Tag: Titan FC 71

Titan FC 71 results: Ali Alqaisi outworks Andrew Whitney for featherweight title

Ali Alqaisi was diligent trying to put Andrew Whitney away. It didn’t happen, but Alqaisi’s work for 25 minutes got him a title.

Ali Alqaisi was diligent trying to put Andrew Whitney away. It didn’t happen, but Alqaisi’s work for 25 minutes got him a title.

Alqaisi (10-5) outworked Whitney (16-9) to take the vacant featherweight title in the UFC Fight Pass-streamed Titan FC 71 main event at InterContinental Miami. Alqaisi won with a 50-45 score and a pair of 49-46s.

Alqaisi had Whitney in trouble midway through the first round with ground-and-pound, but Whitney survived, shook Alqaisi off, then wound up on top. Alqaisi worked for a triangle choke, but Whitney worked around it. Alqaisi stayed busy going for submissions from his back, then worked his way back to his feet with a guillotine choke. Whitney tried to spin out of it, but Alqaisi kept after it with a minute to work. Whitney survived the round.

In the second and third, Alqaisi’s hopes for a submission were plentiful, but Whitney consistently survived them, from chokes to armbars and back again. In the fourth, Whitney mounted a bit of a rally, and he stayed in it till the end of the fifth. But he was fighting from behind on the scorecards.

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Titan FC 71 results included:

  • Ali Alqaisi def. Andrew Whitney via unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 49-46) – to win vacant featherweight title
  • Ryan Kuse def. Amir Naser Kazemi via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:44
  • Nate Marquardt def. Michael Cora via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 2:39
  • Richie Lewis def. Ernesto Rodriguez via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:57
  • Adrian Garcia def. Shojin Miki via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
  • Devon Dixon def. Brandon Lopez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Video: Nate Marquardt submits Michael Cora in Titan FC 71 comeback fight

After nearly four years away, Nate Marquardt returned Friday and got his first win since 2016.

After nearly four years away, [autotag]Nate Marquardt[/autotag] returned Friday and got his first win since 2016.

Marquardt (36-19-2) submitted [autotag]Michael Cora[/autotag] (5-6), a fighter against whom he had more than five times as much experience, with a first-round armbar at Titan FC 71. But it didn’t come without a little adversity.

Cora kicked high early, and Marquardt returned with one of his own. A minute in, Marquardt landed a spinning back kick to the body that pushed Cora back. But Cora kept coming forward.

Ninety seconds in, the fight hit the canvas thanks to a Marquardt slam, and he tied up Cora from his back. But after the fight moved back to the feet, Cora went ballistic and started drilling Marquardt with punches.

Marquardt hit the canvas, and Cora followed him down. But that proved to be problematic. Cora went into Marquardt’s world, left an arm available, and it wasn’t long before he tapped to the armbar at the 2:39 mark of the opening frame.

Marquardt retired in 2017 after three straight losses in the UFC and a rough 3-9 stretch at welterweight and middleweight over a nearly five-year period. The 42-year-old former Strikeforce champion started his pro career in 1999.