Inadvertent Eye Poke Brings Premature End to Legacy 55 Heavyweight Headliner

Justin Ledet and Brice Ritani-Coe will have to settle their differences another day. An accidental eye poke by Ledet on Friday brought the Legacy Fighting Championship 55 headliner to a premature and disappointing end at the Arena Theater in Houston. Ledet threw a left jab and scraped his opponent’s right eye with his thumb in the process, rendering Ritani-Coe (4-3) unable to continue. With Ritani-Coe’s eye bleeding and nearly completely shut, a cageside doctor waved off the contest at the 1:37 mark of the opening stanza. The bout was ruled a no-contest. “I just can’t see right now,” Ritani-Coe said. “I’ll fight him again when this is right.” Legacy Fighting Championship newcomer Ledet (6-0) looked promising during the abbreviated affair, taking advantage of his range to beat Ritani-Coe to the punch from the outside in the early going. However, neither fighter gained a clear advantage before the accidental foul occurred. In the co-main event, Isaac Villanueva outworked Brandon Farran to take a unanimous decision in a middleweight contest. Two judges scored the bout 29-28, while a third had it 30-27, all in favor of Villanueva, who won his fourth straight fight. Farran (12-12) was dangerous in short spurts, including one sequence in the first round where he appeared to hurt Villanueva with punches in an exchange. Those moments were few and far between, however, as Villanueva controlled much of the contest with rugged clinch work. He sealed his victory in the final frame, …

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