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 LEGACY! 49 - Available on PPV
02.19.16 Belle Centre - Montreal Event Preview prepared by: Taylor Powell (107803)
PRELIMS
LIGHTWEIGHT: Toktogulovich Bakiyev (12-10) vs Pate Perhana (10-4)
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: Johny Persecutioned (11-10) vs Wayne Conner (8-6)
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: Pablo Escobar (14-5) vs Daniel Williams (7-1)
WELTERWEIGHT: Erik Kramer (10-5) vs Carney Duffy (11-8)
SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT: Vince Dixon (40-33) vs Sandor Clegane (14-8)
MAIN CARD
BANTAMWEIGHT: Geralt of Rivia (13-5) vs Barack Obama (9-4)
In the opening bout on our main card, we have two fighters who came to Legacy with a ton of promise, but haven’t been able deliver on it as of yet. Geralt of Rivia had an 8 fight winning streak in the Troid organization going, but is a lackluster 1-2 in Legacy since debuting. Barack Obama was on a 5 fight winning streak in the HMFL promotion, but is just 4-3 in his 7 fights in Legacy.
Geralt of Rivia is more of a muay thai clinch style fighter while Obama is a very skilled boxer with some amazing jiu jitsu. In 4 of his 5 losses, Rivia has been submitted so he’ll have to be very careful if Obama is able to pull him on the ground in this fight. All 13 of Rivia’s wins have come by knockout and he is most dangerous in tight with his dirty boxing. Barack Obama will want this fight to take place at distance and on the mat, nothing in between. If he’s able to stick to that game plan, he should be able to pick up a win against the struggling Rivia.
LIGHTWEIGHT: Hiroshimo Sakamoto (11-5-1) vs Booker McQuade (39-9)
One of the most dominant fighters in MMA history, Booker McQuade was expected to come to Legacy and dominate right away. Arriving with a 17 fight winning streak in the CEFC promotion with 15 of those wins being in title fights, fans expected McQuade to quickly prove himself as the top 155 pounder in Legacy as well. That has not been the case so far as he has been defeated by Gonna Spanked at 170 pounds in his debut and by Shogun Iron Tyson in his last fight back at 155 pounds.
McQuade needs to right the ship immediately and he has a good shot at that against Hiroshimo Sakamoto. Sakamoto is 4-1 in his last 5 fights and has only been defeated by current champion Arlington Beech. Sakamoto is an elite wrestler with some very good striking to go with it. He’ll definitely try to use that wrestling to keep Booker McQuade from finding his range in this fight. McQuade is one of the better strikers at 155 pounds in the world and has a very diverse kickboxing attack.
MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT: © Malik Al-Khaldi (13-1) vs Vaas Haas (9-2)
Vaas Haas has been a staple of Legacy at 185 pounds since the promotion opened its doors. He’ll finally get his title shot in this fight after going 9-1 with his only loss coming to former 205 pound champion Liam McGuiness. Most would say the title shot is well overdue for Haas. Malik Al-Khaldi won the title in his last fight against Rupert Blasts, which was only his third fight in the promotion.
Haas has had a lot to say about that leading up to this fight. It’s hard to blame the guy for feeling looked over, but he’ll have a huge shot to prove the naysayers wrong by defeating Al-Khaldi and becoming champion for the first time in his pro career. He’ll have to avoid the devastating power and skill that Al-Khaldi possesses on the feet, but Haas is often outgunned in the power department. He’s just one of those guys that grits and grinds his way to wins when it doesn’t look possible. I wouldn’t expect the trash talk from these guys to die down until they both hit the cage in this career defining title match.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: Liam McGuiness (21-11-1) vs Grigol Poundhammer (13-2)
After holding the 205 pound gold basically since arriving in Legacy, Liam McGuiness find himself in an awkward position after his title loss to Ravi Shankoli in his last fight. He gets a quick chance at proving himself though against one of the top 205 pounders in the world, Grigol Poundhammer.
Poundhammer ranks in the 10 at this weight class in kickboxing in the world, so it should come as no surprise what Poundhammer likes to do inside the cage. Poundhammer is still raw in terms of MMA ability, but he’s proven himself to be an elite fighter already in his short career. McGuiness is 5 years his elder, but he also gives up a few inches of reach to the younger Poundhammer. It’ll be critical for McGuiness to be mentally into this fight since it’s his first non-title fight in quite a while and he’s facing a dangerous kickboxer like Grigol Poundhammer. If Liam McGuiness can figure out the reach disadvantage, he should be able to thwart the young upstart’s momentum.
WELTERWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT: © Arlington Beech (19-3-1) vs Kelvin Parker (15-4)
At 9-1 in the Legacy promotion since joining years back, Kelvin Parker has done almost everything you can do, including win and defend a title. In his second title defense nearly 2 years ago, he was stopped in the second round by Arlington Beech. Since that fight, Beech has 3 successful title defense under his belt and looks very much like the class of 170 pounds in Legacy. Parker has reeled off 5 straight wins to put himself back into title contention, with three of them coming by submission.
He brings a more well-rounded game into this fight with Beech than he did a couple years ago. Beech will certainly be wary of the submission if this fight spends any amount of time on the ground. Kelvin Parker has spoken at length about how his world changed in an instant after being defeated by Beech in the first fight. It hasn’t been a short ride back to the top, but all that is out the window now and Parker has returned for his title.
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