Overweight Dos Santos Submits Simon at Titan FC 37; Harrison, Elliott Retain Titles

Anderson Berlingeri dos Santos probably wishes he had made weight.

Dos Santos rendered Ricky Simon unconscious with a second-round rear-naked choke in the Titan Fighting Championship 37 main event on Friday at the Clark County Fairgrounds Event Center in Ridgefield, Washington. Simon went limp 2:38 into round two. Dos Santos’ failure on the scales cost him the chance to win the Titan bantamweight championship, which remains vacant.

For a time, it appeared as though Simon would leave the cage with his hand raised and championship gold fastened to his waist. He outslugged the Brazilian, as he raked him with powerful left hooks on the feet and dominated him in the ground. Dos Santos covered up to survive. However, Simon continued his reckless pursuit of a stoppage once “Berinja” returned to his feet: He misfired on a flying knee and exploded on dos Santos with a volley of wild punches. Before Simon could find a home for one of his power shots, a vicious right to the jaw scrambled his circuits.

Simon crumbled in a heap and did what he could to recover, but the Brazilian pounced on his back and locked in the choke. Soon after, the lights went out on the previously unbeaten King of the Cage veteran.

In the co-headliner, Andre Harrison moved one step closer to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as he successfully defended his Titan featherweight title with a split decision over Steven Siler. Scores were 49-46 and 49-46 for Harrison, 48-47 for Siler.

It was a back-and-forth affair, with Siler searching for submissions throughout. Harrison defended them to control a majority of the action. He landed several stinging strikes to the head and body while delivering takedowns when he needed them. Siler nearly forced a tap in the fourth round, where he secured a tight mounted guillotine. Harrison fought through the adversity and eventually escaped.

Meanwhile, Tim Elliott retained his Titan flyweight crown with a unanimous decision over Pedro Nobre. Elliott swept the scorecards with 50-46, 50-45 and 49-46 marks.

The champion did not escape unscathed, as he was rocked by a left hook from Nobre early in the first round. From there, Elliott did as he pleased. Nobre was on the defensive throughout the five-round fight and literally sprinted away from the American on more than one occasion. Elliott mocked him at times and repeatedly tagged him with a blistering left jab.

Elsewhere, former Maximum Fighting Championship titleholder Pat Healy suffocated Muhsin Corbbrey for three rounds on his way to a lopsided unanimous decision. All three judges scored it 30-27. Healy suffered a minor cut above his left eye early in the bout but had no other issues.

In other action, Gabriel Solorio toppled Anthony Gutierrez via split decision; Jason Novelli edged Zak Bucia over three rounds for a unanimous nod on the scorecards; Grant Dawson stopped Robert Washington with punches at 2:08 of the second round; E.J. Brooks triumphed over Ben Egli via unanimous decision; Austin Arnett earned a unanimous verdict over Dave Burrow; and highly touted prospect Jose Torres submitted Travis Taylor via guillotine choke at 2:09 of the first round to win his pro debut.