At Legends Mixed Martial Arts Training Center we offer MMA, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling, and Fitness. Our classes are taught in a friendly environment where we value skill, smarts, and sportsmanship over strength or brutality. Members can expect a great workout and the opportunity to acquire valuable skills that will benefit all aspects of his or her life.
At Legends, we value the "Art" in Mixed Martial Arts and look forward to offering you the ultimate workout experience.
The calendar may suggest that 2010 is quickly coming to a close, but you’ll be hard-pressed to tell that to Chris Reilly and the boys, as the Legends MMA fight team continues with a busy schedule in October.
Garren Smith’s Legends debut at Respect in the Cage
This coming Saturday, resident heavyweight Garren Smith makes his Legends debut at Respect in the Cage, taking on Andrew Gutierrez of Pinnacle Jiu-Jitsu. This will be Garren’s first fight flying the Legends logo, after making his pro debut in January in Oregon.
Garren joined Legends shortly after his debut, and has spent this year retooling his skills and helping prep the rest of the team for various events.
Garren has $60 and $100 floor seats for sale at the gym, or try FoxPomona.com.
Only a few weeks later, the Legends amateur team checks in at Tuff-N-Uff to remind fans of how Hollywood gets down. Leading the charge will be the newly-christened Eddie “Ambien” Jackson, who faces Joey Angelo of the TapouT R & D Training Center for the Tuff-N-Uff 170 lb. championship. Also in the mix will be Chris “BLVD” Brady and Tommy Gavin.
10th Planet Jiu Jitsu will be busy that night as well, with two fighters, Rick Borden and Trace Grey, of the Riverside school, competing on the same card.
135 lbs. – Chris “BLVD” Brady x Roman Isbell (Striking Unlimited) 155 lbs. – Tommy Gavin x Dustin Brewick (Team Fasi / Drysdale Jiu Jitsu) 170 lbs. – Eddie “Ambian” Jackson x Joey Angelo (TapouT R& D)
Friday, October 22nd TUFF-N-UFF FUTURE STARS OF MMA Orleans Hotel & Casino 4500 West Tropicana Avenue Las Vegas, NV 89103 702-365-7111 Doors: 6:00pm First Fight: 7:00pm www.TuffNUff.net
Matt Horwich signs to fight Jake Rosholt in Tulsa
Finally, the ever-evolving Matt Horwich will head to the Sooner State to face hometown hero Jake Rosholt at the inaugural “Xtreme Fight Night,” on November 12th at “The Joint” event center at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, OK.
Rosholt has proven to be a dangerous all-around fighter, having four TKO and three submission finishes to complete his seven victories, including an arm triangle / side choke win over Chris “The Crippler” Leben in August of last year.He’s a three-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American with the Oklahoma Sooners, and was recently voted one of the top ten athletes of the decade in Oklahoma.
If you plan on being in the Tulsa area, tickets will be available through the Hard Rock Tulsa website – www.HardRockCasinoTulsa.com.
Saturday, November 12th Xtreme Fight Night Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 770 West Cherokee Street Catoosa, OK 74015 (800) 760-6700 www.hardrockcasinotulsa.com
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Los Angeles finals of the CAMO state MMA tournament, originally scheduled for this coming Saturday night, has been cancelled. Four amateur Legends fighters were scheduled to fight.
We are working on rescheduling fights for tournament advancees Christian Palencia (155 lbs.), Eugene Marenya (170 lbs.), and Gio Zavala (205 lbs.) as well as Eddie Jackson (170 lbs.), who was scheduled in a non-tournament scrap with Kenny Hwang (Fight Academy).
These matches may be rescheduled to the following week, October 9th, but that plan has yet to be confirmed.
Also in the works for October 9th is a possible pro match for heavyweight Garren Smith. This last minute match would take place at Respect in the Cage, at the Fox Theater in Pomona. Although the match has yet to be confirmed, info on the event is available at www.respectinthecage.com.
Confirmed updates on these two events will be announced as information becomes available.
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.
As the great announcer Jim Ross often said, “business is about to pick up,” as no less than EIGHT Legends MMA fighters compete at FOUR events within 48 hours this week, with one televised pro match and six entrants into the opening round of the first-ever CA state amateur MMA tournament. Not to mention that Adriano Camolese squares off against fellow BJJ black belt Eliot "The Fire" Marshall at Bring the Thunder MMA's inaugural event.
