By Jay Tan
Christian Palencia and Gio Zavala, who advance in the opening round of the inaugural CAMO (California Amateur MMA Organization) state tournament, shine brightly as the two stars of an otherwise difficult weekend for Legends MMA. The event took place on September 11th at Siren Studios in Hollywood, under the Total Fighting Alliance (TFA) banner.
Palencia and Zavala were two of six Legends fighters scheduled to enter the tournament. The other entrants were Chris “Blvd” Brady (135 lbs.), Tommy Gavin (155 lbs.), Eddie Jackson (170 lbs.), and Eugene Marenya (170 lbs.). The roster dropped to five when Marenya was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. However, pending a medical clearance, Marenya will be the alternate in the next round of the tournament, scheduled for October 2nd at the Fight Academy in Pasadena.
For Zavala, the advance to the next level was bittersweet, as his win came by forfeit after his opponent, Tom Kemp of TapouT, withdrew within minutes of the scheduled fight. According to backstage reports, Kemp was warming up with his trainer, doing some light jiu-jitsu, when he re-aggravated a previous knee injury.
The news was beyond disappointing to Zavala, who had one of the largest fan followings in attendance that day. Promoter Todd Meacham brought Zavala out to the cage to explain the situation. On the upside, Zavala automatically advances to the same October 2nd show as Palencia and Marenya.
“I just wanted to thank everybody that came out to watch me. I trained for this fight. I’m really sorry. I trained really hard. I know this guy’s a good fighter, but, you know, things happen, man,” said the disheartened light heavyweight.
135 lbs. – Chris Brady vs. German Balthazar (Big John McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy)
Brady looked to set the pace of the match early with low kicks and combos. Balthazar circled and offered some low kicks of his own, knocking Brady down with a right and clinching up against the cage. Toward the end, Brady shot in for a takedown, but Balthazar caught it and turned it into a trip takedown of his own. The second round saw Brady stay on Balthazar with kicks and combos. Balthazar scored another takedown off a body kick, but opted to keep the fight standing and backed away. They continued to trade low kicks throughout. Brady was quick to press and clinch up in round three, grabbing double overhooks on Balthazar, who turned it into another trip takedown. On the ground, Brady threw punches from “double-bagger” guard before kicking Balthazar off. They clinched on their feet, giving Balthazar the opening to take Brady down again via hiptoss. Brady was immediately back on his feet, but Balthazar then scooped a double-leg takedown. Brady tried to push him back with upkicks, but Balthazar crowded him and threw rights to end the round.
Judges awarded the match to Balthazar by split decision, off two scores of 29-28 for Balthazar
and one 30-27 score for Brady.
155 lbs. – Tommy Gavin vs. Paul Blancaflor (Spiritwolf MMA)
Both men sized each other up for a while, with Gavin charging in with pawing shots, that Blancaflor sidestepped. Gavin shot in from afar for a double leg takedown and was caught in Blancaflor’s guard. Blancaflor kept control of his neck and closed the guard, sitting up and rolling into top position before Gavin was forced to tap at 1:31 of the first round.
170 lbs. – Eddie Jackson vs. Bill Cooper
Cooper refused to touch gloves at the onset, which got a rousing chorus of boos. Both men were careful to engage at first, as Jackson circled form the outside. Cooper charged in with a combo, throwing Jackson off balance to the ground. As Jackson got up and reached for a single-leg, Cooper grabbed a guillotine choke and jumped guard. Jackson tried to fight out of it, but was forced to tap out at 1:21 of round one.
155 lbs. – Christian Palencia vs. Shane Watts (TFA Fight Crew)
Palencia fired the first blows with a jab-kick combo, but Watts retaliated with punches that pushed him back to the cage. Palencia came back with a two-punch combo that bounced Watt into the cage, and caught him with another knee as Watts fell to the ground, prompting the referee to immediately stop the action at 0:14. Palencia was awarded the win by TKO.
Horwich unrewarded in split decision.
Unfortunately, Legends’ woes continued on two other shows this weekend as well. Fresh off a vindicating win at “War on the Mainland” in Irvine, CA, Matt “Lion of God” Horwich lost a split decision against Eric Schambari at Bellator 28, held Thursday night, September 9th, at the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans, LA. The match was televised on Fox Sports Net.
“Just can’t let fights go to judges. I can never figure out what fight they are watching,” tweeted head trainer Chris Riley.
The story of the match was Schambari’s single-leg takedown attempts, countered with Horwich working for a kimura on the left arm, which took place in each round. Standing, Horwich chased after him in what three different people backstage referred to as “zombie-like,” throwing combos and leg kicks, while Schambari kept the distance with jabs to the head and body. When Horwich did catch him, he threw knees from a Muay Thai clinch. Schambari did get takedowns and top position once in the second and twice in the third, but Horwich escaped each time before much damage was effected.
In the end, two judges awarded the bout to Schambari off 30-27 scores, while the third judge awarded the match to Horwich 29-28.
On this same night as the CAMO tournament, in Pueblo, CO, light heavyweight pro Adriano Camolese lost to Eliot “The Fire” Marshall via unanimous decision (29-28 for all three judges) at Bring the Thunder MMA.
Christian Palencia, Eugene Marenya, and Gio Zavala fight next on October 2nd at Fight Academy Pasadena, in the final round of the Los Angeles branch of the CAMO state tournament. Tickets are available here: http://fightacademymma.com/current-events.htm.
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