HOUSTON, TX, October 10, 2011 – Fresh off a busy weekend with the UFC rolling in and out of town, we now turn out attention back to some of Houston’s homegrown talent as we get ready for Legacy Amateur Series 6, set to take place at the Verizon Wireless Arena in downtown Houston on October 22nd.
Anchored by two title fights, this upcoming event will be MMA’s first card back at the downtown Houston venue since the IXFA pro card on February 26th that saw Derrick Lewis, Antonio Flores, and Jon Kirk capture a trio of titles for the now dormant promotion.
This time around, it’s time to build new stars with the Legacy Amateur Series presenting two title fights on top of a planned 19 bout fight card at the time of this writing. Rest assured that this fight card will morph to final form over the next two weeks but here are some storylines to watch out for as anticipate the arrival of this event.
Top Five Stories to Look Forward to at Legacy Amateur Series 6
1 – Legacy Promotions Hits the Verizon Theater for the Very First Time
With all the history behind this venue, it’s only fitting that Mike Maynard’s Legacy Promotions finally host a show there as the premier MMA organization operating in the city. This first event should usher a new generation of cage fighting goodness through this latest crop of future pros.
2 – Headliner Pits Houston vs. Dallas in Battle of Undefeated Fighters
The main event of the evening should be a great one for Legacy’s Amateur 155 title as Dallas fighter Armando Servin (5-0) heads into H-Town to face off against Eric Garcia (2-0) for the belt last held by Cody Phillips.
This should be a highly competitive contest if you consider the fact that both fighters remain undefeated at this point in their careers.
Eric Garcia first made his MMA debut in January of 2010 by submitting Brett Landriault at LSBD 14 before coming back this past July at Legacy Amateur Series 4 to defeat a very-tough Luis Lara by unanimous decision to earn this title shot. Throughout his short career, Eric has exhibited an extremely well-rounded game highlighted by excellent ground skills, as he displayed in his last night.
As for his opponent, Armando Servin will walk into this bout as winner of five straight amateur contests. Training at both Prevalsky Boxing and Alvarez BJJ in the Dallas area, “The Latin Assasin” prides himself on being well-rounded as well. He last fought for the promotion at Legacy Amateur Series 5 in Dallas this past August, where he defeated Mike “The Truth” Jackson via a convincing decision to win the main event and earn his own title shot.
3 – Manny Lozoya to Defend Legacy Amateur Bantamweight Title Against Another Silverback in Ramiro Cortina
It’s been a five months now since Manny “el Animal” Lozoya won the 135 title over David Armas at Legacy Amateur Series 2. For those of you that don’t remember, that bout was marred with a slight bit of controversy after it was called after the third round in what both fighters thought would be a five round fight. Nonetheless, Manny earned the belt fair and square that night.
Following that fight, Lozoya would go on to make his next appearance at Cage Combat 4 against Jacob Silva in yet another title fight for Silva’s 125 title in a fight he would go on to drop.
Now 1-1 against Silverback Fight Club fighters, Manny will be facing a third to decide who gets the upper hand in this series. Defending his Legacy 135 title for the very first time, he’ll be taking on a tough young contender in Ramiro Cortina, a dynamic striker who made his debut at Legacy Amateur Series 1 this past February – winning in spectacular fashion with a TKO over Vincent Serrano.
4 – Striking Duel in the Works? Charlie Ontiveros and Mike “The Truth” Jackson Present Unique Contrast of Styles
Perhaps the most interesting non-title fight of the evening may be the one pitting East Texas native Charlie Ontiveros versus Houston MMA blogger Mike “The Truth” Jackson in a matchup of contrasting strikers.
Charlie, a lifelong martial artist, began studying traditional martial arts as a 6 yr. old and now holds the rank of 4th degre black belt in Tae Kwon Do to go along with black belts in Kempo and Ju Bushi Do. According to documented records, Ontiveros only has one fight in the books (a decision over James Powell at Legacy Amateur Series 4) but it’s been said that he’s plied his trade in many smokers and fights on Indian reservations out in the boondocks. Be that as it may and we can only go by what we see – which is a fighter with the potential to take his career a long ways.
If this bout stays on the feet, Ontiveros should face a very unique test in Mike “The Truth” Jackson. A boxer-turned-MMA competitor, Mike holds an impressive striking pedigree of his own as a longtime pugilist with fast hands and a very unorthodox style of defense, ala James Toney, Archie Moore, and Bernard Hopkins.