Here's the details:
September 9th –Bellator Fighting Championships: Matt Horwich vs. Eric Shambari LIVE ON FOX SPORTS Net
This coming Thursday, Matt “Lion of God” Horwich returns to live televised MMA action when he faces Eric Schambari (12-2) of Marc Laimon’s Cobra Kai Jiu-Jitsu (Las Vegas). Schambari is a WEC and Bellator veteran who was in Bellator’s middleweight tournament earlier this year.
185 lbs. – Matt Horwich vs. Eric Shambari
WHEN:Thursday, September 9th, 9:00pm
WHERE:Televised Live on Fox Sports Net (check local listings)
Bellator Fighting Championships airs every Thursday night on Fox Sports Net in America and The Score in Canada on Friday nights. Abbreviated highlight shows air late Saturday nights on NBC and earlier that night in Spanish on Mun2 cable. Visit www.Bellator.com for more info.
September 11th – Six Legends fighters compete
Two days later, Legends MMA’s amateur team finally represents right in their own back yard, as six fighters – Chris Brady, Christian Palencia, Tommy Gavin, Eddie Jackson, Eugene Marenya, and Gio Zavala – compete in the opening round of the California Amateur MMA Organzation (CAMO) state tournament. This day-long event takes place at Siren Studios, right in the heart of Hollywood.
135 lbs. – Chris Brady
155 lbs. – Christian Palencia, Tommy Gavin
170 lbs. – Eddie Jackson, Eugene Marenya
205 lbs. – Gio Zavala
Fighters who win their matches on this day advance to fight again on October 2nd at the Fight Academy in Pasadena.
WHEN:Saturday, September 11th, Doors open at 12:00pm, First Fight at ??
WHERE:Siren Studios
6063 West Sunset Blvd (cross street is Gower)
Los Angeles 90028
Tickets are available at the Brickhouse (Legends / BeSpun) front desk. Or visit www.TFAFights.com for more info.
September 11th – Bring the Thunder MMA: Adriano Camolese vs. Eliot “The Fire” Marshall
If you’re in the Pueblo, CO area, you can check out Legends’ own Adriano Camolese as he heads into unfamiliar waters against fellow BJJ black belt Eliot ‘The Fire’ Marshall, at Bring the Thunder MMA’s inaugural event that same day.
Proceeds of this event will go towards the CSU-Pueblo’s athleticprogram
WHEN:Saturday, September 11th, 7:30pm
WHERE:Massari Arena (CSU – Pueblo)
2200 Bonforte Blvd.
Pueblo, CO 81001
Tickets are available at www.ticketwest.com. Student and military general admission are $20, with reserved seats at $35, east side reserved seats at $45, and floor seat...s going for $75 each.
Photos courtesy of Brian Robertson / MMAStation.com
Legends MMA’s resident middleweight metaphysician, Matt ‘The Limit Smasher’ Horwich simultaneously reversed his own polarity and recorded a new milestone for the gym this past weekend, submitting former UFC title contender Thales Leites to become the first Powerhouse World Promotions (PWP) middleweight champion. The event took place on Saturday the 14th, at PWP’s “War on the Mainland” pay-per-view event at the Bren Events Center in Irvine.
“It’s a beautiful universe. Thank God for good friends and good victories,” said the newly-crowned champ in the days after the fight.
“I just think it puts him on a whole other level, if he can keep it up. Thales has never been submitted. It’s a huge victory,“ added his wife Kelly.
Ironically, Horwich was a last-minute replacement for Hawaiian fighter Falaniko Vitale, who withdrew from the event in early August. Anxious to shake off the taint of two recent debatable decision losses to hometown heroes, Jason ‘The Athlete’ MacDonald in Canada and Tom ‘Kong’ Watson in the U.K., respectively, Horwich jumped at the chance to fight in his own backyard.
Moreover, the fact that he didn’t need to board an airplane sat just fine with him. .
“It’s funny, because I like skydiving, but I hate flying. . . God’s well aware I’d rather die any way besides flying, because I mention it to him thousands of times every time I have to fly on an airplane to fight,” he lamented, adding “props to Thales. It’s hard to come to someone’s hometown and fight him. This is where my friends and family are. Where I train, and where I’m comfortable and have everything I want.”
