By TXMMA Staff | Photos by Mike Calimbas (Texas MMA Photographer)
Cage Combat 15 features bantamweight title fight; Up-and-coming prospects
HOUSTON, TX, October 1, 2013 – Garcia Promotions’ Cage Combat 15 takes place this Friday night, October 4th at the Humble Civic Center in Northeast Houston. At the time of this writing, this Garcia Promotions event is set to feature thirteen fights in total and will be headlined by a title fight in the bantamweight division with Manny Lozoya of Silverback Fight Club taking on Garvens Brun of Kingwood MMA in the main event of the evening.
The show also features some other talented young prospects looking to make their names known on the Houston MMA scene. Let’s take a look at some of them in further detail in this, our Cage Combat 15 Event Preview.
Five Amateur Prospects to Watch at Cage Combat 15
Manny Lozoya (6-3, Silverback Fight Club)
At 6-3 overall Manny Lozoya has been around the local scene for quite some time. The 24 year old started fighting way back in 2009 and has fought in four title fights already. This Friday October 4th will mark his fifth such opportunity when he faces undefeated Garvens Brun of Kingwood MMA for the Garcia Promotions bantamweight title.
Looking at his last few fights Manny has won two in a row following his defeat to Ramiro Cortina at Legacy Amateur Series. He’s no doubt faced some struggle in this fight camp with the shuffling around of coaches and fighters going on at Silverback Fight Club so it remains to be seen how that affects him in this fight. No matter, if he wins Lozoya will be standing on a 7-3 amateur record. That in and of itself should put him one step closer to turning pro as one of the most experienced amateurs in the area.
Garvens Brun (2-0, Kingwood MMA)
Admittedly we haven’t seen too much of Kingwood MMA’s Garvens Brun but we do know he is one of their brightest young prospects over there at Tom McCusker’s fight camp. At just 17 years old and with two fights behind him Brun already has two wins by TKO. He’ll be going from the frying pan and straight into the fire in his third bout against his most experienced opponent yet in Manny Lozoya, a nine-fight amateur veteran. The good is that this one will be for a title so there’s a lot of upside in it for Brun, who gets to see exactly where he is at as a Houston MMA prospect in just his third fight in and use is as a barometer to improve on no matter what the outcome of the fight is.
Cameron Graves (2-0, Team Tooke)
As we indicated in our Cage Combat pre-fight interview with Cameron Groves, this young man Cameron Graves is one of the elite few amateur fighters in Houston we would consider a ‘blue chip’ prospect at this point in his career; meaning he has some decent pro potential should he make that move down the line – and he will, probably sometime in mid-to-late 2014.
Looking at his two amateur fights thus far Cameron Graves has performed admirably. He faced an aggressive and relatively seasoned opponent (Jose Ceja, 2-0 pro) in his first bout and blasted him straight into the highlights with a second round head kick knockout. Then in his second bout he faced an even more experienced opponent in Paradigm’s Edgar Juarez, who at that point had a 5-2 record. Despite the experience gap Cameron handled that fight like a pro, eventually winning by second round triangle choke after a well-rounded performance.
Cameron Graves will be taking on another experienced opponent in Edward Longoria at Cage Combat 15.
Edward Longoria (3-1, Bushi Ban / Bloodline)
At 3-1 overall this far in the amateurs Edward Longoria is just starting to make his name known on the local Houston MMA scene. He recently had his first shot at an amateur title when he faced Tony Orozco Jr. at Cage Combat 14, losing by unanimous decision to Orozco, who’s been around for some time as a fighter and coach with Silverback Fight Club. It doesn’t get any easier for Longoria this time around at Cage Combat 15 when he faces another stiff test in Cameron Graves but a win over the Team Tooke fighter would certainly cement Edward Longoria as a name to look out for moving forward into the future.
Calvin Cooper (1-1, TBD)
At just 1-1 with a loss to former Cage Combat champ Trevin Giles behind him in his debut and a first round TKO win at EAC 6 over Andrew Rowan after that, Calvin Cooper doesn’t have much a record to go off just yet. It’s hard to gauge him on those numbers alone but one thing we’ve heard about is his raw ability and strength from those that have trained with him. If he’s anything like the mini-Derrick Lewis that they say he is, then that’s enough to include him here based on potential along. We’ll see what he really is when he takes the cage against Jason Perez this Friday night.
Cage Combat 15 – Updated Fight Card for Humble, TX
135 lbs. – Manny Lozoya (Silverback) vs. Garvens Brun (Kingwood MMA) * TITLE
145 lbs. – Edward Longoria (Bushi Ban/Bloodline) vs. Cameron Graves (Team Tooke/JP MMA)
205 lbs. – Jason Perez (Precision MMA) vs. Calvin Cooper
170 lbs. – Antonio Townsley (Precision MMA) vs. Max Mungai (Kingwood MMA)
145 lbs. – Alex Tirado (GB Champions) vs. Nicholas Gay (SOL Combat Club)
145 lbs. – Darius Gray (GB Champions) vs. Zach Henson (Elite MMA)
135 lbs. – Victor Lomax (Ground Dwellers) vs. Cody Owens (Team Tooke/JP MMA)
155 lbs. – Tommy Wood (Ground Dwellers) vs. George Rojas (Team Tooke/JP MMA)
170 lbs. – Gustavo Gomez (GB Champions) vs. Lonnie Vickery (Kingwood MMA)
155 lbs. – EJ Turner (Sol Combat Club) vs. Jonathan Butler (Team Tooke/JP MMA)
155 lbs. – Kyle Villarreal (4oz) vs. Jason Harrington (Kingwood MMA)
125 lbs. – Sam Martinez (Minha Vida Capoeira) vs. Robert Walker (Fusion MMA)
135 lbs. – Jake Snyder (Sol Combat Club) vs. Yan Digalov (Paradigm)