HOUSTON, TX, September 13, 2011 – I joked around earlier this week with Team Tooke trainer Jace Pitre during discussion of his team’s big fight this Friday night at Legacy FC 8. I told him whenever I envisioned Andrew Craig training for this fight, I saw the Rocky IV montage in my head… you know the one where he’s in Russia full beard and all chopping up logs in the snow and jumping rope by the hearth in the barn while Ivan Drago is breaking punch power records on machines and getting shot up with growth hormone.
The truth is that it’s not quite that extreme for Andrew. After all he’s fighting in his hometown instead of the old USSR and Eric Schambari didn’t kill his best friend spurring him to take this fight before this fight (RIP Appollo Creed). What’s true though is that like Rocky in that movie, Andrew Craig is also preparing for the most important fight of his life. And like Ivan Drago, Eric Schambari IS the most dangerous opponent he’ll have faced thus far in his career.
Andrew Craig’s Las Vegas-based opponent may not boast the wrestling pedigree of a Bubba Bush or the pure BJJ background of a Rodrigo Pinheiro but he is very, very good all-around. Eric Schambari continues to train with some of the best in the world, including UFC fighters like Ricco Rodriguez, Roy Nelson, and Joe Stevenson. He’s also been coached by some of the top coaches in the business, like Guy Metzger and Marc Laimon. Beyond that, he’s also used to taking on tough competition having fought in organizations like Bellator and the WEC. And now he’s coming to Legacy FC as the penultimate challenge from the Team Tooke fighter.
Make no mistake about it, if Andrew beats the visiting Eric Schambari, Legacy’s 185 Champ will be moving on to greater heights in his MMA career. That’s not so much a hyperbolized statement as it is a stark reality for an undefeated fighter and two-time champion going for his sixth win in a row. All talk of the future aside – at the very least what we have here for Friday night is a featured fight between two extremely skilled and well-conditioned athletes looking to climb the top of the mountain. And neither one has any quit in them.
Sounds like a Rocky movie indeed.
Tune in to HDNet Friday Night Fights this Friday to watch the thrilling conclusion to this one and all the rest at Legacy Fighting Championship 8.
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