCenter. Though he’s earned two marquee knockouts, he’s not letting the pressure to perform at that level ruin his fight mindset.

“I knew that I was facing a really game opponent, who had a good ground game and Muay Thai experience,” Hill told FanSided. “I pretty much knew going into the fight what to expect from him, and I knew I just had to go in there and have fun and just be myself and not worry too much.”

According to Hill his opponent, Adam Fugitt, was exactly what he expected. It only took him a minute and a half to feel him out, execute the game plan and knock him out cold, something it looked like he might have done during the weigh-ins if he’d had the chance.

Welp this fight is gonna be intense. @LFAfighting pic.twitter.com/h1ENOjZ8gK — Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) September 28, 2018

The pair nearly scrapped at the scales on Thursday night, luckily LFA personnel were there to pull the two apart.

“Sorry about the weigh-ins,” Hill laughed. “I actually talked to him backstage before we walked up to the scale. I just had to compose myself and save that energy for the cage. It’s just something — not even for the fans, it’s just a part of my personality.”

Now that Hill’s on a win streak, he’d like to keep the momentum going and even has an opponent in mind — Taylor Johnson. Johnson is another LFA stand-out with three of his own first-round highlight reel finishes under the LFA flag — a dream match-up for Hill.

“He’s a really game opponent,” Hill said. “He fell out for this fight due to something with his coaches, but he wasn’t able to make the fight, so that would definitely be the fight I’m looking forward to or just whoever LFA has for me.”

Hill now advances to 2-0-1 in his professional career.