UFC veteran Michinori Tanaka meets Ary Farias in LFA 138 main event

UFC veteran Michinori Tanaka will square off against Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Ary Farias in the Legacy Fighting Alliance 138 headliner on Aug. 5.

The promotion announced the bout on Monday. LFA 138 takes place at the Grand Hotel & Resort in Shawnee, Okla., and airs on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. EST. The card also includes a bantamweight clash between Askar Askar and Diego Silva and a featherweight tilt pitting Elijah Johns against Masuto Kawana.

Japan’s Tanaka enters the matchup on a three-fight winning streak that includes a unanimous decision triumph over Ricardo Dias at LFA 117 this past November — his first appearance in more than two years. A former Pacific Xtreme Combat champion, Tanaka went 2-3 during his UFC tenure, posting wins over Joe Soto and Roland Delorme.

A seven-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, Farais owns an 11-3 professional mark in MMA, with seven victories coming by way of submission. The X-Gym representative is 1-1 in LFA, including a 56-second KO loss to Marcos Breno in his last outing in July 2021.