KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) announced the addition of another exciting lightweight bout to their first show of 2013. The bout will feature RFA fan favorite Dakota Cochrane (13-3) vs. Brazilian standout Deivison "Dragon" Ribeiro (23-7). The two are scheduled to fight on the main card of RFA 6 – Krause vs. Imada 2, which is set to take place on Friday, January 18th, 2013 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Cochrane is the only fighter in RFA history to participate on the first four RFA cards. That includes taking a fight at RFA 2 in March on short notice, just days removed from returning to his home state of Nebraska from Las Vegas, where he participated on the UFC’s hit reality television show The Ultimate Fighter 15 (TUF 15). Cochrane’s fight on the show was televised live on FX and consisted of one round to get into the TUF 15 house.
The result was perhaps the most controversial of the opening round. In a fight against eventual tournament semi-finalist James Vick, Cochrane appeared to control the center of the Octagon and attempt more takedowns, but dropped a narrow one-round Split Decision.
Cochrane bounced back with two straight highlight reel finishes at RFA 3 and RFA 4 to close out 2012 on a bright note. He will now look to pick up where he left off at RFA 6 against the seasoned Brazilian MMA veteran Dragon.
Dragon fights out of American Top Team (ATT) and Sapo Fight Team (SFT), which is headed by Bellator veteran and ATT fighter Luis "Sapo" Santos. After making his pro MMA debut at age 16 in August 2005, Dragon has put together an impressive fight résumé, while fighting a total of 30 times for some of Brazil’s most presitigious MMA promotions. Dragon won the SPF title and also found success fighting for Amazon Fight and Jungle Fight. He also won two fights in one night at Super Grand Prix Combat in July 2011. Since that night, Dragon has won 7 of 8 bouts.
Dragon moved to Miami, Florida in early 2012 and teamed up with Sapo and the rest of ATT. That team of support will come in handy as he makes his American soil debut against Cochrane at RFA 6. Cochrane is one of the biggest names in the Midwest MMA scene, but Sapo and his wife (Strikeforce veteran Carina Damm) teach and train out of Finney’s MMA in St. Louis, Missouri. That will help Dragon get acclimated to his surroundings in "The Show Me State".
As far as overall experience is concerned, Dragon is 3 years younger than Cochrane, but he has been fighting over twice as long and has nearly twice the number of fights, which includes a win over Alejandro Mandarina last month at Jungle Fight 45. However, Cochrane, also comes into this bout on a hot streak. In fact, he has picked up wins over two big-name UFC veterans and a Strikeforce veteran in less than a year and a half. Current UFC star and former WEC champion Jamie Varner, former UFC #1 contender and TUF 2 champion Joe Stevenson, as well as Strikeforce veteran Derrick Burnsed have came up short in bouts with Cochrane in the past 16 months.
RFA 6 is set to be headlined by a lightweight rematch pitting four-time RFA victor James Krause against two-time Bellator tournament finalist Toby Imada. The co-main event will feature a welterweight bout between UFC veteran Brock Larson and Strikeforce veteran Eduardo Pamplona. These fights and more will be televised on AXS TV at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT live from the Scottish Rite Temple in Kansas City, Missouri on Friday, January 18th, 2013.
About RFA:
Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) was founded in 2011 and includes a number of prominent businessmen, fight promoters, matchmakers, and individuals with successful careers in hosting Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) shows across the United States. To learn more, check out their website at RFAfighting.com, like RFA on Facebook at Facebook.com/RFAfighting, and follow RFA on Twitter at Twitter.com/RFAfighting.