Alex wins Fight of the Night in Legend FC 4

Last Thursday 27 January, Legacy's Alex Niu made his debut appearance for the growing Legend Fighting Championships promotion in Hong Kong. The event was broadcast around the world, and it was the first ever Chinese MMA event to be broadcast on American pay per view.

Alex's bout against Chinese sanda fighter Wang Sai was the opening fight on the pay-per-view card, and had the distinction of being awarded Fight of the Night after the event. In a tough 3 round fight, Alex used his boxing skills well. Alex got the better of the striking exchanges, landing some ferocious leg kicks and a good solid elbow. He also did well on the ground, with a nice arm bar attempt in the first round and a mount at the end of the second round. After three hard rounds, Alex won a unanimous decision, getting his Legend FC career off to a great start.

Many thanks to Marcus, who was in Alex's corner, for the update and the details. And a big shout out to Vaughn 'Blud' Anderson, who was commentating at the event.

Here is a link to Legend FC's run down on the fight: http://www.legendfc.com/news/index.php?newsId=62

And here is Vaughn's fight card preview: http://mrblud.com/article.asp?id=85

Sisaket Fight Videos

Here's Aidan's fight debut.





And here's Thalita's fight:






Finally, Ajarn Nuay's 5 round victory.

Legacy brilliance in Benchalak

Last night, in the small sub-district of Benchalak, in Sisaket province, a trio of Legacy fighters turned in impressive performances to seal what has been a great opening week to 2011. In the 5th bout of the night, Aidan "The Yardman" from Ireland had his first ever fight against local fighter Fardaisay. Aidan has been training part-time at Legacy for 5 months and was eager to see the results of his hard work. Like most first fights, this fight wasn't exactly technical, but The Yardman showed great punching power, some very hard knees in the clinch, and pushed the fight to an incredibly high pace from the first bell. He floored his opponent early in round 2, and finished him off soon after by KO. He was ecstatic with the victory and says he can't wait to get in the ring again in February.

Later the same night, in what was billed as one of the main events, Thalita "Mad Dog" Vergilio took on the well supported and highly regarded local fighter Banchom. Thalita had a very hard fought 5 round battle against an opponent who she considered to be her strongest to date. In a fight that really seemed to get the crowd going, both girls threw a huge amount of kicks and punches, and Thalita also landed some very nasty elbows. Mad Dog's performance gained her a few new fans as, after she got the decision, a number of spectators came to congratulate her and her trainer, Ajarn Nimnuan.

To round off the night, the "retired" Ajarn Nuay had his second fight in just over a week! He stepped up to replace a friend of his who had come down sick a couple of days before the fight. With very little pre-fight training, "Mongkol Kao" still managed to get the decision after 5 hard-hitting rounds. Both he and his opponent were obviously in a league of their own, with speed and technique that outshone the rest of the card. The fight was very close, with both fighters exchanging lightning quick combos in the opening rounds. It was only when Ajarn Nuay dropped his opponent with a clean rib-cracking body kick in the 3rd round that the balance tipped firmly in his favour.

After the fights were over, the event sponsors presented both Ajarn Nuay and Thalita with trophies for their impressive performances. All in all, it's been a pretty good week for Legacy Gym.

Videos of last night's fights will follow soon.

Legacy Gym off to a great start in 2011

Hello and Happy New Year! Although I wasn't here to witness it, Legacy Gym got 2011 off to a great start on 1 January. At a local fight event in Det Udom, Marcus Waters, our BJJ coach, made his muay thai début. He won by 4th round TKO, forcing the referee to stop the fight with a barrage of unanswered punches. Unfortunately, there is no video footage, as the rest of the gym was recovering from New Year's eve celebrations.

Ajarn Nuay, aka Mongkol Kao, continued fighting through his retirement with another impressive knockout victory on the same day. He stopped his opponent in the second round.

Nut rounded off a great start for Legacy with a 4th round stoppage, which was made more impressive by the fact that he had just fought two nights before and lost a hard 5 round decision.

Congratulations to all three fighters and, once again, Happy New Year to everyone from all of Legacy Gym!