Ilay Barzilay faces Richie Miranda for the LFA lightweight title Friday in Ventura, Calif., and wants it to be his ticket to the UFC roster.
Born in Israel, the son of an Israeli father and Brazilian mother, the LFA 215 headliner moved full-time to Brazil for the dream of becoming a high-level MMA fighter. After a previous visit to Chute Boxe in Sao Paulo in a short trip from the United States, Barzilay decided to make Fighting Nerds home.
“Not to take away anything from other teams but Fighting Nerds, when I went there the first time, I was scared because of how high the level was — and I didn’t know any of the fighters,” Barzilay told MMA Fighting. “They were very good and it’s absurd no one knew them, or I was really bad [laughs]. Something was wrong, because I had incredible talent and had no idea those guys were so good.”
That was three years ago — and Barzilay was sharing the mats with the likes of Mauricio Ruffy, who is now a highly-touted prospect in the UFC lightweight division.
“I’ve always trained with UFC fighters, so I saw from the beginning how that was,” Barzilay said. “I saw what UFC level was, and what I had to do in order to get there. I’ll give you an example. To be around Jean [Silva], to train with him every day, that’s a whole other level. That’s championship level. That’s excellent experience for me. I decided to stay around these guys to see exactly what they did every single day, to live that, and now I’m living it.
“I’m learning a lot, learning what I need to do. Not to be just a UFC fighter but a top-level UFC fighter, a champion, a future champion. To me, training at Fighting Nerds is a whole other level.”
The 24-year-old lightweight won seven straight in the sport to earn a shot at the LFA belt, racking up four wins with one knockout in the promotion. Miranda went 8-1 under the LFA banner alone, half of those victories coming by way of stoppage.
“Richie is an excellent athlete,” Barzilay said. “He has a good record, he has only lost once — in a split decision. He’s well-rounded, has good striking and good wrestling, but his best thing is his pace. He has great pace to get his opponents tired and win fights. He has good volume. He doesn’t have many knockouts, but has good volume.
“Being quite honest, everything he does I do better. Power strikes, I’m way more dangerous. I have the power to end fights with one strike, which he doesn’t. And to talk about cardio, I have one of the best cardio in the game. Everyone who trains with me knows that. People will only get to see that now because it’s a five-round fight. But my cardio is endless. He knows things well, I won’t say he doesn’t, but everything he does, I do best.
“I’m not seeing how I might lose this fight. I’m very confident,” he added. “I’ll take the LFA belt and see what the future holds. I believe it’s soon going to be the UFC.”