By TXMMA Staff | Photos by Eric Karr, TXMMA Contributor
Legacy Fighting Championship Debuts in West Texas
Four of the main card bouts featured on AXS TV was comprised of West Texas or Western High Plains based fighters with every single one winning over their out of town opponents in what ended up to be another exciting night of mixed martial arts action in the Lone Star State.
“Headhunter” Paul Buentello wins fourth straight via body shots
In the main event of the evening 39 year old Amarillo native Paul Buentello (33-15) continued his career resurgence at the expense of fellow UFC vet James McSweeney(11-11). The “Headhunter” won his fought straight fight but did things a little differently this time around by successfully fighting at light heavyweight for the first time in a long time, or maybe even ever in his sixteen year career.
Though most expected this bout to be a slugfest, the Robert Drysdale trained McSweeney actually tried to capitalize on the ground early but Buentello defended well for the duration of the first round. Presumably up ahead on the cards McSweeney looks to score with leg kicks early on in the second but it wouldn’t last for long as Buentello capitalized on a botched takedown attempt by the Brit, delivering a vicious right hand to his side that immediately dropped the 32 year old, finishing the fight in 2:44 of the second round. Ironically enough it was McSweeney who had predicted prior to the fight that he would stop Buentello with body shots because he couldn’t take them but instead it was the other way around.
Never bet on the liver shot.
Eric “Bighead” Davila beats fellow Shark Fights vet Artenas Young in co-main event
In the co-main event of the evening hometown favorite Eric “Bighead” Davila (21-12) gutted out a tough opening stanza to earn a closely contested split decision win over Artenas “Machine Gun” Young (9-6).
True to his nickname, “Machine Gun” came out quickly in the first, dropping his notoriously hard-headed opponent with a left hand but was unable to finish. He would continue on to land crisp strikes to his opponent’s face in the second rough, busting up his eye even as the Lubbock native walked forward to offer his own offense.
The two fought this way tooth-and-nail to continue in the third but Davila seemed to have more success with cage control, pinning his opponent to the fence. In the end that seemed to be the difference with the judges awarding him the split decision win in his hometown.
It should be noted that Davila did miss the welterweight limit by seven pounds for the planned 170 lbs. bout, his second time doing so in Legacy with “Bighead” also missing the 170 lbs. limit back back at LFC 10 where he was supposed to take on current Bellator ‘Fightmaster’ semi-finalist and former Legacy champ Mike “The Greek” Bronzoulis.
West Texas vets pick up wins over highly-touted prospects; UFC vet Joseph Sandoval snaps four-fight losing streak
One of the more highly anticipated fighters making his return at Legacy FC 22 was Dallas-based Romanian import Geo Pacurariu (5-2). Prior to LFC 22 he had never lost on US soil and was last seen delivering a devastating knockout over Steven Peterson in Dallas at LFC 14. He would face fellow 23 year old prospect Aaron Cerda (7-3) this time around. Pacurariu took control of the fight early in his penchant aggressive style throwing with bad intentions but to his opponent’s credit, Aaron Cerda hung around and began to battle back in a closer second round. The momentum of the bout would swing all the way over the third following a scramble that had Cerda come out in top position over the Romanian. From there he would land several elbows that left Geo with a wide gash on his forehead, a big enough cut to cause the doctors to call a halt to the bout at 2:11 of the third round, giving the win to Aaron Cerda.
Next up was UFC and Legacy vet Joseph Sandoval (7-4) fighting back in his hometown and looking to break an abysmal four-fight losing streak. He did so in devastating fashion in this one, scoring some impressive knees to the body en route to a second round TKO victory over fellow area fighter Jonathan Lopez (4-2) with just 42 seconds left in round two.
Likewise, another Lubbock resident in Gino Davila (3-2) also picked up a victory over Jon Voth (2-2) by virtue of superior wrestling to pick up the 30-27 score on all three judges’ scorecards.
Finally in main card action, West Texas brawler Anselmo Luis Luna (8-4) picked up a win over Houston-based Justin Reiswerg (5-3) to snap a two-fight winning steak stemming back to June 2012. It was a close fight early in this one with the Houstonian starting off strong in his first fight back in a year but Luna picked up steam as the fight wore on, getting some timely takedowns off some front kick attempts to pick up points on the judges’ scorecards in between the entertaining back-and-forth striking exchanges en route to the unanimous decision victory.
Legacy FC 22 – Main Card Results (AXS TV)
205 lbs.: Paul Buentello over James McSweeney by TKO (punches) – RD2
170 lbs.: Eric Davila over Artenas Young by split decision
145 lbs.: Aaron Cerda over George Pacurariu by TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – RD3
135 lbs.: Joseph Sandoval over Jonathan Lopez by TKO (strikes) – RD2
135 lbs.: Gino Davila over Jon Voth by unanimous decision
155 lbs.: Anselmo Luna over Justin Reiswerg by unanimous decision
Legacy FC 22 – Undercard Results (untelevised)
155 lbs.: Jessie Moreno over Dustin Rose by unanimous decision
170 lbs.: Daniel Perez over Thomas Moreno by unanimous decision
205 lbs.: Bruno Bastos over Gabriel Garcia by unanimous decision
125 lbs.: Joe Saucedo over Larry Garcia by unanimous decision
125 lbs.: Javier Minjarez over Santana Martinez by split decision
265 lbs.: Eric Lunsford over George Trujillo by TKO (punches), RD1
Legacy FC 22 Photo Gallery by Eric Karr