Global Legion Fighting Championships 15 at Banquet Masters Center

 

After sporting events began re-opening from Coronavirus, Global Legion Fighting Championships was one of the first fighting organizations to bring back fans to their live events.

On August 15^th they held the second of these shows at the same Banquet Masters Event Center where they held the first one, just under a month ago. While attendance wasn’t quite as large as you would expect, they more than made up for it with their energy and support of these fighters.  

Featuring a combination of boxing and MMA matches inside of a caged boxing ring, GLFC brings something different to the fight game. Tonight’s card featured three boxing matches to start off the evening, and six MMA matches to cap it off. Between the mixture of styles and disciplines to be showcased this was certain to be an exciting night.  

Amateur boxing opened the night with Justin Smith taking on Jerome.

One of the most exciting things about amateur boxing is not knowing exactly what to expect. These two heavyweights poured out a ton of energy, with Smith dominating the opening round. Jerome recovered greatly between rounds and had Smith quickly losing steam. Ierome applied numerous hits to the face in rapid succession and as Smith fell to his knee, the ref waived off the fight. Smith by TKO in Round 2 

Next up was Cortez Reed taking on Andrey Mangushev in Professional Boxing. Dancing around, both were landing rapid 2-4 punch combos on one another, this had the makings of a real slobber knocker. By the end of the round you could see the rapid pace was wearing on Reed.  

Towards the end of the round he was backed against the ropes. Coming back from the break, Mangushev started picking apart Reed’s defense brick-by-brick. While Reed was staying in the fight, Mangushev connected with a stiff shot and sent Reed down to the canvas with only 18 seconds left in the 2^nd round. Reed tried but was unable to recover in time. Mangushev by KO in Round 2 

Capping off the professional boxing was Tyler Smith vs Ty McLeod. Coming out from their perspective corners, both fighters were full of energy. However the majority of these shots weren’t landing with much effect. Keying in on the basic combinations from Smith, McLeod was able to get him pinned against the ropes and cage rather quickly.  

Smith was able to fight out with a quick combo, but McCleod was able to counter this, sending Smith back into the ropes and cage again. As he was starting to go down in defense the referee waived the fight over. McLeod by TKO in Round 1 

After removing the ropes, putting up some extra pads, and making some other small adjustments it was time for the MMA bout between Corey Samuels and Gabriel Freye. Entering the ring with the confidence and determination of a man who has been there before, Samuels controlled the first round. With knees and kicks back and forth across the cage, Freye was being worn down quickly.  

As the round came to a close you could see the small cuts and swelling across his face. This seemed to invigorate Freye going in to the second round. Grabbing Samuels leg during an attempted kick, he was able to score a take down. Grappling for position on the ground, Freye looked like he was now in his element, and ready to take advantage.

Unfortunately for him, Samuels was ultimately too skilled there and able to free himself and win via a deep choke. Samuels by Submission (Choke) in Round 2 

It’s always a bit ironic when the third bout goes the full three rounds, and the next bout did just that. Cody Matthews and Isreal Galvin attacked one another with a variety of different methodologies, and from the start it was a great contest.

No matter how many times Galvan took Matthews to the ground, he kept finding a way back up. With three takedowns to his credit, Galvan ended the first round with dominance, yet Matthews kept smiling the whole time.  

In the second round Galvan was beginning to take control of the fight even more, both making Matthews fight his kind of fight, and cornering Matthews leading to another take down. In the third and final round Galvan scored a thunderous take down that echoed around the event center. As some of the crowd gasped, they both struggled for control, with Galvan remaining in a variety of mounts the majority of the round.  

Letting go to deliver two very stiff shots, Galvan seemed to have the fight in full control and kept Matthews stuck to the mat the remainder of the fight. Going to the cards, both fighters began to celebrate and show respect to one another as the judge’s papers were gathered.

