NORTH VERSAILLES - Shawn Livingston is ready to move up to the advanced amateur division of MMA. It's hard to say that Livingston, who trains out of Stout PGH and is billed as being from Steubenville, Ohio, shouldn't be in line for the challenge of stiffer competition.

Livingston, a welterweight, has three wins since April, including two by decision. During the 247 Fighting Championships at the Venue 2 card, Livingston scored a well-timed takedown off a kick attempt by his opponent Andreas Angiolelli. Livingston used the sequence to sink in a rear-naked choke.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't use ground-and-pound," Livingston said. "With me going into advanced amateur, you're going to see some of that."

Here are the other results from the card:

• Amateur MMA bantamweight: Jess Hankin win by submission (arm triangle) over Travis Frye, Round 1 1:04
• Amateur MMA lightweight: Hunter Ferber win by submission (guillotine choke) over Ernie Switzer, Round 1 :34
• Grappling super fight: Stellan Mochan win by submission (calf slicer) over Icee Brown
• Grappling super fight: Tyler Tinsman win by submission (rear-naked choke) over Josh Hogans
• Professional MMA: Julian Flenory win by unanimous decision over Jeremy Riley, 30-27 (x3)

Two Pittsburgh-area fighters had a good night at the Cage Fury Fight Championships event at the Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Atlantic City. Justin Patton made his debut with the organization by picking up a unanimous decision win over Frank Wells. Patton, a Plum graduate, improved to 9-4 on his career.

Patton was coming off a loss during his last fight to Chuka Willis in April. Karli Jo Thomas, an Albert Gallatin graduate, picked up her second win as a professional. Thomas won by submission in the third round by locking up a rear-naked choke on Annabel Kelly.

Both Patton and Thomas train out of The Mat Factory in Lower Burrell.

​Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

.Ethan Goss' return to the national stage didn't end how he hoped. The Petersburg, Pa., native and former 247 Fighting Championships double champion wanted to stay on the outside and strike. However, Goss' undefeated opponent, Alexei Pergande, didn't plan to give him time to operate during their featherweight bout during the PFL World Tournament 10 on Thursday night in Hollywood, Fla.

Pergande landed a stiff knee along the cage and used that to bring Goss to a knee on the fence. Pergande quickly wrapped up a D'Arce choke, forcing Goss to tap with 1 minute, 8 seconds remaining in the first round. Pergande improved to 7-0 in his career.

Goss fell to 12-8. Pergande finished with a 16-11 edge in strikes landed. Pergande started the sequence that ended the fight by catching a leg kick attempt by Goss. As Goss fell toward the canvas, Pergande fired off a knee that landed above Goss' eyebrow and opened a cut. 

This was Goss' second professional fight in a major promotion. He last fought in Bellator in 2017.

Josh Rizzo is the editor of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] on X @J_oshRizzo.

Faith Nichols wants to listen to all of her students. Nichols, a Carmichaels High School graduate, needs to know what approach to take when working with her class of people who are grappling with their mental health.

Punching things helps sometimes. But it isn’t the only approach.

“I’m pretty good at letting them talk and tell me what they need,” said Nichols, who is 5-foot-3 and fights under the “Silent Treatment” moniker. “Sometimes, they need to hit mitts and other times they need to chill out or talk.”

Nichols (3-5) is set to fight Monica Hicks (2-2) in an amateur flyweight MMA bout during the Live MMA at Penguin City 9 event Aug. 31 at Penguin City Brewery in Youngstown, Ohio. The event, put on by Made Men Promotions, will have several fighters with Pittsburgh ties competing.

Nichol moved to Ohio two years ago to train with the Demolition Fight Team in Findlay, Ohio. Before the 25-year-old Nichols started working with the Demolition Outreach Program, she picked up a variety of blue-collar jobs.

“Usually I would do odd jobs, pick up construction work or pick raspberries around this time,” Nichols said. 

Nichols has enjoyed the challenge of working with people struggling with mental health. She grapples with helping people take on the challenges of anxiety, along with other challenges they may face.

“I get to do what I love and I get to teach people what I love to do,” Nichols said. “That helps me with my mental health as well.”

Nichols, who also trained with High Ground jiu jitsu in Greensburg, started doing karate at age 3. She didn’t give her mom many options. Nichols was first put into a dance class by the Circle K in Carmichaels.

“My mom put me in a dance class, and there was a karate class next to it,” Nichols said. “I would try to fight my way out of class to watch them. Finally, the instructor let me into his class.”

Nichols’ resume grew quickly. While her dad didn’t let her wrestle, Nichols was allowed to take judo classes and she started boxing at 11. Eventually, a friend got her into jiu jitsu competitions.

When Nichols was ready to start competing in MMA, the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down her ambitions. Nichols eventually debuted in November 2022 when she lost to Joanna Duarte by decision.

