By TXMMA Staff
50th Legacy Fighting Championship event set to be featured Friday night in Houston
Preview the fights for LFC 50 along with us below:
Legacy Fighting Championship 50 – Preview and Predictions
Preliminary Card (Unaired)
135 lbs.: Donovan Carrasco (0-1) Athletic Performance vs. Torey Miller (0-0) Urban Jungle
Starting off with the amateurs, we have this matchup between 0-1 Donovan Carrasco and debut amateur Torey Miller. Not too much empirical data available on either of these newcomers so anything will be a guess here as these two look to prove their worth in the Legacy cage. Carrasco did start his career off with an L so we’ll go with Torey for the win.
Prediction: Torey Miller over Donovan Carrasco by decision.
125 lbs.: Erick Brazier (1-5) BallNone vs. Eduardo Anaya (1-0) Bushi Ban
Next up a tthe amater level, Erick Brazier (1-5) takes on Eduardo Anaya (1-0) in the flyweight division. Based on their records alone, it’s easy to pick Anaya as Erick seems to have been unable to get his MMA career going thus far. Brazier seems particularly vulnerable on the ground, with 4 out of his 5 losses coming by way of submission. Look for Anaya to take advantage of that to get his second amateur victory.
Prediction: Eduardo Anaya over Erick Brazier by submission.
125 lbs.: John Smith (0-1) Lone Star Judo vs. Jonathan Davis (2-0) 4OZ
A burgeoning young talent, 4OZ Fight Club’s Jonathan Davis already has two amateur wins over relatively experienced opponents at this level, Victor Lomax and Sijin Kurian. In those fights he displayed a developing overall game, striking capably on his feet and showing proficiency when his fights have hit the floor. We haven’t seen the same level of aptitude out of his opponent just yet so Davis enters this fight as a clear favorite.
Prediction: Jonathan Davis over John Smith by submission.
135 lbs.: Jonathan Walker (4-1) Fusion Fight CO vs. Darius Gray (1-2) Revolution Dojo
In the last amateur bout of the night, Jonathan Walker (4-1) out of Fusion MMA takes on Darius Gray (1-2) of Revolution Dojo. Walker steps into his first Legacy bout having acquired a healthy amount of experience at Cage Combat and SCC. He’s won his last 3 bouts by finish. Meanwhile, Gray lost his first 2 but is coming off a win in his last bout, by submission at the Legacy Amateur Series. Gray may have a chance here but Walker’s experience and recent results show he’s the one to watch for here.
Prediction: Jonathan Walker over Darius Gray by TKO.
155 lbs.: Adam Copley (0-0) Northside MMA vs. David Kelly (0-0) Fight Lab
Stepping into his professional debut, David Kelly has acquired a good amount of success at the amateur level. He most recently beat Luke Crawford in an SCC amateur title fight. Now he takes on Crawford’s training partner and coach in Richard Adam Copley. We haven’t seen too much from Copley yet but he does have a first round submission by strikes on his record. Impressive but even more so is Kelly’s record. He’s had 7 amateur fights and most against some tough competition. That coupled with a 5 inch height advantage has him walking into this fight as the favorite.
Prediction: David Kelly over Adam Copley by decision.
135 lbs.: Shakeem Richardson (0-0) Chute Boxe vs. Dulani Perry (0-0) Paradigm TC
This next one should be an entertaining striking affair as kickboxer Dulani Perry makes his pro MMA debut versus Shakeem Richardson. Both tall bantamweights at 6′ both these guys will look to use their range to try and dictate the fight. Dulani’s certainly got the advantage in the stirking portion of the bout given his relatively lengthy experience in that arena but Richardson can’t be discounted given his overall MMA experience as an amateur. If he’s smart he’ll look to wear on his opponent and perhaps take him to the ground and try to bust him there but it remains to be seen whether he can capitalize and gain those takedowns. Should be an interesting one no matter which way it goes.
Prediction: Dulani Perry over Shakeem Richardson by decision.
215 lbs.: Chris Rose (1-1) Death Row MMA vs. Chad Cook (9-10) Independent
Always a gamer, Chris Rose is a former recipient of a TXMMA Ironman Award. He earned that honor with his willingness to take on any fight, any time, on a moment’s notice. Unfortunately he’ll be walking into this bout against one of Texas’ longest running MMA fighters. In fact Chad Cook has been competing in cage fights almost a half a decade before the unified rules of MMA were even legal in this state. Rose will probably look to make this a street fight while Chad will look to take it to the ground and win by either strikes or submissions. Definitely a clash of styles here.
Prediction: Chad Cook over Chris Rose by submission.