The judges awarded the fight to Matthews via unanimous decision leaving a stunned crowd. The look on both the ref and Galvan’s faces were absolutely stunned by this decision. As Galvan and his corner protested slightly, Matthews kept trying to talk to them; almost apologetically. With the next fight already being announced, they were quickly shuffled down the entrance. Matthews by Unanimous Decision  

As hard as that fight was to follow, Hopeton Stewart and Christopher Lavant came to the cage with each trying to take quick dominance of the other. After trading blows for a short time, Lavant tried taking down Stewart, but he was much to big for that.  

Using that size to his advantage, Stewart got the takedown and kept Lavant on the mat. Battling for position now, Stewart was using this same size to his advantage to quickly lock in a dominating rear naked choke that Lavant could not escape. Stewart by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round 1 

Chris Crosby and Angelo Trevino were up next. These two stood and battled on their feet off and on the whole fight, but when they were on the ground these two knew how to counter and control one another. Unfortunately for Crosby, Trevino was able to keep in a mount or top guard the entire first round. Trevino was finding ways to land snaky solid shots both on the ground and on their feet.  

A few questionable low movements from Crosby aside, this was a solidly clean fight, and exactly what the fans wanted to see. As they battled back and forth for the first 2 rounds, the wear and tear was beginning to show on each fighter.

Coming in to the third round, Crosby looked absolutely gassed. Trevino kept scoring take down after take down, and as he would get up Crosby would swipe at him with kicks. As the round was closing in there were spurts where the ref looked almost ready to stop the fight.  

Yet Crosby kept his head about him and resisted with intelligent defense and some stout offensive bursts. Trevino’s attempted submissions and ground control really seemed to win over the officials as Trevino picked up the unanimous decision that seemed to surprise no-one. Trevino by Unanimous Decision 

When filling the co-main event of a card, you expect the fight to go at least two rounds. However, Jaime Alvarez and Pablo Caballero had plans of their own. With both fighters taking the cage with the ferocity that you would expect from truly confident men.  

Once again trading blows and attempted take downs, Caballero found himself taken down and a bit surprised to be off his feet. Recovering quickly, Caballero fought his way back out and looked to have Alvarez in a certain submission. Somehow Alvarez was also able to quickly work his way out, it was hard to believe these was all happening so quickly. Alvarez was now to his fee with his back against the cage and trying to fight out.  

This proved to be his undoing. While trading shots back and forth momentarily, Caballero was able to land a viscous shot off the chin and upper chest, and Alvarez was out. With the ref immediately stepping in Caballero was victoriously climbing the cage. Caballero by KO in Round 1 

Wrapping up the card was another pair of heavyweights in Dustin Clements and Said Sowma. Considering this fight card had a few already go the distance, fans were optimistic this one might too.

Clements began working quick kicks that Sowma was able to take with ease. Finding his timing, Sowma was able to score and early take down and kept him in his guard for a good bit of the round.  

Try as Clements might, he could not escape the various submission locks from Sowma and Sowma was able to wear him down a bit to his speed. With both suddenly on their feet, Clements was shoved back down and left in a defensive position for the remainder of the round. Attacking again with kicks, Clements was on the offensive to start the second round.

As much as Sowma was defending these kicks, they were providing him with something even better; timing cues. Suddenly Sowma had Clements rolled up on the ground in his own corner.

Devastating Clements face consistently, Sowma was keeping him locked down and with every movement Clements made, Sowma found something he could take advantage of.  

Rolling him up and pressing in deep, Sowma seemed to be losing a drop of control as Clements was beginning to work his way free. Suddenly the ref waived off the fight, and initially seemed to claim Clements has submitted.  

With both Clements and his corner objecting, there was a pause before the official announcement. Both fighters gave respect to one another and seemed to be ready to keep going. Ultimately it was decided that Sowma had won by referee stoppage, to the looks of frustration coming from every member of Clements corner. Sowma by Ref. Stoppage in Round 2. 

GLFC is still a new organization. While they have a bit of growth to come, this is not a fight organization you want to leave on the back burner. The mix of boxing and MMA in a cage makes for a great combination that will leave any fight fan thrilled. Add in their safety measures for preventing COVID-19, and this is an event you can take the family to and feel protected while seeing many up and coming fighters as well as some who have made it to the big show and are chomping at the bit to get back.