HOUSTON, TX, July 30, 2011 – The latest rendition of the Legacy Amateur Series crowned two new champions in “G” Moreira and Monica Earnshaw, who defeated Kevin Thomas and Kristy Kester respectively to add the title of Legacy champion to their amateur resumes.
Both champions earned their belts in thrilling fashion this past Friday night.
In the main event of the evening, it took Guilherme Moreira less than one round of action to catch his opponent Kevin Thomas. Seeking to overwhelm his taller opponent, Thomas came out aggressively, looking to smother G and overwhelm him from the clinch but the Team Tooke fighter maintained his composure during the initial rush before catching his opponent with a flying knee than caught him off-guard just long enough to capitalize with a barrage of punches that caused the referee to stop the action for the TKO victory. With this, Moreira can now boast no less than two titles to his record as he was already the 170 champion for Garcia Promotions prior to this bout. Time will tell what the next step is from here for the Curitiba-born Brazilian but with Zion MMA’s Evert Gutierrez scheduled to go pro and the only other highly-ranked area 170’er (Levi West) being his teammate, “G” may have no other option but to go pro unless he’s willing to travel far and wide to find fights.
The co-feature turned out to undoubtedly be fight of the night in our humble opinion as Monica Earnshaw and Kristy Kester battled in out in an absolute war over three rounds of action. Both fighters left it all in the cage in their pursuit for the title. In the end, it may have been an aggressive third round that earned victory for the “PunisHer” as she continuously pressed forward against her taller opponent. Earnshaw also hit a nice lateral drop towards the end of the first that may have earned her that pivotal round on the judges’ scorecard. It’ll be tough going to find another opponent ready to face the tough Monica the next time she defends her title. The only female we can think of that can give her a run for her money is….. Kristy Kester! The Team Bailout fighter came up short this time around but something tells us she’ll be looking to retool sooner rather than later in another run for the title.
The rest of the undercard was a whirlwind as twenty-two other amateurs stepped in to gain experience at the House of Blues. We’ll give honorable mentions to Ricky Turcios, Eric Garcia, and Fight Medic Chris Kelly, who stood out with impressive performances. Also a note for Luis Lara, who also looked polished despite coming up on the short end of the stick versus the aforementioned Garcia. Be on the lookout for more from these fighters and all of last night’s winners in the near future. Of course it’s the experience that counts more than the “W” in the amateur level so congratulations to everyone that stepped into the cage, win or lose.
Legacy Amateur Series – Quick Results for July 29, 2011
- Guilherme Moreira defeated Kevin Thomas by TKO in the first round to win the Legacy Amateur 170 title.
- Monica Earnshaw defeated Kristy Kester by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27) to win the Legacy Women’s 125 title.
- Ricky Turcios defeated Eduan Espaillat by TKO in the first round.
- Charles Ontiveros defeated James Powell by unanimous decision. (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- John Rodriguez defeated Jorge Jiminez by TKO in the third round.
- Micah Williams defeated Jabari Shakur by submission in the second round. (Guillotine choke)
- Mike Trinh defeated Angel Zamora via unanimous decision.
- Matt Steward defeated Christian Sutton by submission in the first round. (kimura)
- Eric Garcia defeated Luis Lara by unanimous decision. (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Chris Kelly defeated Abraham Lerma by submission (head and arm) in the third round.
- Antonio Martinez defeated Eric Valdez by unanimous decision. (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Roberto Sanchez defeated Casey Jones by submission in the second round. (D’Arce choke)
- Raul Rodriguez defeated Tien Nguyen by submission in the third round. (Guillotine choke)
Legacy Amateur Series – Complete Photo Gallery (click here or picture below)
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