In a rare weekend with no UFC or Bellator event, Titan FC will be the most visible North American promotion putting on an MMA card. The company’s Halloween offering will feature a lightweight title bout, and feature some current and former champions from other organizations. Titan has been angling to make Mike Ricci a star of theirs since the promotion was revived. They take another step towards that end with a somewhat surprising matchup against another aging UFC veteran in Yoshiyuki Yoshida. After dropping four of five bouts back from 2008 to 2010 (including brutal knockouts at the hands of Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson), Yoshida has won six straight. He is 40 years old at this point, and it’s hard to believe he’s got what it takes to be a top fighter at this point. Ricci on the other hand seems to be in his prime at 28, and his last two wins have been dominant. The co-main event on the card features former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres against recent Bellator featherweight tournament runner-up, Desmond Green. The fight will be taking place at 145lbs. After a string of notable defeats in the UFC and WSOF, Torres has now reeled off three straight victories against some lower-level competition. Green went 3-2 in Bellator before being one of the more surprising cuts made by the organization’s new regime. Titan FC 31 also features current DEEP heavyweight champion Ken Hasegawa and former M-1 welterweight champion Jose Figueroa in main card bouts. MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting lines for Titan FC 31 today at Several Bookmakers. Take a look: ——————– MAIN CARD (CBS Sports Network, 10pm ET) Titan Lightweight Title Mike Ricci -475 Yoshiyuki Yoshida +325 Desmond Green -260 Miguel Torres +180 Ken Hasegawa -190 Matt Thompson +150 Felipe Portela -135 Hayder Hassan -105 Tyler Stinson -215 Jose Figueroa +165 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: Yoshida fits the exact same profile of the guys Ricci has feasted on thus far in Titan. Past his prime, durability issues, primarily a grappler. I see no reason that Ricci won’t be able to keep this bout on the feet and do some serious damage to Yoshida. I don’t think Miguel Torres is experiencing any sort of resurenge, he’ simply faced a lower level of competition lately and now he’s stepping back up against Desmond Green. Torres won’t have any way to get this to the ground, and Green should be more effective on the feet. Even if Green does get takedowns, I’m confident that his top control will be able to stifle Torres’ guard. Matt Thompson seems like he should have a massive size advantage over Ken Hasegawa, but I expect him to end up losing the striking battle and also get put on his back in this fight en route to a decision loss. It’s tough to play Hasegawa coming down to 205 and coming over to the US, but I definitely think he wins. The Hassan/Portela fight is almost impossible to bet, as both guys are only recently coming off of extremely long layoffs and getting back into the groove in their MMA careers. I lean towards Portela’s ground game over Hassan’s striking, but not much faith at all in that pick. Jose Figueroa has a history of getting stopped early whenever he faces a dangerous striker, and that’s exactly what he’s up against in Tyler Stinson. I’d feel more confident in Stinson if he wasn’t coming off a really bad performance against Josh Burkman, but Burkman is much more dangerous against Figueroa.