The match itself was largely a back-and-forth ground battle, with Leites taking Horwich down, where both would trade sweeps and transitions for top position until one would escape to his feet. Standing, Horwich pushed the action, stalking Leites with jabs and low kicks, though Leites also had several sweeping low kicks that tripped Horwich on his rear.
“I had the reach on him. I was trying to throw the jab, and work a smart game plan. Tie him up and tire him out,” explained Horwich. “I was getting knocked over with that beautiful leg kick that he was doing to the back leg. I wasn’t really hurt from it. I was just looking dumb. I was like ‘alright Horwich, you’re laying down on the job. Get up, stupid!’”
According to head trainer Chris Reilly, beating Leites at the cardio game was a key strategy in the match: “As each minute passed, I saw [Horwich] get stronger and Thales weaken. By the end of the second, I was getting pretty confident. Event after losing the third. I felt good going into the fourth, and it didn’t take long from there,” he said.
The second round was Horwich’s, successfully muting Leites top position offense early, and then coming back with a leglock attempt and strong ground-and-pound in the last minute. Leites decisively took the third round with a threatening side choke that he held on Horwich for almost a minute. However, in Reilly’s eyes, surviving that position was in fact the tipping point which swung momentum back in favor of the Legends team.
“The arm triangle was [Leites’] best move. . . When Thales got it locked in, I knew he was going to gas trying to finish it. As soon as Matt came out, I knew the fight would shift our way.”
Horwich noted “I worked with my good friends at 10th Planet on how I should defend the side choke, just in case. It’s a good thing we worked on it. I wasn’t gonna tap. I was worried . . . it was like ‘alright, relax. Don’t panic. Do the correct defense. Count to 60’.”
Indeed, the energy Leites burned on that choke compromised him for the fourth round, where Horwich scored an easy takedown and cinched in a rear naked choke to end the match, and win his third MMA championship, at 0:44.
“I felt he was getting tired. . . I’ve been working a lot with Eddie on how to finish it better, squeezing my own leg. Working on squeezing the choke muscles. And then it went under his chin and then I knew it was in. And I was like ‘thank God.’ Then I was going to hold on until the referee pulls me off, because I’ve seen a lot of fights where the guy taps and the ref doesn’t see it,” explained Horwich.
For almost any victorious fighter, once his hand is raised, he realizes that journey is the destination. The hard work, training, sacrifice, and discipline all gain mass and resonance, embodied in the win. According to Horwich, it was his spiritual faith that powered that journey, and as such, it was his faith that defined his victory.
“The thing is my faith felt better than any fight. I didn’t really have any anxiety or anything. I felt fired up, but not anxious. . . So I was feeling that. Even when the fight got tough, my faith felt good, when I was caught in the side choke. So I think that was a big difference in this fight. . . Like Proverbs teaches us, those who work hard will be leaders and those who are lazy will be slaves. Those who work hard are likely to get what they want in life. Faith is the most important, but you just can’t expect God to do everything for you. You gotta put in the hard work,” said Horwich.
“It was an honor to fight Thales. He was really respectful, even afterwards. We saw him when we were leaving and he had the most respect for Matt,” commented Kelly.
Links to Horwich vs. Leites from “War on the Mainland” are here:
Round One:
Round Two:
Round Three:
Round Four:
In other “War on the Mainland” action that night:
PWP heavyweight (275 lbs.) championship – Tim Sylvia def. Paul Buentello via TKO, R2, 4:57.
205 lbs. – Terry Martin def. Jorge Ortiz via split decision.
PWP light heavyweight (205 lbs.) championship – Tony Lopez def. Jason Lambert via KO, R2, 1:49.
Erin Beach def. Joao Silva via unanimous decision.
Diego Garijo def. Jens Pulver via submission, R1, 1:08.
Gustavo Machado def. Rick Reeves via split decision.
Cleber Luciano def. Todd Williamson via submission, R2, 3:18.
A.J. Matthews def. Sean Choice via TKO, R2, 3:54.
PWP has not yet announced a date for their next event. Matt Horwich is sponsored by X-Pole and Melee Fight Gear, with support from Legends MMA and 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu.
