http://www.legacyfights.net/2012/09/leg ... -14-recap/
By AJ Hoffman
Hard to imagine, but Legacy FC 14 may have been the best card Mick Maynard has put on to date. Despite losing the defending welterweight champion Macaco Patino to a torn ACL less than 2 weeks from fight night, the main event delivered with Jeff Rexroad taking on Patino’s unbeaten prize pupil in Lucas Pimenta. We also saw the anticipated pro debut’s of Matt Danger Schnell from MTV’s reality show “Caged”, as well as 2009 NCAA Division I National Champion wrestler, Darrion Caldwell.
REXROAD TAKES INTERIM TITLE WITH COME FROM BEHIND WIN
Things looked bleak for Jeff Rexroad a round into his title fight with the unbeaten Lucas Pimeta. Though Rexroad landed some good strikes, it appeared as though Pimenta had a decided advantage on the feet. Pimenta landed almost at will, but Rexroad still landed shots accurately enough, while loopy, to keep Pimenta from going in for the kill. A right hand landed a knuckle in the eyeball on Rexroad, and it looked as if the outcome was sealed. The ref stopped the fight for the doctor to look at his eye, and after a restart, Rexroad survived the first round. The second brought a less aggressive, and possibly tired, Lucas Pimenta. The black belt brought more of a grappling approach, and a takedown landed him in Rexroad’s guard. The taller Rexroad instantly went to a rubber guard, and set up one of the better submissions we have seen in the history of Houston MMA. Instead of a standard triangle set-up, Rexroad sent his far arm through and grabbed the choking leg, creating a vise with his forearm and thigh. He then locked up the triangle with his free leg, forcing a quick tap from Pimenta. The win moved the Paradigm representative to 6-1, while the loss dropped Pimenta to 8-1.
SAMPO STALKS BANUELOS EN ROUTE TO BLOODY DECISION WIN
Missouri’s Josh Sampo took on Chuck Liddell-protege Antonio Banuelos in the co-main event. The three rounds were all fairly similar, with Sampo stalking Banuelos around the cage and picking him apart with strikes. Sampo kept control of the center of the cage, and opened a nice cut over the eye of Banuelos in the second round that had him bleeding profusely by the time the fight ended. All three judges scored it 30-27 for Sampo, who improved his record to 8-2. Banueles dropped to 20-9 with the loss.
PETERSON COMES FROM BEHIND TO SUBMIT WILLIAMS
As rough of a first round as Jeff Rexroad had in the main event, Steven “Ocho” Peterson probably had a worse one against Cody “Wolverine” Williams. Williams nearly finished Peterson on the feet several times, but was unable to close the deal. A kimura attempt at the end of the first round was almost the entire offense from Peterson in the opening frame, and probably kept it from being scored a 10-8 round. The second round started the same, but Peterson was able to start grappling as the round went on. Williams defended several submission attempts, but Peterson locked up an omoplata and forced a tap from Williams with :14 seconds left in the 2nd round. The win moved Peterson to 8-2 as a pro, while the loss dropped Williams’ record to 4-3.
KRANTZ MAKES QUICK WORK OF FARRAN
Derrick “D-Rock” Krantz took the fight against Brandon Farran on 2 weeks notice, and made quick work of the fight once it got going. A takedown from Farran came early in the round, but Krantz won the transition game and ended up with a modified rear naked choke, where he was on Farran’s side and didn’t lock up the body with his legs. A true arm choke, but effective, as Farran was forced to tap at 1:11 into the first round. Krantz moved to 13-6 with the win and Farran is now 7-5 after the loss.
BATRES USES CLINCH TO DOMINATE HARRIS
Lester Batres dominated Jonathan Harris from start to finish, doing most of his work from the clinch. He landed upwards of 20 knees from that position en route to a crushing TKO victory. Batres delivered arguably his most impressive performance to date, moving to 3-1 with the win, which took 2:11. The loss for Harris was his second straight TKO defeat, and dropped his overall record to 6-3.
“DANGER” SCHNELL TAKES CONTROVERSIAL DECISION OVER HOLLIS
Matt Schnell, known as “Danger” from his run on the MTV series “Caged”, made his professional debut against another debuting pro in Ryan “Riptide” Hollis. While many thought that Schnell would have his way with Hollis, he proved to be much more than a walkthrough opponent. Hollis attacked relentlessly from the bottom and landed one of the cleaner side kicks to the face you will see. In the end, the judges rewarded the wrestling of Schnell, as the Louisiana native took the split decision 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28. Don’t be surprised if we see these two go at it again in the future.
NATIONAL CHAMPION CALDWELL OUTWRESTLES ARMAS
The debut of Darrion Caldwell went the way most people expected, as he used his world-class wrestling to control David Armas for the majority of three rounds. There wasn’t much excitement to speak of in this fight, so I won’t pretend that there was. I will say that while Caldwell’s wrestling is excellent, he will have to add more to his game as he continues on in his career. A solid debut for the wrestler, though, moves him to 1-0, while the loss snapped a 2- fight win streak for Armas, who drops to 2-5.
PRELIMINARY RESULTS
Charlie Ontiveros def. Anthony Tatum by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Terrance Ferguson def. Patrick Hutton by 1st round submission (rear naked choke)
Kaileb Cummins def. Patrick Greene by 3rd round submission (guillotine)
Chris Reed was scheduled to fight Yonny Osuna, but Osuna pulled out of the fight on the day of due to soreness in his knee.
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT- SCHNELL VS. HOLLIS
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT- JEFF REXROAD
KNOCKOUT OF THE NIGHT- LESTER BATRES
