Worldwide MMA Preview – Legacy FC, ADW, Pancrase

There is action from America, Abu Dhabi and Japan this weekend including a mix of some hot prospects and well known veterans.

On Friday night Legacy FC 46 will be coming from Texas, United States. It is not the strongest of Legacy cards without a title fight to anchor proceedings but it still looks set to feature some talented young prospects from Texas and the surrounding areas.

The main event is a bantamweight clash between Texas based Steven Peterson and Mexican fighter Irwin Rivera. Rivera’s professional career is less than a year old but the 26 year old has already amassed a 4-0 record but this will be his Legacy debut. Peterson is a veteran of Legacy with eight fights for them and he has also competed twice under the Bellator banner. He is currently riding a four fight winning streak which has improved his record to 12-4.

A fighter to keep an eye out for on this card is Ricardo Lucas Ramos. The 20 year old Brazilian has built up a 7-0 record in the sport and picked up 32 second TKO stoppage in his American debut earlier this year. He has fought at bantamweight and featherweight in the past and this weekend his fight with Cody Walker will be contested at featherweight. Walker has fought twice in Bellator during his short MMA career which has left him with a record of 5-2. At over six feet tall, Walker is a large featherweight and will be a stiff test for the rising Ramos.

There is a fight card full of veterans from Abu Dhabi Warriors in UAE on Saturday. The main event will see Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou take on Paul Buentello at heavyweight. Sokoudjou shot to fame with victories over Minotouro Nogueira and Ricardo Arona early in his career but he failed to live up to that early promise and he was last seen losing to Linton Vassell in Bellator. Buentello was a UFC title challenger for 15 seconds before being beaten by Andrei Arlovski, the 41 year old has been fighting infrequently in recent years but Saturday’s clash will mark his 50th professional MMA fight.

Also on the card is Alexander “Tiger” Sarnavskiy, who will be looking to bounce back from a submission defeat to Marcin Held earlier this year which dropped his record to 30-3. He will take on Canadian Jesse Ronson. Ronson had an unsuccessful run in the UFC but has recovered his form with two wins since being released from the promotion.

On Sunday Pancrase will make its debut on UFC Fight Pass live from Tokyo, Japan. Pancrase is an historic promotion with events as far back as 1993 led by the likes of Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, Ken Shamrock and Bas Rutten. Pancrase 270 will be headlined by a featherweight title fight between Ultimate Fighter alumni Nam Phan and Andy Main. Nam Phan is best known for two outstanding fights with Leonard Garcia and he captured the vacant featherweight King of Pancrase crown with a split decision win over Takumi Nakayama in January. Main never got a UFC fight after TUF but he has only lost once since then to bring his record to 10-2. With this fight, and any future Pancrase fights they may have being live on the UFC’s streaming platform it gives both men a good chance to make an impression and secure a UFC contract.

Josh Barnett protégé Victor Henry will take on Hidekazu Fukushima in what will be his fourth fight in Japan. Henry is 10-1 and has been pegged as one of the finest bantamweights outside the UFC since his 2014 victory over Hideo Tokoro. For his part Fukushima has a 10-2-1 record and a four fight winning streak but Henry is the overwhelming favourite and if he continues to impress in Japan then a UFC fight can’t be far away.

This card features more American interest than a regular Pancrase card, likely due to Pancrase looking to capture a western audience on Fight Pass. Dominique Robinson, Colleen Schneider, Josh Smith and Guy DeLumeau make up the rest of the American delegation.