By TXMMA Staff | Photos by Mike Calimbas Photography
Legacy FC Debuts in West Texas This Month; Top Prospects To Watch Out For
Headlining the card will be a light heavyweight clash featuring two UFC veterans in Paul Buentello and James McSweeney. The show was initially supposed to feature Buentello taking on local bad boy Marcus Sursa before the latter fighter was forced out of the bout, apparently due to some licensing concerns with TDLR. Now in his place steps McSweeney, winner of 5 out of his last 6 bouts and a fighter who also has regional ties having spent time at Greg Jackson’s camp in nearby Albuquerque, NM in recent years. As for “Headhunter” Buentello, he too has been successful lately, winning the last three fights of his latest comeback. Look for both vets to put their all in this one with the platform on AXS TV serving as an excellent medium if either want to get noticed in a newfound bid for national relevancy.
Speaking of veteran fighters looking to claw their way up the ladder, the co-main event also features two such fighters in Artenas Young and Eric Davila aka “Machine Gun” and “Big Head.” If you’ve been watching Spike TV recently you may have caught a glimpse of Artenas Young on the Bellator Fight Masters reality series. He’s taken time to do that but was last seen in official competition back in Ovtober 2012, knocking out overmatched Brandon Mitchell in a mere 4 seconds at IMKF 4. Meanwhile, Eric Davila has lost his last two in a row to a pair of UFC vets in Gerald Harris and Dave Menne but will be looking to bounce back in his first fight in over a year, this time in front of a hometown crowd in Lubbock.
As for the rest of the main card, this is where things get really interesting.
Reason being, some top prospects are also fighting to show the national MMA community that they belong up there with the best – whether it be Legacy title contention or a call to fight in the UFC.
Here’s a few of the top prospects we feel are worthy of keeping an eye out for at Legacy FC 22 on Friday, August 23rd.
Three Prospects To Watch Out For At Legacy FC 22
Geo Pacurariu (Octagon MMA, 5-1)
We last featured Geo Pacurariu prior to his last Legacy fight versus Steven Peterson this past April. He won that fight in emphatic fashion by knocking “Ocho” clear out in the first round, showing the entire community and specifically the bantamweight division that he’s a force to be reckoned with. To date he’s won all 4 of his bouts since immigrating to the US from his native Romania less than three years ago. With a longtime martial arts background in Kempo in San Shou, Geo has only added to his base by incorporating more wrestling and BJJ in recent years while at Octagon MMA. In short he’s only getting better and will look to prove that on August 23rd when he takes on Tye, TX native Aaron Cerda (6-3), another prospect who at 23 years old will be sure to not take this fight lying down.
Luca Pimenta (Gold Team, 8-2)
At this point in his career Lucas Pimenta is known as the Brazilian fighter who went to South Texas and won the $25,000 “Tournament of Warriors” welterweight tournament put on by UWF and subsequently got shafted on that payment due to the promotion going bankrupt in mid-2012. With that weighing heavily on his mind, Lucas would make his Legacy debut three months later, facing now 170 lbs. champion Jeff Rexroad in the main event of Legacy FC 14 and losing by submission. Now almost a year later a TDLR bond has rectified his non-payment situation and next on his list of things to do is also righting the ship as far as his MMA career goes. He’ll be looking to do that against Abilene native Brandon Farran (9-7), a fighter headed into this bout having won his last two in a row.
Update, August 21, 2013 – We just received word that Lucas Pimenta is out of this matchup with Brandon Farran. No word on a replacement at this time.
Justin Reiswerg (4OZ Fight Club, 8-2)
Last up on our short list of prospects to watch at Legacy Fighting Championship 22 is Houston’s Justin Reiswerg. We actually featured Justin not too long ago in this Prospect Watch article for Legacy FC 21 just last month. Unfortunately for him an injury to planned LFC 21 opponent Gerardo Abadie put him back on the shelf temporarily but not for long as he’ll now take on West Texas native Luis Luna at LFC 22. A well-rounded fighter who we’d classify as having “high cage IQ,” Reiswerg has already been in the cage with a UFC vet in Patrick Audinwood and performed admirably but he’s still looking to get over the edge when it comes to reaching that top level. A win over Luna in West Texas would do plenty to get him closer to achieving his potential. Look for this fight as a good indicator of where his MMA career goes in the near future.
Legacy FC 22 – Updated Fight Card for August 23, 2013 (Lubbock, TX)
Main Card (AXS TV)
205 lbs.: James McSweeney (11-10) vs. Paul Buentello (30-15)
170 lbs.: Artenas Young (9-5) vs. Eric Davila (20-12)
135 lbs.: Geo Pacurariu (5-1) vs. Aaron Cerda (6-2)
175 lbs.: Brandon Farran (7-7) vs. Lucas Pimenta (8-2)
125 lbs.: Jonathan Lopez (4-3) vs. Joseph Sandoval (6-4)
155 lbs.: Justin Reiswerg (5-2) vs. Luis Luna (7-4)
Preliminary Card (Untelevised)
125 lbs.: Jon Voth (2-1) vs. Gino Davila (2-2)
155 lbs.: Dustin Roe (debut) vs. Jessie Moreno (1-0)
170 lbs.: Danny Perez (0-1) vs. Thomas Moreno (debut)
205 lbs.: Bruno Bastos (1-3) vs. Gabriel Garcia (4-8)
125 lbs.: Larry Garcia (1-6) vs. Joe Saucedo (0-1)
145 lbs.: Javier Minjarez (0-1) vs. Santana Martinez (2-2)
265 lbs.: George Trujillo (2-3) vs. Eric Lunsford (debut)
125 lbs.: Jeremy Valderaz (2-3) vs. Jason Gallegos (debut)