Titan FC 60

The Fighting News

5.30.20

Titan FC 60 took place at the MMA Masters gym in Miami, Florida last night, May 29, 2020. UFC Fightpass announcer Jimmy Smith and Jose “Shorty” Torres provided the cage-side commentary and referees Alan Abeles and Russ Greenberg oversaw the action. Covid-19 Safety precautions were clearly on display, with a cleaning crew wiping down the mats between rounds and making sure conditions remain as sanitary as possible.

Starting the action off was Danny “The Italian Gangsta” Sabatello, a local favorite facing Chris Johnson. Sabatello dominated the action for three rounds, finishing the bout with at 1:54 of round 3 with an arm triangle submission. This victory should put Sabatello in position to challenge once again for the Titan FC Bantamweight Title.

Next we saw Gustavo Villamil, fighting out of MMA Masters, against last-minute replacement John Birdsong. Birdsong, with an impressive amateur record of 8-0, showed some good skill and aggression on his feet, but the ground game belonged to Villamil who grabbed a rear-naked choke at 3:29 of round 2 that forced Birdsong to tap.

The third fight Sal Guerierro from American Top Team faced a tough wrestler in Dany Gonzalez. The two spent most of the three rounds grappling in the sweat pit of MMA Masters and both showed impressive skill. In the end, the judges awarded a split decision victory to Gonzalez, who advances his professional record to 1-1.

Mike Lilly, a veteran of Titan FC, as well as CFA, XFN, Fight Time and CFA, scored the KO of the evening in the next fight up against Kendly St. Louis, who was making his debut with Titan FC. St. Louis was a game opponent until Lily connected with a brutal overhand right at 2:10 of the second round.

Rami Hamed, another Titan FC veteran, put on a brilliant performance against another familiar face, Frank “The Tank” Carillo, who made his pro debut back in 2009 and has experience in Bellator, CFA, Island Fights, and Fight Time. The Tank moved forward throughout the fight but Hamed had a clear height, reach and speed advantage and earned the unanimous decision on the judge’s scorecards (29-28, 30-27, 30-27), and possibly suffering a broken toe in the process.

The headline bout was also the inaugural Titan FC Combat Grappling World Championship between Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante and Rausch Manfio. The combat grappling rules allow for one eight-minute round, open hand slaps and grappling. As both men are highly experienced in this field and legends on the South Florida scene, the action was even and the fight went to the shoot-out round. Here, however, after holding Manfio in back control with a tight body triangle for a minute and twenty-five seconds, JZ managed to escape the back control in just eight seconds, earning the victory.

by Matt Benoliel