Royce White Suffers Decision Defeat In His MMA Debut At LFA 120

It’s fair to say that Royce White’s professional MMA debut did not go as planned at LFA 120. 

On the main card of LFA 120 on Friday evening, White made his professional debut against fellow debutant Daiqwon Buckley in a heavyweight bout. The event took place at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota, and aired on UFC Fight Pass.

White was drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2012. He was waived by the Sacramento Kings for the 2013-13 season, and subsequently announced his transition in 2015. 

How did the fight go for Royce White?

Buckley (1-0), a former college football player, is quite an impressive athlete himself, which made for a very intriguing matchup on Friday evening. The most glaring statistic was the height discrepancy, with the 6ft 8in White towering over the 5ft 11in Buckley in the LFA octagon. However, the most important factor would become the wrestling of the Sanford MMA trained Buckley, who used it to great effect. Buckley was able to target White’s legs several times successfully over the three rounds, ultimately earning scorecards of 30-27, and 29-28 x2. 

However, White showed some genuine promise for the future, displaying a crisp, sharp jab, as well as some decent kicks to Buckley as well. Regardless of how this fight went, there could well be a promising future in MMA in store for Royce White if he can put it all together.