MMA - UFC - Bellator

This card saw some major adjusting in the past few days.  Gone is Drew McFedries to injury.  Gone is Rory Markham to dreams of silver screen greatness.  Fear not however, the Rosholt’s Jake and Jared have decided to save the day.  Here’s how the main card of Titan FC 18 breaks down.

Sean Wilson vs. Deryck Ripley

Deryck Ripley is currently riding a four fight losing streak into this fight with Wilson, and sports a pretty iffy 11-19 record overall.  He’ll likely have his hands full with Wilson who brings a more reputable 27-15 record into the scrap.  Wilson has won his last three fights, all in the first round and will likely be more than Ripley can handle.  I expect Wilson to take the fight down and finish Deryck by armbar in late in the first round.

Bobby Cooper vs. Nick Budig

This fight will be contested at 185 and features two young fighters looking to make names for themselves.  Bobby Cooper enters the fight at 5-3, having lost at Titan 16 via unanimous decision to Drew Dober.  Nick Budig is 5-1 as a professional and has won four consecutive fights entering this match.  He has good hands and will likely cause problems for Cooper standing.  I expect Nick Budig to win this fight by TKO in the second round.

Jared Rosholt vs. Kirk Grinlinton

This will be a heavyweight tilt and both guys come in north of 250 pounds.  Kirk Grinlinton is 1-2 as a professional and makes his Titan debut against the undefeated 2-0 younger Rosholt brother Jared.  Jared has won both of his fights by submission and he’ll be looking to take Kirk down and make him number three.  I would be surprised to see Kirk make it out of the first round here, and expect him to tap out to a choke or armbar pretty early on in this one.

Joe Wilk vs. Jesse Zeugin

Joe Wilk is an experienced fighter, and brings an 11-5 record into this fight with Zeugin.  Jesse is 5-1 and currently the XFC Lightweight Champion.  He has won five straight since dropping his debut as a professional.  Wilk in his last eight has fallen into a pattern of lose, win, lose, win, lose, win, lose, win…so if you continue that trend, he should lose this fight to Zeugin.  I think he will.  I expect Zeugin to make it six straight wins, and six straight finishes by submission, taking out Wilk in the third round by Choke.

Rudy Bears vs. Darryl Cobb

These two fighters were scheduled to face Drew McFedries and Rory Markham respectively, but both lost their opponents in the days leading up to the fight. Drew was hospitalized with an infection, while Rory decided he’d rather be in a movie.  So, Titan did the smart thing and put them against each other.  Rudy is a tough fighter but was smashed by Jason High in just under a minute at Titan 16.  He brings his 12-7 record in to face Cobb, who is 6-2 and is also coming off of a loss.  This could be a fun fight, and I expect Rudy Bears to come out on top, despite his underwhelming record.  Rudy Bears, by unanimous decision.

John Ott vs. Jake Rosholt

Well, there’s not too much to say about this fight.  Rosholt was put on the card when Markham and McFedries came off of it to add some star power to the lineup.  Jake is a world class wrestler and should dominate the outmatched John Ott whose 8-8 record is not at all misleading.  Ott is 3-5 in his last 8 and Rosholt is only two years removed from submitting Chris Leben in the UFC.  This is a one-sided fight that Ott won’t stand a chance in.  Rosholt will dominate and win by TKO Round 1.

Jens Pulver vs.  Brian Davidson

Jens Pulver takes another step towards redemption with this fight against upstart Brian Davidson.  Pulver has won two in a row since joining Team Curran and will be looking to win on a nationally televised event for the first time since his defeat of Cub Swanson back in 2007.  Davidson is game, but he will be outmatched here.  I expect Jens to either TKO Davidson or win a Unanimous Decision.  Davidson should fight freely as he has nothing to lose in this fight with a legend of MMA.