Brian Melancon Steps In for Mike Bronzoulis; Taking on Pete Spratt at Legacy FC on July 22nd!

HOUSTON, TX, May 31, 2011 – In the latest news for the much anticipated June 22^nd debut of the Legacy Fighting Championship on HDNet, Brian Melancon (5-1) confirmed to TXMMA.com that he will be stepping in for his Paradigm teammate Mike “The Greek” Bronzoulis against San Antonio’s Pete Spratt in one of the featured bouts of the evening.

Legacy matchmaker Collin Cantrell and president Maynard have both recently expressed a desire for one of two types of fighter to fill the televised portion of the card – fighters that have fought at the national level or Texas-based fighters that are a step away from making it to that level.

At 5-1 with consecutive wins over top opponents in Derrick Krantz and newly-minted Strikeforce fighter Todd Moore, Brian Melancon sure fits the bill as a Houston fighter on the cusp of making that leap to the next level, just like his teammate Mike B. accomplished in recently signing with the Zuffa-owned promotion. In fact, Melancon already has experience with a top-three U.S. promotion, fighting for Bellator in mid-2010 and suffering his lone decision loss to Bellator ‘Summer Series‘ tournament participant Adam Schindler in a lightweight bout where he was reported to have been sapped by issues making the 155 limit.

Now back at his natural weight class of 170 pounds, Melancon will be facing the biggest test of his young career in UFC-veteran Pete “the Secret Weapon” Spratt, a pioneer of the Texas MMA fight scene. Fighting since 1999, Spratt cut his teeth fighting here in Houston for Saul Soliz’ Renegades Extreme Fighting promotion prior to eventually making it to the upper echelon of the sport, fighting against guys like Josh Koscheck, Georges St. Pierre, Robbie Lawler, and many more since then as an exciting striker trained in classic Saekson Janjira Muay Thai.

With the above information in kind, Brian Melancon will no doubt be stepping in against his hugest test to date on June 22nd for Legacy FC in front of their biggest stage ever on national television. Brian spoke to us tonight regarding what this opportunity means to him, how he’s prepared to make the most of the challenge, and what he’s looking forward to accomplishing here in the near future.

Thanks for taking the time to speak to TXMMA regarding your recently-signed fight Brian. Would you mind telling our readers about how this opportunity came about for you to fight on the July 22^nd Legacy card?

I was actually supposed to be on the Legacy card originally against a few different UFC veterans but it didn’t pan out. Ultimately they only had room for one of us (Brian or Mike Bronzoulis) and being that Mike was the champ, it was definitely his to go ahead with. Then whenever get on with Strikeforce, he told me about his contract being exclusive with them. Mick and Collin called me to step in against Pete Spratt and we made that official recently.

Before we talk about your fight, I want you to give us your reflection on seeing Bronzoulis, your long-time teammate, get his deal. How does that make you feel?

Man, for him it was a long time coming… it’s been a lot of training sessions. Sometimes at our old gym, it was just me and him in the mornings for a long time. Between there and Paradigm, it was just me and him again at a half-way gym by the airport doing two-a-days for a while. Us two and the rest of our core guys, we’ve all worked so hard together and we’ve all gotten so close. To see him get this shot, it almost feels like we all did in a way. Obviously it’s not really that in reality but to see him get his shot… I couldn’t be happier. To see him realize his dream is awesome.

Now about your upcoming fight – how does it feel to be stepping in against Pete Spratt?

It feels great. Obviously the card will be on HDNet and it (my fight) is against a UFC veteran. To fight against somebody with the pedigree of Pete Spratt says a lot. It’s definitely going to be a step-up in competition and another test like I always look for. My goal is to get into the UFC and these are the kind of fights you have to take in order to show that you belong. This is a big opportunity for me and one I’ll work very hard to make the best of.

You have always shown a desire to take on the toughest competition possible and Pete Spratt is the first opponent you’ll face with a resume that includes top-caliber UFC experience. How do you feel about him as an opponent?

I feel like it’s going to be a huge challenge. There are a lot of things I have to watch for. With a guy like that, you make one mistake and your night could be over. I have to make sure I prepare very hard to not make that mistake and put my game plan through.

He’s a hard hitter. You’re also known as a hard-hitter. Can fans expect a striking war in this one?

I’m going to take this fight wherever it goes. I always try to have a game plan for specific opponents and I make them go where they need to go. Like I’ve always said, in all my fights, there should be a little bit of everything. Standing and banging, takedowns, scrambling, and stuff like that. You can definitely expect an all-out MMA war and I’ll be ready wherever it goes.

Sounds like fans can expect a well-prepared Brian Melancon for this one. Speaking of which, I know you recently came back from California, where you trained with Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male. Can you tell us a little bit about that experience?

Yeah, it was really great man. Those guys up there, they are really cool. It was a laid back atmosphere. Their gym is set up a lot like Paradigm where there isn’t just one head coach but a group of experts for each individual discipline and each fighters trains and gets to work on the specific things they need. Some people have better wrestling, others have better stand-up…and also everybody comes together for sparring sessions and stuff like that. They do drill a little more technique than what we have been here in Houston so we’ve been instituting more of that since I’ve been back. But yeah, I got to work with a lot of their guys, their heavier weight guys, and it was a good experience in a great atmosphere. Definitely a place I’d like to go back to.

How do you feel that Team Alpha Male experience helped you prepare for this next fight?

Well you know, I picked up a few different tricks. Training with Master Tong was really great. He’s great at implementing stand-up specifically for MMA, combining it with going for takedowns or in conjunction with takedown defense. Just a little bit of unorthodox stuff that people that people aren’t used to. That plus the awesome pedigree of wrestlers they have out there… guys like Lance Palmer (4x Division 1A All-American from Ohio State), Chad Mendes, Urijah Faber, and the list goes on and on. So picking up little tricks from them and tweaking some things I already knew that I could add to my game was really cool.

If all goes according to your plans, can you give us a sneak-peek into what you have upcoming in the near future should you pass this test against Pete Spratt?

If all goes well in the next couple of months, I’ll get another fight on national TV. I think that should put me right there with fulfilling my dream (becoming a UFC fighter).

Well good luck against Pete Spratt on July 22^nd at Legacy FC on HDNet. Any last words for your fans for now, Brian?

Yeah, I just want to say I appreciate everyone that comes out and checks out the fights. We appreciate you watching myself and my teammates give our all. Thanks for supporting Houston MMA. We’ve all seen the recent top crop of guys moving on and doing national stuff. I’m going to work to be the next in line to do that and I appreciate everybody that’s supported me to get to where I am today.

I also want to thank God for the opportunities that I’ve been given in life. Not just with MMA but life in general. Also thanks to my sponsor ShopMrWireless.com for great phone service and of course my teammates at Paradigm for helping me prepare for this fight.