HOUSTON, TX, April 19, 2012 – The near future should present very exciting times for the always loyal Houston MMA and grappling communities with a plethora of events already slated for the next few months in and around the Houston area.
As a byproduct of the always fast-filling TXMMA Events Calendar, let’s go over the upcoming events already slated for the next two months and provide some insight on what area fans can expect to look forward to in the near future.
April 2012
The month is nearly over but there’s action to be had yet both this weekend and next.
April 21st – First, though it’s not in Houston, plenty of competitors from around the area are making the trek down to Austin this weekend for F2W/WGC’s Texas State Championships (event). This tournament has historically brought forth a wide variety of teams from every corner of the state in a bid to capture the prestigious title of “Texas State Champion.” As seen on our 2011 recap, top Texas guys like Tony Tipton, Albert Hughes, Carlos Diego Ferreira, Macaco, Jason Soliz, Hector Munoz, Julian Vega, Robert Yamashita, Jason Sampson, and a plethora of others showed up for some very competitive matches last year. We’ll be there to cover who’ll show up this time around in just a few days in Austin.
April 28th – 4OZ Fight Club will be holding a No-GI submission-only grappling tournament (event) at their facility on HW1960 In Northwest Houston. This will be a round-robin style tournament focusing on MMA-style rules meaning that for advanced divisions, anything goes – just like in a pro MMA fight. For beginners and intermediate competitors, the same submission rules from amateur MMA contest apply, e.g. straight knee bars are okay but no twisting or cervical locks. According to Legacy fighter Jeff Rexroad, it’s a lot of fun. “I’ve competed in this event before and it’s a blast! You get to roll with everyone in your division so there’s no sitting on your ass all day. Plus its submission only so no boring stall-jitsu. Don’t miss out….it’s a lot of fun.”
Upcoming Seminars – Flavio Almeida and Marcio Feitosa make the trip to GB Westchase tonight (April 18) and to GB Woodlands this Saturday (April 22nd). Meanwhile, Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu will be at McCall MMA next Saturday (May 28th_ while Elite MMA’s Robert Yamashita will be at Cantu BJJ on the same date.
May 2012
May 4th – UWF’s “Tournament of Warriors” (event) kicks off on May 4th in Corpus Christi’s American Bank Center. While this event is taking place far from the lights of the Bayou City (about three hours away), there’s still plenty enough relevance for area fans as three Houston fighters will be taking part in the opening round with their eyes on the $25,000 grand prize and title belt that lie at the end of their respective brackets. First up at lightweight, the always exciting Rey Trujillo will be taking on hometown kid Chris Pecero. Then over on the welterweight side, two Houstonians are set to scrap in the opening round with “The Maniac” John Malbrough taking on Larry Hopkins for the right to advance to the semi-final round.
May 5th & 6th – The IBJJF Dallas Open (event) will be the next federation-recognized event to hit Texas following this past February’s Houston Open that saw stars like JT Torres, Andre Galvao, and the Mendes brothers hit the mats a the University of St. Thomas. This one is a few hours further away than the Montrose area but we’re already seeing a ton of registrations come in from Houston area academies. We should be there as well.
May 11th – Legacy Fighting Championship 11 (event) returns to Houston’s Arena Theater and it should be another great event as the promotion moves further and further along in their quest for steady national acclaim. The main event will feature a lightweight title match with current 170 lbs. champ Jorge “Macaco” Patino looking to earn his 2nd LFC strap against 4OZ “Spaniard” Jesus Rivera after former champion Daniel Pineda vacated the belt after moving to the UFC. Also up for this event is the return of the promotion’s first pro champion Chad Robichaux as he takes on UFC castaway and West Texas native Joseph Sandoval. Other notables set to compete on the card include PRIDE and UFC veteran Marcus Aurelio taking on Mike “The Greek” Bronzoulis and Sharkfights vet Artenas “Machine Gun” Young taking on rising talent Bubba Bush. Up-and-comers like Angel Huerta, Cody Williams, Alex Morono, and a ton more fighters familiar to the area are also due up on what has shaped up to be a very intriguing card.
May 25th – Garcia Promotions presents Cage Combat 9 (event) at the Humble Civic Center. Likewise with LFC’s pro card, this will undoutedly be a highlight event on the amateur side for the Houston area in the month of May. Eric Garcia and crew have put out an ambitious offering for this one with a lineup that currently boasts three title fights. Granted, anything could happen with this card being little over a month away but championship matchups featuring Ryan Spann and Charles Lloyd at 170, Rob Butler and Aaron Croon at 145, and Lucas Orozco taking on a yet to be announced opponent at 155 should leave fans plenty excited for this one. Additional fighters set to compete include Mike Eaglin, Ramiro Cortina, Ryan Hollis, Tony Orozco Jr, and Carver Bennett among others.
June 2012
June 16th – Immortal Kombat Fighting returns to the Edge Sports Complex in Spring for IMKF 3 (event). Heavyweight “Alpha Male” Dale Mitchell gets his shot at a title belt in this one when he takes on 6-1 Tony Melton in the main event of the evening. Lee King will also face a quick turnaround from his LFC fight with Alex Morono to face longtime veteran and reputed top striker Geraldo Abadie. Elsewhere on the card, undefeated Gracie Barra featherweight Jared Chaffee returns to the cage against Silverback’s David Armas while SFC head coach Tony Orozco also returns for a grudge match against former student Larry Hopkins.
June 23rd – Local do-gooder and avid HOU MMA supporter Marcia Ogasawara is coordinating a Houston MMA Community Blood Drive (event) in concert with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center and Paradigm Training Center. This will be the 2nd year in a row for this event with Marcia coordinating this event together with Barry (formerly of TCD) last year. Like the last one, this event will take place at Paradigm, located on 5756 South Rice Ave. in Southwest Houston.
June 23rd – CDM Promotions is slated to host their third event with Elite Amateur Combat 3 taking place in North Houston pending TDLR approval. The fight card for this upcoming event is forthcoming. Look for Rey Rueda and crew to offer up one or more title offerings as they did with their last event that saw Joel Scott and John Hayden win titles at featherweight and lightweight respectively (recap).
Summary
As with all things concerning our MMA and BJJ Scene, things can change and much more events will surely be added as we move into a hot summer both literally and figuratively within Houston MMA.
Make sure to bookmark the TXMMA Events Calendar as we keep you up-to-date with all the latest event, tournament, and fight card information along with anything else that’s relevant to our community event-wise in Houston and all around the great state of Texas.
Likewise, if you know of anything relevant that’s happening or want your event posted on our schedule of events, please as know as well and we’ll be happy to add it in for you.
Cheers to the TXMMA Community!