Those that were in part of a sold out crowd Friday night can attest that Legacy’s first amateur event at the House of Blues since November 2009 delivered on an action-packed night, both in and out of the cage.
Fourteen fights in all were featured on the Legacy Amateur Series card featuring up-and-coming fighters from many of Houston’s premier Mixed Martial Arts teams.
Three new champions were crowned from the event setting up some consistency moving forward for the amateur organization and feeder league for the Legacy Fighting Championships.
All in all, plenty of good, bad, and ugly from the event but let’s start by highlighting the fighters who delivered with hard-earned victories.
Future Professional Stars Emerge with Amateur Title Victories
The following fighters are those I’d consider to be top prospects at the amateur level based on their performances. These are the fighters closest to being able to compete and win at a professional level.
Evert Gutierrez
In beating Corey Allmand in a mere forty-one seconds for the 170 title, Evert showed pundits an overall MMA game making him perhaps the city’s top prospect at the amateur level. The way he went to mount without giving up space was textbook BJJ and his grappling was as tight as any I’ve seen at this level that I can remember.
He’s mentioned taking it slow and working on his boxing (taking on next year’s Golden Gloves) before moving up to the pro ranks. With even more time to hone his skills, Evert’s going to be one dangerous pro from his first fight onwards.
Cody Phillips
By gutting out the last two rounds and winning the fight despite a broken foot (and possibly arm too), Cody showed a maturity befitting a professional fighter. We didn’t get to see him work on the ground but from what I’ve heard, he’s alright there. What we did see was excellent footwork and attacking in bursts to keep his opponent off-balance. Not lost in all this was that he was fighting an excellent opponent in Austin Franks, who is no slouch in his own right as far as a boxer and mixed martial artist. Cody was able to sway the fight to his advantage using his speed and command of the cage. A little fine tuning here and there and Cody will be very tough to handle at the pro level.
Joe Trevino
The third titlist of the night, Joe earned his 125 belt via trial by fire. Whatever that win was worth to him before the bout likely tripled in value given how the tough his opponent proved to be. Trevino was tested in three rounds but showed fortitude in battling through and controlling the action with a multitude of submission attempts to get the decision. At different points in the bout, he was able to set up the triangle, an omo plata, and even had Silva’s back several times. He didn’t get the tap but a few adjustments to those details and Trevino could be a submission whiz in no time. As far as making the decision to go pro, if he wants to move up, he’ll be in that next group of TX flyweights behind Jimmy Flick from the start.
Top Amateur Prospects
Tony Orozco Jr. & Jacob Silva
Whatever Tony Orozco Sr. of Silverback Fight Club has been feeding these guys, if he keeps doing it up, they’ll both going to grow be monsters. The cardiovascular endurance and composure we saw from both of these young fighters was a testament to their future promise. Win or lose, both of these gentlemen fought some very tough guys in their MMA debuts yet didn’t falter when put in dangerous situations under the bright lights. I think both Orozco and Silva are going to be at the top of the lighter divisions in no time at all should they continue to stay in the gym and keep progressing. In fact, both their performances this past Friday night put them on the top of my list when it comes to any discussion of top pound-for-pound amateur prospects in Houston.
Kristy Kester
Fighting off a precarious guillotine attempt in round two, Kester largely dominated her fight with Jordan Gaza with precision striking and excellent takedown defense. No doubt a credit to both her BCS mentor Bobby “Twilight” Powers and also the team over at 4OZ Fight Club where she spent much of her time getting reading for this bout, Kester displayed an excellent jab and footwork throughout the course of the three round fight. It’s hard to say what is next in the amateur ranks for the #25 ranked 125’er according to NonStopWMMA since there’ o a shortage of women fighting locally. One thing is for sure in that there is great promise out these for this former race car driver / pre-med student.
The Best of the Rest
It goes without mention that all the winning fighters from Legacy Amateur Series deserve mention. Charles Lloyd, Brennan Jones, Luis Ibarra, Kolton Karl Englund, Drew Elder, Mike Alvarez, Chris Rucker, Ramiro Cortina, and David Armas all did their thing. In that ground, I was personal impressed by Luis Ibarra, who absolutely devastated his opponent with a head kick early into round one. I was also impressed by Austin Franks in a losing effort. His fight with Phillips was a close one throughout and he did indeed show impressive pugilistic skills and even a few kicks in a valiant effort at the title. No doubt in my mind that kid will be back.
Miscellaneous Notes from the Fights
I hate reporting this kind of stuff but I would be remiss if I did not mention the few negative stories that took away from an otherwise great night of action at Legacy.
As reported by Barry Laminack on TheCageDoor.net, a police report was filed with the Houston police department after local quasi-celebrity and former child star Jason David Frank of Jesus Didn’t Tap punched a Legacy employee. According to several bystanders I spoke to personally, Frank became enraged after being accused of attempting to steal gloves used by his fighters. The employee suffered a punctured lip that required several stitches in the altercation. The rest of the details are hearsay at this point and I’ll leave the debate for elsewhere but, in any case, a tragic incident that marred an otherwise great event.
Also noteworthy, albeit not in the positive sense, was another out-of-cage “fight” as fans sitting on the upper level brawled following a decision between Jacob Silva of Silverback Fight Club and Joe Trevino of 4OZ Fight Club. This was shame as both fighters (and teams) fought hard and showed sportsmanship in the bout. Unfortunately for them, some of their fans could not do the same in the stands, throwing cups of beers down into the cage as the decision was announced prior to the physical violence. Security did well in breaking up the action, a blessing since anyone could have been thrown down off the balcony at any moment. I also want to commend Legacy announcer Collin Cantrell for doing his part in quelling the crowd’s liquid courage and getting the fights continued in orderly fashion.
Legacy Amateur Series Photo Gallery (Click the Picture Below)
