By TXMMA Staff | photos: www.mikecalimbas.com
Legacy FC 27 undercard promises look at talented area prospects; Fight card preview
HOUSTON, TX, January 6, 2014 – The first event of Houston MMA is upon us with Legacy Fighting Championship 27 taking place in just a few weeks’ time at the Arena Theater on Friday, January 31st. As usual the main card will be aired on AXS TV with the Friday Night Fights timeslot featuring a planned 6 fights as of today. Another six fights are planned for the preliminary undercard making it 12 overall for LFC 27 and some of those prelim fights are definitely worth paying attention to. Here’s the full lineup for LFC 27 as of today before we look ahead to the matchups on this fight card and preview what we’re looking forward to most:
- 170 lbs.: Tim Means (16-5-1) vs. Artenas Young (10-6)
- 125 lbs.: Henry Cejudo (4-0) vs. Elias Garcia (4-0)
- 185 lbs.: Larry Crowe (7-3) vs. Terrance Ferguson (2-1)
- 145 lbs.: Alex Black (6-3) vs. Charles Cheeks III (6-2)
- 135 lbs.: Domingo Pilarte (3-0) vs. Caio Machado (3-0)
Legacy Fighting Championship 27 – Prelims
- 170 lbs.: Steven Rodriguez (2-1) vs. Kamarudeen Usman (2-1)
- 170 lbs.: Rashid Abdullah (3-7) vs. Charlie Ontiveros (4-1)
- 145 lbs.: James Gonzales (1-2) vs. Jeremy Mahon (4-4)
- 185 lbs.: Trevin Giles (0-0) vs. Angelus McFarlane (0-1)
- 170 lbs.: Julius Holmes (0-0) vs. Aaron Reeves (0-0)
- 155 lbs.: John Gorrell (0-0) vs. John Hayden (0-0)
Legacy Fighting Championship 27 – Preliminary Undercard Preview
170 lbs.: Steven Rodriguez (2-1) vs. Kamarudeen Usman (2-1)
The prelim fight card features Kamarudeen “Marty” Usman (2-1) taking on Houston local Steven Rodriguez (2-1). Usman is a former NCAA wrestling champion at the Division 2 level with Nebraska Kerney and has since transitioned on to train with top pros like Mo Lawal and Rashad Evans as part of the Blackzilians camp. He was also part of TUF 14 where he served as the wrestling coach for Jason Mayhem Miller. Currently 2-1 as a pro, Usman has done well winning twice by TKO but did get caught with a submission (RNC) in his second fight against a much more seasoned opponent. He’ll be back to fighting someone at his level at Legacy Fighting Championship 27 when he takes on Rodriguez, a 33 year old Houston who’s most notable win came against Devin Christopherson at Legacy FC 25 where he won by armbar. Aside from that he’s had a fairly pedestrian career so far so look for Usman to be the prospect to watch here.
145 lbs.: James Gonzales (1-2) vs. Jeremy Mahon (4-4)
This is an interesting matchup. One of the head guys over at 4OZ Fight Club and a longtime fighter here in Texas, Jeremy Mahon was supposed to take on Nate Garza in a rematch of their first fight back in March of last year but Garza is now out. In his place steps James “Tank Gonzales. Stylistically, this new opponent is much different than the guy he was supposed to face. with Garza being more of a grinder versus the kill-or-be-killed type of fighter that “Tank” has shown himself to be. Whether he wins or loses, this guy is involved in a finish. He hasn’t gone to a decision since his first fight as an amateur. On the contrary, Mahon is also a competent striker but more technical and methodical in his execution. He is also a brown belt so the grappling advantage should be his by a large margin. As long as he doesn’t get sloppy and leave himself open to a big power strike this fight should be his.
185 lbs.: Trevin Giles (0-0) vs. Angelus McFarlane (0-1)
This fight marks the pro MMA debut for one of Elite MMA’s top prospects in recent years, Trevin Giles. He takes on one-fight veteran Angelus McFarlane. Trevin experienced his share of success along with some adversity at the amateur level. He won his first two bouts in impressive fashion but ran into a submission-minded Christian Sutton to lose his third and final bout. What comes to mind now is “what did he learn from that” and how will it affect him heading into his pro debut? Our guess is that it probably pissed him off and he’ll be coming into this fight on Friday with a chip on his shoulder. He’ll be tested by McFarlane, a big and athletic specimen himself at middleweight who moves pretty well despite his advanced age of 35-36 at this point in his pro career. Knowing Angelus, he’ll probably fight until his mid-40’s but I digress. Long story short, this will be a battle of two aggressive fighters who like to impose their will. We don’t see this one going to the judges. Look for the one to first spot the opening to exploit it and grand fashion and finish the fight.
170 lbs.: Julius Holmes (0-0) vs. Aaron Reeves (0-0)
A pupil of Saul Soliz at Metro Fight Club, Aaron Reeves rated highly as an amateur, going undefeated with a 3-0-1 record while facing some of the tougher guys he could have faced at that level in James Powell and Chad “Joker” Martin. His strength of schedule doesn’t get any easier in his pro debut as he faces DFW native Julius Holmes. Like Reeves, Julius also fought 4 times as an amateur, winning all four times and finishing 3 of his opponents. His list of conquests includes Bobby Alexander, a highly skilled grappler out of Travis Lutter’s academy that he finished by second round TKO. That win is particularly impressive and shows that he too is a prospect to watch so this fight should be very interesting. Whoever comes out the winner is off to a good start in their pro career.
155 lbs.: John Gorrell (0-0) vs. John Hayden (0-0)
The opening bout of the night features two tenured amateurs coming up to make their pro debuts in Elite MMA’s John Gorrell and Kingwood MMA’s John Haydon. Gorrell has been at it since 2010 and Haydon since 2008 so neither of these guys are strangers to the world of MMA by this point. If strength of schedule is of any indication here then John Gorrell should have the advantage on fight night. We’ll see for sure when these guys hit the cage to open the night at Legacy Fighting Championship 27 sometime around 7:15pm on Friday.
Continue on with our fight-by-fight preview of the Legacy FC 27 main card here.