On this card there are a few UFC veterans, as well as other rising starts and prospects.

Titan Fighting Championships 17

Friday, March 25th, 2011
Kansas City, Kansas, United States

Heavyweight (265 lbs)
[#161 HW] Bobby Lashley (5 – 1 – 0) vs. [#269 MW] John Ott (8 – 7 – 0)

Former WWE Champion Bobby Lashley was originally scheduled to face James Jack [#243 HW] until the promoter was unable to reach Jack, according to a press release (sherdog). John Ott is the late replacement. Typically competing at 185 or 205, Ott most recently defeated Brian Imes at Bellator 26 on 8/26/10. Lashley has not competed since his first loss, which was to Chad Griggs via TKO(retirement) at Strikeforce-Houston on 8/21/10.

Keep Reading

MMA Canada is rolling out the initial monthly edition of their rankings, which are powered by FightMatrix.   Today, they released the Canada Top 5 Bantamweights, and will release more divisions in the upcoming week.

MMA Canada Bantamweight Rankings

A preliminary ranking of ‘The Ultimate Fighter 13’  contestants. 

There are 14 welterweights this season, with no elimination fights to get into the house, and one second-chance wild card spot.

[#113] Anthony Ferguson

[#179] Myles Jury

[#200] Ryan McGillivray

[#247 LW] Ramsey Nijem

[#321] Charlie Rader

[#364] Shamar Bailey

[#387] Clay Harvison

[#441] Chris Cope

[#475] Len Bentley

[NR] Nordin Asrih

[NR] Michael Bowman

[NR] Keon Caldwell

[NR] Zachary Davis

[NR] Javier Torres

Notable Info (Outside of the Obvious)

• The 19-fight winning streak of Nazareno Malagarie was brought to a halt by Daniel Straus via unanimous decision (29-28 x3).  Straus was favored by the ratings.

I myself am not a professional gambler, but I do like to take a look at the odds of a big/intriguing fight from time-to-time and compare it to the rating system, so here we are again.

BetUS, the online sportsbook offers Jones as a -210 favorite, which means that to win $100, you would actually have to bet $210.  Now, comparing the odds to the perceived chance of winning is not like comparing oranges to oranges (more like oranges to nectarines), but doing so reveals that Jones would be a good bet if you think he has greater than a 67.7% chance of winning.

Jones does appear to have a lot going for him, as he’s younger, taller, rangier, and has never REALLY tasted defeat.  Shogun has experience and one of the best (T)KO finishing rates in the history of MMA (5th all-time with a minimum of 15 wins), but is again coming off yet another knee injury — something that could jeopardize explosiveness and cardiovascular fitness, as we saw in his bout against Griffin.

Under normal circumstances, I would probably take Rua in the upset here, but I think with this latest knee injury, and Jones’s relentless ascent to the top, that at UFC 128, a true star will be born.  Look for a nip/tuck first round possibly going to Rua, then Jones taking over, and eventually stopping Rua late in the 2nd round, or early in the 3rd.  I think Jones is a good bet up to about -240.  This is one of those cases that a higher rank (Rua’s #1 vs. Jones #5) means virtually nothing, as its simply going to be a “changing of the guard” situation.

This kind of dominant win SHOULD see Jones go to #1, Rua drop to #3, with Jones/Evans at #1/2, setting their bout up as a true Champ vs. #1 Contender situation.

UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
[#1] Mauricio Rua vs. [#5] Jon Jones

Bantamweight
[#3] Urijah Faber vs. [#16] Eddie Wineland

Lightweight
[#7] Jim Miller vs. [#54] Kamal Shalrous

Middleweight
[#7] Nate Marquardt vs. [#27] Dan Miller

Heavyweight
[#17] Mirko Filipovic vs. [#18] Brendan Schaub

Light Heavyweight
[#29] Luis Artur Cane vs. [#57] Eliot Marshall

Lightweight
[#102] Edson Barboza vs.  [#170] Anthony Njokuani

Bantamweight
[#2] Joseph Benavidez vs. [#28 FW] Ian Loveland

Featherweight
[#29] Raphael Assuncao vs. [#31] Erik Koch

Light Heavyweight (195lb)
[#80 MW] Costantinos Philippou vs. [#116 MW] Nick Catone

Welterweight
[#15] Mike Pyle vs. [#18] Ricardo Almeida

Lightweight
[#29] Gleison Tibau vs. [#31] Kurt Pellegrino