By TXMMA Staff
Steven “Ocho” Peterson steps into title opportunity at the Bomb Factory; several other prospects looking to earn their own way up the ranks
DALLAS, TX – The Legacy Fighting Championship returns to Dallas, TX this Friday night and the main card is an intriguing one. The LFC 56 main event features the bantamweight title on the line as Illinois-based incumbent champion Manny Vazquez defends his title for the very first time against DFW local Steven “Ocho” Peterson. The 22 year old Vasquez isn’t a household name just yet but make no mistake about it, he’s about as dangerous as they come. That fact is evident based on how he won the title, by first round submission of Ricardo Ramos, a fighter who previously tore through his first two Legacy opponents in Cody Walker and Justin Rader. With Vasquez having taken Ramos’ shine, and with an impressive 9-1 record in tow, he’ll be put to another test against the gritty Steven Peterson. “Ocho” has been in the game since 2010 so it’s easy to forget that he’s only 26 years old. Having worked hard throughout these past few years, Steven has amassed a 13-4 record and has won 5 straight over some tough competition of his own, including the Blackzilian’s Irwin Rivera. For him this Vazquez fight represents the the culmination of his journey thus far and a chance to win his first major title after winning a belt in the smaller XKO organization way back in 2013. Win this and he could be looking at the UFC. And he’s worked very hard to get to this point.
Elsewhere at Legacy Fighting Championship 56, we have other rising Texas prospects also looking to fight their way up to the point of title shots and big opportunities. In the co-main event there’s “Wild Thing” Jason Sampson putting his 13-1 record on the line against veteran opponent and someone always willing to bring the fight in Ryan Hollis. This matchup is an intriguing one with Sampson likely to push the pace with his speed and wrestling as he does while Hollis will look to use spacing and distance to stifle his opponent’s attacks. The nearly-undefeated Sampson will go into this fight as the clear favorite but the role of underdog isn’t one that Hollis is unfamiliar with. In fact he relishes this position and will be looking to earn his respect once more.
Another fight worthy of looking forward to is the bout between Edwin Figueroa and Levi Mowles. The UFC vet “El Feroz” has been in the game for a while but he’s been out for the past three years. Meanwhile in that time Mowles has been honing his craft and is looking to come up at the expense of his more traveled opponent. Stylistically these two couldn’t be any more different with Edwin being about as tough a striker as they come while Levi has a very dynamic and creative grappling game. Both also fight very hard so this one has “fight of the night” written all over it.
As for the rest of the LFC 56 main card, there’s some other prospects one definitely shouldn’t sleep on. Local favorite out of Next Generation Cody Walker takes on his most experienced opponent yet in 19-fight vet J.C. Cottrell. Sean Holden takes on Bilal Williams at welterweight and there’s also Miles Johns, an undefeated vet out of Octagon MMA with a seemingly bright future taking on his own experienced opponent in Eliazar Rodriguez. This is on top of 8 additional fights on the undercard so it should be a good one.
Stay tuned for results coming out of Legacy FC 56 following this Friday night.
Legacy Fighting Championship 56 – Updated Fight Card for June 24, 2016
Main Card (AXS TV)
- 135 lbs.: Manny Vazquez (9-1) vs Steven Peterson (13-4) * TITLE
- 135 lbs.: Ryan Hollis (11-8) vs Jason Sampson (13-1)
- 135 lbs.: Edwin Figueroa (9-4) vs Levi Mowles (3-0)
- 145 lbs.: J.C. Cottrell (16-3) vs Cody Walker (7-3)
- 170 lbs.: Sean Holden (4-1) vs Bilal Williams (6-2)
- 145 lbs.: Miles Johns (3-0) vs Eliazar Rodriguez (8-5)
Preliminary Card (Unaired)
- 185 lbs.: Matthew Alonzo (0-0) vs Jason Perrotta (2-1)
- 155 lbs.: Christopher Thomas Lopez (4-4) vs Victor Oreamuno (2-2) * amateur
- 135 lbs.: Jon Camero (4-3) vs Alberto Ayala (1-0) * amateur
- 140 lbs.: Audrey Drew (1-0) vs Christina Valentine (3-0) * amateur
- 145 lbs.: Rogelio Contreras (2-2) vs Erick Montejano (4-1) * amateur
- 125 lbs.: Anthony Torres (3-1) vs Victor Altamirano (2-0) * amateur
- 155 lbs.: Khristian Monrreal (0-0) vs Zikica Krsmanovic (2-0) * amateur
- 125 lbs.: Rashaad Robinson (0-1) vs Osiris Ayala (3-0) * amateur