It’ll be interesting to see speed vs. speed in the form on Charlie’s multi-faceted, aggressive attack versus Jackson’s counterpunching and slick footwork. Let’s hope this one stays on the feet.
5 – Searching for the Next Amateur Star; Who Will Emerge?
As for the rest of the card, the main thing left to wonder will be which of the 20+ fighters left to compete on the fight card will emerge as a fighter to watch out for. After all, like a well-timed knockout punch, you sometimes don’t see these kids coming until they’ve hit you right in your brain with a heaping dose of that MMA goodness.
Most of the youngsters on this card have only a hanful of fights to their record so it will be interesting to see which ones turn out to be the real deal in terms of future pro potential.
For our money and in no particular order, here are a few names to watch out for based on our own observations and the hype placed upon them by others.
► Angelus McFarlane – Massive 185’er who trains with seasoned pros. Said to be very strong and cerebral. Mature for a debuting fighter and finally getting the opportunity to step into the cage after several cancellations.
► Charles Loyd – Lankly welterweight with very solid jiu-jitsu skills. Could be in the running for sub of the night honors if things go his way as he searches for his second win.
► Mike Eaglin – Debuted against Kaileb Cummins awhile back. While still reasonably raw, he is another extremely strong 185’er with KO potential if he is able to let his hands go. We look for him to show his gains in this fight as he faces Jose Pacheco, a forward-fighting scrappy fighter out of the Bushi Ban academy.
► Ryan Hollis – Another prospect in the up-and-coming flyweight division. Currently 4-1 fighting primarily in East Texas and said to have more bouts that are undocumented fighting on Indian reservations. Favors the ground and pound and “highlight reel” type of strikes. We’ll see if he can pull them off come fight night.
► Jose Martinez – Hasn’t fought for the promotion since September 2010 when he defeated Zack Fade via guillotine. Definitely a tough fighter looking for his third win. He’ll be facing off in an opponent likely to be tough as well in 4OZ fighter Mike Dunn.
Legacy Amateur Series 6 – Current Fight Card (subject to change)
155 TITLE – Armando Servin 5-0 (Prevlasky’s Boxing) vs Eric Garcia 2-0 (Team Tooke)
135 TITLE – Ramiro Cortina 1-0 Silverback vs Manny Lozoya 4-2 (Bushi Ban)
170 – Charlie Ontiveros 5-2 ((Hard Head Hitters) vs Mike Jackson 2-5 (4oz Fight Club)
170 – Charles Lloyd 1-0 (GB North Houston) vs Omar Khosravi 1-0 (ACS)
145 – Brandon Boyd 1-1 (GB North Houston) vs Kolton Englund 1-1 (Silverback/RSKA)
125 – Alex Ramirez 1-1 (Bushi Ban) vs Ryan Hollis 4-1 (Hard Head Hitters)
135 – Chris Tornero 0-0 (Texas Dojo) vs Kun Lao 0-0 (4oz Fight Club)
145 – Visuaksena “Shen” Castro 0-0 (GB North Houston) vs Quentin Kiper 0-0 (Revolution Dojo)
145 – Kody Williams 0-0 (GB North Houston) vs Alex Stephens 0-0 (Elite MMA)
170 – Tyler Florez 0-0 (GB North Houston) vs John Paul Moreno 0-1 (Silverback)
155 – Mark Carlisle 0-0 (Bushi Ban) vs David Cruz 0-0 (Elite MMA)
160 – Ruben Martinez 0-1 (Silverback) vs Arturo Delgado 0-1(Team Bailout)
185 – Ken Banks 0-0 (GB Draculino) vs Brandon Hurrington 0-0 (Urban Jungle)
185 – Raymond “Angelus” McFarland 0-0 (Bam Bam MMA) vs Alex Rendon 0-0 (Urban Jungle)
125 – Zach McCray 0-0 (Fly Combat) vs Jonathan Stern 0-0 (Mezger’s MMA)
135 – Roberto Sanchez 1-0 (GB Draculino) vs Joe Solis 0-0 (646 Martial Arts)
135 – Jose Martinez 2-0 (GB North Houston) vs Mike Dunn 0-0 (4oz Fight Club)
155 – Nico Escheverry 0-0 (ACS) vs Adrian Yanez 0-0 (Elite MMA)
185 – Mike Eaglin 0-1 (Elite MMA) vs Jose Pacheco 1-1 (Bushi Ban)
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