Main Card (AXS TV)
265 lbs.: Jeremy Hardy (1-1) Bushi Ban vs. Dale Mitchell (6-6) 4OZ
Moving on to the main card, we start with the heavyweights. “Alpha Male” Dale Mitchell is the veteran here with already 12 fights as a pro. Meanwhile Jeremy is 1-1 but faced tough opposition in his last one vs. Bellator/Legacy vet Richard Odoms. Hardy likely has more tools to win this fight, with recent experience training boxing with Justin Ledet and a developing ground game. Meanwhile Dale will likely have to secure the takedown and control from top position to win out in this one.
Prediction: Jeremy Hardy over Dale Mitchell by decision.
125 lbs.: David Acosta (2-0) Team Alpha Male vs. Roberto Sanchez (3-0) Gracie Barra
This flyweight matchup is an interesting one with 2-0 “Super” Dave Acosta taking on 3-0 Roberto Sanchez. Dave will enter this bout having spent a considerable amount of time over this past year training with top UFC fighters and many other serious prospects in his weight class over at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento. Meanwhile, Roberto has stayed close to home but is in no shortage of skilled coaches at Gracie Barra Texas. Both as fairly well-rounded but love submissions. Both could win in a variety of ways. Tough fight to call but give the slight edge to Sanchez here. His hair game is just too strong.
Prediction: Roberto Sanchez over David Acosta by decision.
145 lbs.: Michael Rodriguez (7-4) vs. Alex Black (8-4) 4OZ
Moving on to the featherweights, you have Houston MMA veteran Alex Black taking on South Texan Michael Rodriguez. Alex walks into this fight looking to get back to winning, just like he did winning 7 in a row prior to his last bout. His record is also such where any next win could earn him a title opportunity or even a short-notice fight in the UFC so you know he’s highly motivated. Meanwhile at 6-3. Rodriguez is not far behind him on the experience level and should have some of the same motivations as far as developing a serious long-term MMA career. Black’s resume should be pretty well known to Houston fans but less is known about Rodriguez, a fighter out of Cinco MMA who’s also trained with prominent Texas-based fighters such as Carlos Diego Ferreira. It’s doubtful that Michael is a slouch but Alex has the edge here based on reach, big show experience and a well-developed overall game.
Prediction: Alex Black over Michael Rodriguez by TKO.
155 lbs.: Charles Cheeks (9-3) Metro Fight Club vs. Rey Trujillo (18-15) TruBloodline
This next one should be an entertaining affair. Any fight with Rey Trujillo really is. He only has one gear on his motor and that’s to go for the knockout every single time. He hits BIG for his weight class. Just as intriguing is Cheeks, a fighter who also fights big and has the experience to not be completely blown over by Trujillo’s aggression. The key to this fight is whether Cheeks can slow Rey’s attack by taking him down and grinding him out. Meanwhile Rey will look to avoid that and put Charles out on his feet, basically the same plan he usually employs. Whoever is successful in those regards will win this fight.
Prediction: Charles Cheeks over Rey Trujillo by decision.
155 lbs.: Jonathan Harris (10-5) SBA vs. Justin Reiswerg (9-5) 4OZ
Possibly the most intriguing fight on the card, Justin Reiswerg will look to get back to winning against a fighter who’s been knocking on the door to get to the level for a while, Jonathan Harris. Other than a size advantage to Jonathan, these fighters seem to match up well in all areas. Jonathan is more of a punishing type of fighter while Justin relies a bit more on movement and volume. Jonathan likes to take opponents down and punish them from the top while Justin has historically been prone to wrestling but does have a good guard game to back up getting taken down. It’s a tough fight to call, and could go either way.
Prediction: Pick-em
155 lbs.: Jared Chaffee (5-1) Gracie Barra Magnolia vs. Ray Blodget (9-3) 4OZ
In another intriguing fight, GB Magnolia’s Jared Chaffee takes on former Legacy FC champ Ray Blodget. Both these fighters walk into LFC 50 with a good amount of exeprience and some quality wins. They’re pretty evenly matched but it feels relevant to note that Ray is 37 years old while Jared is at a prime 31 and strong for this weight class. Another tough fight to call, and one that could depend on who wins the striking exchanges. Chaffee by a slight edge walking into Friday night.
Prediction: Jared Chaffee over Ray Blodget by decision.
170 lbs.: Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (18-16) Chute Boxe vs. Artenas Young (10-9) 4OZ
Finally in the main event of the evening, MMA veteran Evangelista Santos AKA “Cyborg” makes his return to the cage against local Houstonian Artenas “Machine Gun” Young. Both these guys are veteran strikers but their styles couldn’t be much different. Cyborg is relentlessly aggressive in true Chute Boxe style and will walk you down and try to corner you into a barrage of strikes. Meanwhile Young is the more patient fighter, counterstriking almost the point of the crowd’s wrath at times. He’s dangerous when he opens up but he’s sometimes reluctant to do so. He might not have an option here though as his opponent will be good at forcing those exchanges. Artenas will have to rely on footwork and circling out to win. Is that possible? It very well could be but Cyborg is too seasoned of a vet to pick against in this one.
Prediction: Evangelista Cyborg over Artenas Young by TKO.