By Mike Calimbas, Editor
Legacy Fighting Championship 21 Promises to Bring Exciting Fights to Houston This Friday Night; Preview and Predictions Below
We already talked about the undercard and gave our Legacy FC 21 Prelim Preview and Predictions the other day.
Now it’s time to dissect this main card that includes title fights in both the bantamweight and middleweight divisions right up top following by the Legacy debut of UFC veteran and perennial ‘Fight of the Night’ award winner Leonard Garcia against the Legacy version of the same person in Rey Trujillo. LFC 21 also features another notable debut of 2x Ring Magazine female Fighter of the Year Holly Holm as she looks to continue her transition from the boxing world into MMA against recent Fallon Fox opponent Allana Jones. Round off the Legacy FC 21 main card is NCAA champion wrestler Darrion Caldwell looking to make it 3-0 in Legacy against Gerzan Chaw and Jonathan “Hulk” Harris taking on veteran Matt Rogers.
Take a look at the entire card for Legacy Fighting Championship 21 below then enjoy our main card preview and predictions.
LEGACY FC 21 – MAIN CARD (AXS TV)
135 lbs.: Matt Hobar (7-1) vs. Angel Huerta (7-1) *bantamweight title
185 lbs.: Bubba Bush (5-2) vs. Larry Crowe (6-2) *middleweight title
145 lbs.: Leonard Garcia (15-11-1) vs. Rey Trujillo (15-9)
145 lbs.: Holly Holm (3-0) vs. Allana Jones (2-2)
135 lbs.: Darrion Caldwell (2-0) vs. Gerzan Chaw (3-2)
170 lbs.: Jonathan (7-3) Harris vs. Matt Rogers (8-4)
LEGACY FC 21 – PRELIMINARY CARD (non-televised)
145 lbs.: Victor Hernandez (5-16) vs. Rocky Long (20-29-1)
135 lbs.: Ricky Turcios (debut) vs. Colin Wright (0-1)
145 lbs.: Scott Juarez (1-1) vs. Eric Valdez (1-0)
170 lbs.: Kenny Burke (0-3) vs. Chris Lopez (1-0)
155 lbs.: Eric Garcia (debut) vs. Jacob Capelli (1-0)
Legacy Fighting Championship 21 – Main Card Preview and Predictions
135 lbs.: Matt Hobar (7-1) vs. Angel Huerta (7-1) *bantamweight title
Fighting out of Houston, “The Chosen One” Angel Huerta will go into this fight having one all but one of his eight fights convincingly after spending almost his entire career within the confines of Houston’s Arena Theater as one of Legacy’s most popular Houston fighters.
Meanwhile, Angel’s Dallas-based counterpart Matt Hobar has been on relatively the same track with an identical 7-1 record marred only by a single TKO (injury) loss to Steven Peterson – a loss he later avenged.
Once they take the cage this fight will instantly become an interesting clash of styles featuring Huerta’s world-class striking ability against Hobar’s wrestling and mat prowess. Interestingly enough, both guys are actually pretty well-rounded in overall skill set but their primary weapons make them dangerous in very difference ways. This fight might come down to who can control the clinch game and the closer distances of the fight. Other than that, if ths fight is fought on the outside – Angel wins. And if it’s fought on the floor – Hobar wins. It’s anybody’s ball game but if it’s for statistical prediction purposes (which this is), quantitative data says you have to go with the wrestler in this one.
Prediction: Matt Hobar over Angel Huerta by decision.
185 lbs.: Bubba Bush (5-2) vs. Larry Crowe (6-2) *middleweight title
As we stated in our previous LFC 21 article on Bubba Bush, this fight is the one where he’s looking to finally right the ship and chart his future course in the sport. He won his last one against veteran Jon Kirk but the sting of his previous DQ loss to Artenas Young in a fight he was dominating still hurts. A title win over Larry Crowe does a lot to erase that and should firmly cement him as an imminent UFC prospect provided he defends his title a time or two more.
Now as for Larry Crowe, he’s actually got one win more than his 5-2 opponent and he also is looking to prove some things – namely that he is every bit as viable of a national prospect as his highly-respected opponent. Crowe has won 5 out of 6 and wants to show more of his gains after moving to 4OZ Fight Club roughly one year ago. A win here would skyrocket his stock as far as where his MMA future might go.
This is as worthy a title fight as any when it comes to established Legacy FC middleweight fighters. With a wrestling skill set that was enough to mat Andrew Craig for much of their fight and submit pretty much everyone else he’s faced, Bubba will go into this one as the favorite but Larry will no doubt do all he can to use his superior reach, hand speed, and overall velocity of his strikes to try and alter the momentum of the fight his way.
Prediction: Bubba Bush over Larry Crowe by submission, RD2.
145 lbs.: Leonard Garcia (15-11-1) vs. Rey Trujillo (15-9)
Actually, we’ll go ahead and guess this should be ‘fight of the night’ right now. Both these guys swing for the fences but on the other side of things, they’re both incredibly hard to put down as well.
