September 28, 2023

By Fred Liggett
sports.lstribune@gmail.com

The Fighting Alliance Championship or FAC as its known is bringing its Midwest region championship event to the Kansas City area on Friday, Oct. 6. The event will feature a home grown talent looking to defend his title and further make his mark in the profession. Alan Olivas is a 2014 Lee’s Summit High School graduate. Alan is on an eight-fight win streak and he puts it on the line inside Cable Dahmer Arena on Friday night. The FAC 21 MMA fight night begins at 7 p.m. with 13 to 14 bouts scheduled. Doors to the arena will open at 6 p.m. for what is expected to be a near sellout crowd. The last fight will be the main event and will feature Alan in his first title defense as a bantamweight champion. Olivas’ opponent is Jose Hernandez.

Olivas has happy memories of fighting at Cable Dahmer Arena having won the title there back on May 5th in front of a near sellout crowd. Heading into this title fight Olivas is enjoying the longest winning streak in the nation having won eight straight. This streak has Olivas being ranked number one in the Missouri/Kansas region, ninth ranked fighter in the Midwest and in the top 50 in the United States. With a win in this fight Alan feels he will be promoted to the UFC. As of now Alan is on a short list to be called up if something happens at the UFC level. 

Having this kind of success is nothing new for this former Tiger. Alan recalls working with Lee’s Summit High School wrestling coach Jay McGovern saying “he really helped me believe in myself.” McGovern worked with Alan on “being more consistent.” Alan’s relationship with his former coach continues to this day as he makes weekly visits to summer wrestling camps at the high school. In return, the current Lee’s Summit Tigers wrestling team is expected to be at Cable Dahmer Arena along with Coach McGovern ready to cheer on a former Tiger. Alan is expecting a lot of love here in Kansas City at this event due to family members coming in from Mexico and admits having “sold out of my first batch of tickets.” 

While Alan remains a Lee’s Summit resident he is currently in training for this championship fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alan is going through the UFC Performance Institute to enhance his skills at wrestling and boxing. In fact Alan is working on getting his “boxing perfected” he says while spending nights at the Capetillo Boxing Academy a well-known facility for MMA fighters in Las Vegas. Soon Alan may be spending nights in Lee’s Summit with family and friends recalling a championship evening and looking forward to what’s next in his MMA career.