Legacy FC 21 Results: Leonard Garcia and Holly Holm Knockouts Highlight the Night

Matt Hobar and William “Bubba” Bush became new champions at Friday night’s Legacy FC 21 at the Arena Theater in Houston, but it was UFC veteran Leonard Garcia and world champion boxer Holly Holm that stole much of the night’s thunder.

Hobar dominated his fight with Angel Huerta in the night’s main event, taking the fight to him. It didn’t take Hobar long to put Huerta on the mat and transition to his back, securing a fight-ending and title-winning rear naked choke.

The victory put the Legacy bantamweight belt firmly around Hobar’s waist.

Bush gave Larry Crowe little chance of becoming the promotion’s middleweight champion, putting him on the mat a couple of times in the first round.

In the second round, Bush continued where he left off, once again putting Crowe on the mat, but this time unloading with a barrage of strikes until the ref stopped it.

Bush walk away the promotion’s new middleweight champion.

Garcia earned a reputation for his never-say-day, wild striking while fighting for the WEC and UFC, but changed things up for his first fight since exiting the Octagon.

For the first time in several years, Garcia shook things up, moving his fight camp to Team Alpha Male in California. There he hooked up with longtime friend and the currently hottest coaching property in MMA, Duane “Bang” Ludwig.

The change did Garcia a lot of good. Instead of just going wire to wire slinging bombs when Rey Trujillo rocked him, Garcia fought with much more patience, bringing his entire arsenal to the fight. He even attempted several submissions, a la the Leonard Garcia of old.

The fight ended in spectacular fashion, Garcia landing a stunning kick to the face and then crushing Trujillo with several heavy hook punches to the body, finishing him off with a brutal flurry of punches.

The victory ended the five-fight skid that pushed Garcia out of the UFC.

“It just feels good to be back in the winning column,” Garcia said after the fight, thanking Ludwig and coach Greg Jackson for leading him back to victory.

After becoming one of the most successful female boxers of all time, world champion Holly Holm recently retired from boxing to give her full attention to her mixed martial arts pursuits.

Her first foray back into the cage was an extremely successful one. Fighting out the Jackson/Winkeljohn camp, Holm isn’t purely a boxer trying to move to MMA. She has spent the majority of her fighting career at the camp, surrounded by some of the top mixed martial artists in the world.

Holm fought Allanna Jones – also primarily a striker – controlling the fight from beginning to end, pacing herself in the opening round, commanding the pace and positioning.

Her hands set it up, but Holm finished the fight with a vicious kick to the head, laying Jones out cold. The finish proved that Holm, now 4-0, isn’t going to be one to rest on her boxing laurels as she transitions full time to MMA.

“There’s a lot of things I want to improve from my performance tonight, but that’s what is so fun about this,” said Holm. “I’m at the bottom and there is just so much to learn; I’m really excited about it.”

Legacy FC 21 Full Results

Main Card:
-Matt Hobar def. Angel Huerta by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:05, R1
-William Bush def. Larry Crowe by TKO (Strikes) at 2:41, R2
-Leonard Garcia def. Reynaldo Trujillo by KO (Strikes) at 0:24, R3
-Holly Holm def. Allanna Jones by KO (Head Kick) at 2:22, R2
-Darrion Caldwell def. Gerzan Chaw by Unanimous Decision
-Jonathan Harris def. Matt Rogers by TKO (Strikes) at 0:47, R2

Preliminary Card:
-Ricky Turcios def. Colin Wright by Split Decision
-Scott Juarez def. Eric Valdez by Submission (Guillotine Choke), R3
-Chris Lopez def. Kenny Burke by Split Decision
-Eric Garcia def. Mark Garcia by Unanimous Decision

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