Leonard Garcia has lost an amazing five fights in a row and six out of seven overall in his last UFC run but outside of one of the those (the infamous twister put on by Korean Zombie Chan Sung Jung) every single fight went to the judges’ scorecards. And that’s how he’s fought for a while now, always looking to please the crowd by looking to finish the fight on the feet. We’re talking a fighter who hasn’t finished a submission since beating Allen Berube by RNC in is first stint in the UFC way back in 2007.
Now as far as Rey Trujillo goes, he’s pretty much been the Leonard Garcia of Texas MMA for the last couple of years, putting on exciting performances – win or lose – but the main difference when it comes to him is that he’s actually finishing people. Short of a Chris Pecero or Jesus Rivera here and there, Rey either wins by devastating fashion or losses to somebody with a grappling based game plan.
How this fight goes is anybody’s guess but we’re going to throw that UFC pedigree out the window and go with what we know – and that’s Leonard has lost 6 out 7 while Rey has won 6 out of 9 and seems to be a bad matchup for the incoming UFC fighter.
Prediction: Rey Trujillo over Leonard Garcia by split decision.
145 lbs.: Holly Holm (3-0) vs. Allana Jones (2-2)
Most everybody knows Holly Holm for boxing skills, having amassed 18 world titles across three separate divisions in her time as a pugilist. However, not as many fans know that the 5’8″ southpaw actually started out as a kickboxer.
Adding even further to her skill set, her time with noted trainer Mike Winkeljohn at Jackson’s Submission Fighting has allowed her to hone her skillset even more. She’s currenty as a pro (MMA) and holds a win over Strikeforce vet Jan Finney. Making her Legacy debut against Allana Jones, she’ll look to continue her climb even higher, presumably with the prestigious UFC women’s bantamweight division alongside the likes of Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate as her ultimate (no pun intended) goal.
Now as for Allana Jones, her best claim to fame so far is being the latest fighter to fall in defeat to transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox at CFA 11 little less than two months ago. Now she’ll go from one tough challenge to the next against her highly acclaimed opponent in this one.
I highly doubt Holly Holm is going to be seriously challenged in this one. Her opponent may give her some good cage time but there’s no indication that Allana Jones is stronger than Holly at any facet of the fight game. Holm trains with elite trainers and has already proven her pedigree as a world-class athlete in the boxing game so look for her to work towards more of the same in her Legacy debut.
Prediction: Holly Holm over Allana Jones by TKO, RD1.
135 lbs.: Darrion Caldwell (2-0) vs. Gerzan Chaw (3-2)
NCAA All-American wrestler and all-around blue-chip athlete Darrion Caldwell has taken baby steps in his MMA career so far ever since debuting at Legacy in September 2012. What we mean by that is he’s taken on opponents with somewhat predictable skillsets in slugger David Armas and wrestling-based Quaint Kempf. A smart plan for a guy coming from one sport looking to adapt himself to the wider world of MMA but there comes a point in time where he’ll have to truly test himself against someone who can do all things – and that time is now against Gerzan Chaw.
At 3-2 as a pro, Gerzan Chaw’s pro record is actually somewhat deceiving. Yes he’s lost some fights early on in his career (back in 2010-2011) but those submission losses don’t necessarily diminish him in terms of what he can do, and he’s been improving this entire way.
As far as this fight goes, both guys are coming in with two-fight win streaks they’re looking to up to three – and perceivably title contention not too far off down the road. We think this should be a crowd-pleaser of a fight on the feet since both guys are fleet-footed and not afraid to wing it there. Looking at his accolades, Caldwell will definitely win the inevitable takedown game but once it gets to the ground Gerzan is at least a purple belt submission grappler – something Darrion hasn’t faced before in MMA. And we think that might just be his undoing as Gerzan pulls off the unlikely upset late in the fight.
Prediction: Gerzan Chaw over Darrion Caldwell by submission, RD3.
170 lbs.: Jonathan (7-3) Harris vs. Matt Rogers (8-4)
We don’t know i this is a makeup fight for Florida native Matt Rogers or what exactly. He came up in after nine years of inactivity to face Larry Crowe at Legacy FC 18 only to lose that fight by first round TKO while mounting hardly any offense. At 8-5 overall, there’s no doubt that Matt was once a formidable fighter but with 3 losses in last 4 over ten years’ time, it’s safe to say that time has passed. And if this is a makeup / rebound fight for him, then Jonathan Harris is a horrible opponent to be trying to do that against.
One of the harder-hitting welterweights currently fighting for Legacy, Jonathan “Hulk” Harris has posted an impressive 6-3 record for the promotion so far but hasn’t quite gotten over the hump of beating the upper echelon of guys in his division. He’s lost his last two while taking a step up in competition against some young and hungry guys. Now he’ll be looking to regroup in this one against his veteran opponent.
Stylistically, I don’t see this one going to the floor very early on. Matt Rogers seems more technical kickboxer than Jiu-Jitsu guy and Jonathan Harris has no problems with testing his luck on the feet and going for the knockout. Rogers has reach on Harris but Jonathan should definitely be the stronger fighter so if he feels like he’s not able to manage the striking distance effectively he can take the fight to the ground for some effective GNP as well. He should win this one pretty handedly.
Prediction: Jonathan Harris over Matt Rogers by TKO, RD2.