Thomas Almeida Claims BW Title, Moves to 17-0 with Body-Shot KO at Legacy FC 32

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Seventeen men have gone up against Thomas Almeida, and not one has made it to the final bell.

The Brazilian bantamweight phenom continued his remarkable run Friday night in the main event of Legacy Fighting Championship 32, notching his 17th consecutive finish at Horseshoe Bossier City Hotel and Casino in Bossier City, La.

Almeida squared off against countryman Caio Machado for the Legacy bantamweight title vacated in April by recent UFC signee Matt Hobar. Machado looked to bring the action to the ground early, but Almeida used great sprawls to keep the fight standing and punished Machado with body-head combinations.

Late in the opening round, the 22-year-old Chute Boxe fighter countered a slow-moving front kick with a blistering left hook to the liver that sent Machado to the ground in agony. A few follow-up punches was all it took for referee Buddy Caskey to wave off the fight, awarding Almeida the victory and the gold at 4:17 of round one. Almeida’s perfect 17-0 record includes 13 knockouts and four submissions, with all but two wins coming inside the first round.

In the welterweight co-main event, Texan Derrick Krantz halted a two-fight losing skid with a submission victory over UFC veteran and local Louisiana favorite Kyle Bradley.

Bradley managed to connect with a few good punches in the early going, but once the fight hit the floor, it was all Krantz. “D-Rock” passed effortlessly from side control to back mount and flattened out his opponent, applying a rear-naked choke that had Bradley tapping in no time. The end came at 3:44 of round one.

Dallas-based flyweight Klayton Mai spoiled the homecoming of Matt Schnell, former star of the MTV reality series “Caged.” Mai repeatedly found a home for his heavy left hook, which rocked Schnell in the first frame and sent him to the canvas in the second.

Once there, Mai slapped on a guillotine choke and forced Schnell to submit 64 seconds into round two.

Louisianan middleweights Quentin Henry and Nicholas Jackson met for the second time in a rematch of a 2010 amateur bout which Henry won via second-round stoppage. “The Hero” needed even less time to finish Jackson in their second outing. Henry scored a pair of knockdowns in round one -- first with a stiff jab, then a right cross-left straight combo -- but it was a Jackson takedown which ultimately led to his downfall. Soon after hitting the mat, Henry secured a belly-down armbar which brought on a tap at 4:51 of the first stanza.

Geoff Neal took a unanimous decision over late replacement Christopher Anthony, who came into the welterweight contest on 10 days’ notice. Neal took the opening frame by controlling Anthony on the ground for the latter half of the round, but Anthony leveled the score by hitting a switch and taking Neal’s back in the second. “Handz of Steel” looked the fresher man in the final round, cracking Anthony with uppercuts and a flying knee before scoring another takedown. Anthony swept to top position in the final minute, but it was too little, too late; all three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Neal.

Another former “Caged” star, Team Alpha Male representative Tony “Primetime” Kelley, stayed unbeaten as a professional with a second-round technical submission of fellow Louisiana native Chris Pham. The bantamweights spent much of their encounter on the ground with Kelley on top, dropping ground-and-pound and hunting for a choke. With seconds left in round two, Kelley dragged Pham to the canvas with a modified guillotine in place and then switched to a shoulder choke which relieved “C-Lo” of his consciousness at the 4:58 mark.