HOUSTON, TX, November 14, 2012 – We’re little over two days away from Legacy Fighting Championship 15 at the Arena Theater this Friday night and it’s shaped up to be another intriguing card for local fight fans in addition to those that will be watching the main card live on AXS TV.
We haven’t done fight-by-fight previews and predictions here on TXMMA.com in quite a while so we figure now is as good a time as any to resume – just to see if we get things right or whether the fighters prove us wrong by their own hand.
Fans feel free to chime in with your comments here or on our TXMMA Facebook Page and let us know your own picks and why.
Here is the quick card below followed by our undercard preview. Main card should be out sometime tomorrow!
Legacy Fighting Championship 15 – Quick Card
205 – Robert Drysdale vs. Chris Reed
155 – Nick Gonzalez vs. Ray Blodget
135 – Saul Elizondo vs. Angel Huerta
185 – Jon Kirk vs. Bubba Bush
135 – Cody Williams vs. Thomas de Almeida
170 – Patrick Hutton vs. Charlie Ontiveros
125 – Marcus Dupar vs. Matt Schnell
Prelims (Untelevised)
170 – Shawn Machado vs. Mike Bronzoulis
125 – Ryan Hollis vs. Will Spidle
135 – Daniel Delgado vs. Domingo Pilarte
135 – Colin Wright vs. Gerzan Chaw
170 – Kaileb Cummins vs. Levi West
155 – Alex Black vs. Mark Garcia
Legacy Fighting Championship 151 – Fight-by-Fight Preview
Undercard Preview – Shawn Machado (2-2) vs. Mike Bronzoulis (14-5-1)
Truth be told I don’t know what to make of this matchup and it’s not because I can’t predict what will happen. It just seems to me that it might a little too obvious making this one a bit of a head-scratcher.
A twenty-fight veteran, Mike “The Greek” Bronzoulis is a longtime veteran that’s won at Strikeforce and many other promotions in addition to being a former Legacy champion. He’s gone toe-to-toe with Gerald Harris and others and is also coming off a TKO win over one of South Texas’ best in Danny Salinas in his last fight at UWF 3.
Meanwhile Shawn Machado is a 41 year old pro with a .500 record and 2 losses in his last two fights. His two wins also come against fighters with a combined 0 fights of experience at the time they stepped into the cage with him.
Fight Prediction:
I don’t have a million dollars but if I did, I’d bet it all on Bronzoulis in this fight. Even if I only got $20 back on that bet, I’d still consider it safe given all the statistics and common sense I have at my disposal. Nothing against Machado at all who certainly had enough heart to accept this fight and keep his dream going in the twilight of his athletic career but this fight simply does not make sense from a competitive perspective. At least not on paper anyways.
Mike Bronzoulis over Shawn Machado by KO/TKO, RD1.
Undercard Preview – Ryan Hollis (1-1) vs. Will Spidle (debut)
Based on everything I hear, this fight has apparently been a long time coming between these two East Texas residents and flyweight prospects.
Ryan Hollis is coming off his most high profile fight yet with his somewhat controversial loss to MTV star Matt “Danger” Schnell at Legacy FC 14. He actually already came back from that with a convincing TKO win over Matt Thompson last month at the In Cage We Trust event but this fight with Spidle should be his second real test as a pro or at least that’s what Will Spidle is hoping.
Speaking of Spidle, admittedly I haven’t seen enough of his fights to make a fully-informed decision on this one but he seems to have done well as an amateur fighting primarily out on the East Texas circuit – compiling a 5-2 record as an amateur.
Fight Prediction:
Until I see different, I’ve got to believe Hollis to be the more polished prospect at this point. He’s always been a strong grappler but looks to have improved by leaps and bounds as a striker in his last few fights as well. With his reach advantage, that should give him the edge but something tells me this will be an exciting flyweight fight one way or another as this divisions is slowly becoming one of the most exciting in the entire promotion.
Ryan Hollis over Will Spidle by submission, RD2.
Undercard Preview – Daniel Delgado (debut) vs. Domingo Pilarte (2-0)
Finally “El Nino” will be returning to the cage.
Domingo Pilarte has been one of the best kept secrets in Houston MMA over the past few years. Those who train with him say he’s an absolute beast and he’s proven it in years past with 3 submission victories since he debuted as an 18 year old amateur back in April 2008. For one reason or another he hasn’t fought since December 2010 but he’ll be looking to make some noise with an impressive victory on this card.
He’ll be going up against an opponent that is as reckless as he is exciting in Paradigm’s debuting pro Daniel Delgado – who always seemed to go for broke no matter what fight he was in as an amateur.