Nichols, who has lost consecutive fights, is eager to fight Hicks, who won her last fight by armbar. For her upcoming fight, Nichols wants to control the pace.

“I’ve learned I need to go in there and act like it’s the last round of the fight,” Nichols said. “I need to step up my fame. I need to give my opponent respect, but not give them a break.”

​Nichols was submitted via armbar in her last fight.

“My ground game has gotten better,” Nichols said. “The mentality wasn’t there for my last fight. I don’t feel like I got the right amount of training. I feel like I have the right mindset and my wrestling has improved greatly. I feel like if it hits the ground again, it will end in a finish in my favor.”

The other fighters on the card, according to Tapology, who are fighting out of the Pittsburgh area include:

• Lightweight, Travis Schneider, 27, 1-1, Scottdale vs. Elias Palmer, 2-1-1, Lorain, Ohio.
• ​Light heavyweight, Kevin Dziubek, 0-1, Pittsburgh vs. David Delgado, 0-0, Greensburg

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be sent to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

James Lledo wanted to get some help to round out his mixed martial arts skillset. His cousin knew a guy who may be able to help. Lledo was put in touch with UFC veteran Bill Algeo, who helped Lledo work on adding kicks.

Lledo, who trains with Algeo MMA & kickboxing in King of Prussia, recently won The Cage Fury FC 175-pound NextGen Championship at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City in July. The former Pitt wrestler and Lower Merion High School graduate is now 6-1 as an amateur.

"I want to put myself in tough positions," Lledo said. "I want to make sure I am growing every day. It's a deep game. It's important to continuously get better."

Lledo, 23, picked up MMA during his second year of college. Lledo had a 28-15 record with the Panthers, including a career-high 15 wins during his sophomore season. During Lledo's time at Pitt, he said his interest in wrestling started to fade.

He found MMA to be a natural transition. He initially started training with Stout Pittsburgh and still works locally with The Southside Boxing Club. While boxing always felt like it came naturally to him, Lledo wanted to work with Algeo to pick up better technique for kicks.

"I always liked fighting," Lledo said. "I would see the UFC and other stuff and I was always interested in it. When I lost some interest in wrestling, I wanted to try it. That's been it ever since."

Lledo has found a lot of success finishing fights at the amateur level. He is 6-1 and has three wins by submission and two by knockout. Lledo's lone defeat was a decision loss to Chris Droege on June 8, 2024. 

Lledo bounced back with a knockout win over Tyler Dibert in April 2025. During Lledo's championship win over Joe Teguia, he persevered through some adversity. Lledo executed a successful trip 30 seconds into the fight and used the takedown to get in top position and utilize ground-and-pound.

Teguia was able to shove Lledo off and onto the canvas. When Lledo went to stand back up to his feet, Teguia fired a stiff shot that caught Lledo clean.

"I felt in control," Lledo said. "It was a good fight. He came ready to fight. He was tough. I never really felt out of control."

Lledo regained control with 1 minute, 22 seconds left in the first round when he landed a knee to the head. He followed that up with a takedown seven seconds later. Lledo then successfully rained down more strikes from the top.

While Teguia worked his way back to his feet, he was dropped again with a calf kick late in the first round. Teguia would tell his corner following the first round that he couldn't see and the doctor stopped the fight.

Lledo said he plans to turn professional next April. Until then, Lledo is open to going anywhere and meeting with anyone who can help him improve.

"I always travel," Lledo said. "I want to go anywhere that can add value. But I'm confident with what I have. I'm surrounded with people who love and care about me."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

Dalton Rosta wanted a knockout, but the Laurel High School graduate instead had to sweat out the scorecards. Rosta avenged his only professional loss by picking up a split-decision win over Aaron Jeffrey 29-28, 27-30, 29-28 Friday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Rosta, a Laurel graduate, will have to take on Fabian Edwards in the 2025 PFL middleweight final in August. Edwards (15-4) is the brother of former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards. Edwards challenged for the Bellator middleweight championship twice but lost both times to Johnny Eblen.

Rosta improved to 10-1 in his career by beating Jeffrey, who didn't make life easy on Rosta. Jeffrey was constantly on the forward pressure, forcing Rosta to battle in the clinch. Rosta was much more prepared for the clinch battle than during their first fight in 2023.

"I thought I was going to win 29-28," Rosta said in the post-fight interview with Dan Hardy. "I don't know what round they were going to give him. I know the last two rounds were close. I know I for sure won the first one, but the last two rounds were iffy."

Jeffrey out landed Rosta 112-88 and consistently applied pressure throughout the fight. However, two judges felt Rosta was more effective with his striking.

"Whenever I heard them say 30-27, I was like damn," Rosta said. "So, I didn't know what was going to happen. ... I thought I was going to go out there and get the knockout. I thought he was very hittable, but he definitely improved."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges.