Adam Townsend Pounds Out Marcus Edwards in Legacy Fighting Alliance 5 Headliner

Once he got rolling, Adam Townsend wasn’t going to be denied.

Townsend survived a rough start to dominate Marcus Edwards down the stretch en route to a third-round stoppage victory in the Legacy Fighting Alliance 5 headliner at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colo., on Friday night. The end came 4:53 into round three as Townsend pummeled his foe with ground-and-pound from back mount.

For a moment, it appeared that Townsend’s night would end in early disappointment. Edwards dazed his foe with a head kick early in round one and swarmed for a finish against the fence with punches and knees. Townsend regained his bearings enough to land a takedown and escaped a guillotine attempt from the Colorado native on the canvas. Townsend would take Edwards (12-5) down again later in the frame and eventually moved into mount.

That would be a recurring theme for the rest of the fight, as Townsend (17-4) landed early takedowns in both rounds two and three. As Townsend bullied his opponent on the mat, Edwards’ resolve gradually began to fade. Edwards posed virtually no threat in the last stanza, and Townsend mounted him repeatedly en route to the finish just before the final horn.

In the co-main event, Jamall Emmers took a relatively uneventful unanimous decision triumph against Cory Sandhagen in a featherweight tilt. All three cageside judges scored the contest 29-28 in favor of Emmers, who improved to 11-3 as a pro. Sandhagen falls to 4-1.

It was a promising start for Sandhagen, as the Boulder, Colo, native defended takedowns and moved well around the cage well while outlanding his opponent on the feet. Emmers was undeterred, however, and he kept the pressure on Sandhagen over the final 10 minutes with volume and forward movement. A late takedown in the final stanza likely clinched the victory for the Pinnacle MMA representative known as “Prettyboy.”

In earlier action: Matthew Frincu cruised to a three-round verdict (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) over Kris Hocum at welterweight; Matt Johnson earned a unanimous decision triumph (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) over Leville Simpson at lightweight; Brandon Roybal submitted Rakan Adwan with an armbar at the 1:54 mark of round one in a flyweight contest; Slobodan Maksimovic outpointed Eric Grant (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) at lightweight and Arut Pogosian defeated Nicholi Navarro via split-decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-27) at 155 pounds.