Fight Prediction:
This fight could be nuts as both these guys seem to like a fast pace and do a lot of their work in the scramble. Daniel has a puncher chance (or flying knee, spinning backfist, etc.) but I like the technically superior Domingo Pilarte to win this fight.
Domingo Pilarte over Daniel Delgado by submission, RD 1.
Undercard Preview – Colin Wright (debut) vs. Gerzan Chaw (1-2)
Let’s just put it out there… out of all the fights on the entire card, main or prelim, this one is without a doubt my early favorite for ‘TXMMA Fight of the Night’ honors.
Colin Wright will be making his pro debut after compiling an undefeated MMA record with 3 titles as an amateur. He’s coming off a Muay Thai loss in his last amateur fight at Legacy Amateur Series 10 but didn’t look bad in that fight against a striking specialist of an opponent in Kru Pong-trained Uriel Figueroa. Now he’s looking to take all that experience and finally have success at the pro level where he’s looking to get paid and make waves.
Meanwhile, Gerzan Chaw likely won’t be looking to become Wright’s first victim at the pro level. Quite the contrary, he’ll be the one looking to make an example out of his opponent after losing his own last two fights. Chaw hasn’t stepped into the cage since dropping a submission to Cody Williams over a year and a half ago. He’s spent most of his time teaching at Bushi Ban since then but he’s never stopped training either. He’ll be flying under the radar heading into this one but he’ll be every bit as competitive as his more publicized opponent.
Fight Prediction:
This is a hard one for me to call and I personally have no clue what will happen in this fight. I’m pretty tempted to label this one a ‘pick-em’ but I made a vow to myself not to do that on this card. This fight could go either way but I’m very hesitantly going with…
Colin Wright over Gerzan Chaw by unanimous decision.
Undercard Preview – Kaileb Cummins (1-0) vs. Levi West (0-1)
Next up is a battle of two young one fight veterans in Kaileb Cummins (23 yrs. old) and Levi West (21 yrs. old).
They have six and seven fights respectively at the amateur level so both are no stranger to the cage. Both of their pro careers also started off with a choke with Cummins winning his debut over Patrick Greene by guillotine while West lost his own debut to Jeremy Morris by Von Flue choke.
As far as matchups go, this one should be a good one with the X-factors potentially being how Kaileb will handle Levi’s boxing-based attack on the feet versus how Levi will react when getting pressured by Kaileb who always seems to push the fight forward and make it happen on his terms.
Fight Prediction:
Save for an armbar in his last ammy fight to an extremely talented grappler in Robert Yamashita, Cummins hasn’t been finished while West has two submission losses in a row. I think West will certainly be more aggressive in this one than he has been in his last two but that may play right into Kaileb’s strength and I believe the former Huntsville resident has the physical advantage here in terms of power and ability muscle his opponent. That may be the deciding factor right there.
Kaileb Cummins over Levi West by majority decision.
Undercard Preview – Alex Black (2-3) vs. Mark Garcia (2-5)
Bushi Ban’s Alex Black makes his return to the Houston fight scene for the first time in over a year when he takes on Mark “Kan’t Get Right” Garcia in this one.
Black actually has a long lengthy history on the local scene. He began fighting as an amateur in March 2009 and compiled a 4-3 record before turning pro with a wn over Greg Bellomy in November 2010. Throughout it all he gained a solid measure of respect as an up-and-coming prospect with a well-rounded striking/grappling game. Unfortunately for him, he ran into a string of three-consecutive losses like a brick wall – first with a tough TKO loss to Gilbert Jimenez followed up with losses to Tim Snyder and Jared Chaffee. Black finally bounced back a convincing TKO victory of his own against Pawel Ostasz after a year away from competition to reevaluate his approach and improve his skillset which brings him up to this point. And he’s looking to come back with a vengeance to prove he’s better than his record would indicate.
Curiously enough, he’ll be taking on another fighter looking to do the same thing in 2-5 Mark Garcia. Like his opponent, Garcia also spent some considerable time in the amateurs where he compiled an impressive 4-1 record. Like Alex, he turned pro with a win over Dominic Rodriguez in October 2010 only to lose 5 out of his next 6. Of note though is that of those losses, most of them come to some very highly touted prospects or respected veterans – guys like Lee King, Alex Morono, Alden Herbert, and most recently Charlie Ontiveros. The guy never backs down (pardon the pun), making this a more interesting fight than most would presume.
Fight Prediction:
Mark Garcia is a tougher guy than many would give him credit for but I like Alex Black in this fight. The Bushi Ban fighter simply has more ways to win and is finally riding a wave of positive momentum that should him coming into this fight very confident and looking to make a statement.
Alex Black over Mark Garcia by submission. RD 2.