Waiting for his shot: Kegan Gennrich in 'best position' for UFC call-up after winning MMA championship

APPLETON − And now, Kegan Gennrich waits.

The former Hortonville standout wrestler is on the rise in the world of mixed martial arts after winning the Legacy Fighting Alliance lightweight championship Jan. 12.

That victory, and LFA's close ties with Ultimate Fighting Championship, has put Gennrich in the "best position" for a possible call-up to UFC in the near future.

"LFA really exists to feed the UFC," Gennrich said. "And I do feel like I’ve put myself in the best position. I like to compare it to Triple-A in baseball or G-League for the NBA. I'm right there and I feel like I'm at the top of the list and the next guy that's going to get called up. I just don't know when ... it's a waiting game. And there are no guarantees. Just like being the best pitcher in Triple-A, there's no guarantee that your call ever comes."

Gennrich is 8-2 in his professional career and is on a six-fight winning streak. He won the Legacy Fighting Alliance lightweight championship (155 pounds) on Jan. 12 over JaCobi Jones. He earned the win by submission at 2:08 in the fifth round at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota.

Jones, the reigning champ, weighed in before the match at 0.2 pounds over the championship weight and was ineligible to win the title, so if Gennrich had lost the title would have been vacated.

Gennrich, 30, was confident heading into the title fight. His opponents' combined record over his win streak is 31-7 and he had won three of his last four fights by submission.

"JaCobi and I had almost fought a couple of times," Gennrich said. "So we both have been with LFA for the last three or four years. I had my eye on fighting him and we both had been on winning streaks and figured we would run into each other eventually.

"He won the (LFA) belt and went on to fight on Dana White's Contender Series in UFC. He didn't win there, but came back to defend his belt and that's when we fought."

Gennrich, who is the co-owner of Team Fox Valley Grappling Club Jiu Jitsu and Fitness, said he'll have to make a decision in the event he doesn't get a call in the next few months from UFC.

"Fighting is part of how I make a living and it’s how I pay the bills. I never really want to be sitting out from fighting too long," he said. "At this point, probably within the next three to six months, if the UFC call-up doesn’t happen I would probably choose to defend my belt in LFA."

Gennrich also looks at the big picture and how his decade-long journey through the ranks of competitive fighting has been a huge part of his life.

"Whether I make it to the UFC or not, it’s been a super-fun ride through my professional career," he said. "I get to spend a lot of time training with my brother (Kelly) and my dad (Chris) and a lot of my family. A lot of my extended family came up to fight, so fight night and fight weekends have been cool. No one from Appleton has ever fought in the UFC, so that’s been my ultimate angle since I started fighting in 2013. Been doing it for almost 10 years now. Being the first fighter from Appleton to ever make the UFC has been the big goal that I’m still working towards."

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Kegan Gennrich eyes UFC call-up after recent MMA championship