Fight Pass will be a busy place this weekend. UFC 203 is the premiere show of the next few days, and it will host four of its twelve bouts on UFC Fight Pass. Prior to that, Cage Warriors will be putting on a card on Saturday afternoon. Before that all gets started however, Titan FC has an event on Friday night from Coral Gables, Florida. Titan FC 41 features a pair of title fights, as the event is headlined by a women’s bantamweight title match between Kalindra Faria and Carina Damm. Undefeated Andre Harrison also looks to make the fourth defense of his featherweight title against Alexandre Bezerra. In the past five years, Faria has suffered just two losses, and both have come to women currently ranked in the top 10 at strawweight, Jessica Aguilar and Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Now, she will be moving up to 135 for this fight after spending the majority of her career bouncing between 115 and 125, but her opponent is in a similar boat. Faria also has plenty of experience against Damm. The two have fought twice before, splitting those meetings. Back in 2009, in Faria’s third pro fight, Damm won via TKO. When they rematched in 2013, Faria took home the win with a first round armbar. Damm has seemingly been around the game forever, as she started her career in 2004 and was ranked among the best in the world at one point. Since 2010 however, she’s gone just 10-9 with the majority of the wins coming over very inexperienced competition. Missed weight and failed drug tests have been regular parts of Damm’s career, but hopefully having Faria come up to meet her at 135 will help alleviate both of those concerns. The co-main event is the most intriguing on the card. It speaks volumes to Andre Harrison’s style that: A) He’s not headlining this show, and B) The UFC hasn’t coming calling yet. The man is simply not exciting to watch. If Titan’s goal is to get a good fight out of Harrison, ‘Popo’ Bezerra is a great candidate. Harrison will rely on his wrestling in this match, but Bezerra has a good active guard, and is able to throw with volume on the feet. If Bezerra can make Harrison think twice about the takedown, we could have a quality scrap on our hands. The Titan welterweight division is in a bit of flux right now, as Belal Muhammad captured the title and then vacated it to take a fight in the UFC just a couple of months later. It seems like the organization could have a tournament of sorts on their hands to determine a new champion. Former WSOF welterweight champion Steve Carl is competing on this card and could end up in a future title fight if he can get past his opponent. That could prove a tough task for Carl, as he’s matched with Jason Jackson. The TUF vet only has a 5-2 record, but has faced some very good competition already, and shows good promise at just 25. The other fighter to watch out for on this card is Caio Rocha. The 23-year-old Brazilian has made a nice impression since beginning to take fights in the US. He won his Legacy debut with a head kick, and followed that up by defeating noted striker Peter Petties in his lone Titan appearance thus far. MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting odds for Titan FC 41 today at Several Bookmakers. Check them out: ——————– Titan FC 41: Damm vs. Faria Bank United Center | Coral Gables, Florida Broadcast: UFC Fight Pass SEPTEMBER 9, 2016 Fight Card Inaugural Women’s Bantamweight Title: Carina Damm +165 Kalindra Faria -215 – Featherweight Title: Alexandre Bezerra +190 Andre Harrison -270 – Catchweight Bout: Robert Turnquest +175 Taylor Krahl -245 – Welterweight Bout: Rodrigo Cavalheiro Correia +150 Jason Jackson -190 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: Damm has been trending down in her career for a while now. Despite picking up the best win she’s had in years against Sarah Alpar last time out, I just don’t think a now 37-year-old Damm can keep up with Faria. The one concern I’d normally have about betting this fight is the size difference between the two, but Faria proved she could handle it in their most recent meeting. Faria has continued to improve her game, while Damm is the same fighter she’s been since 2007. The price might be a bit too high, but Faria is the pick. I’m a little biased here. Back in his Bellator days, ‘Popo’ was one of my favorite under-the-radar fighters. He was talented and always put on a good show. Fighting the likes of Charles Oliveira, Marlon Sandro, Mike Richman, and Levan Makashvili, Bezerra has only been finished once, very early in his career, due to an Oliveira submission. Andre Harrison isn’t going to submit ‘Popo’, so that means he has 25 minutes to find a big shot on the feet, or snatch something when Harrison takes him down. For a dynamic guy who has 17 of his 19 wins by stoppage, that could be worth a deeper look. Jason Jackson’s losses have come to Colby Covington and Hayder Hassan, hardly anything for a young fighter to be ashamed of. He’s fairly well-rounded, and if Steve Carl comes out with the same foolish gameplan that he had against Belal Muhammad, Jackson could land plenty on the feet. If Carl decides to pursue his grappling however, he should find success. It may be difficult to get Jackson down early, but he should wear on the younger fighter and get to work on the mat eventually. That could mean Carl adds submission number 18 to his resume, but I’m not willing to lay a big number on him to find out if he’s in the right headspace coming in.
