Shark Fights 17: Fight Card and Predictions

Written by Jake Thompson
Tuesday, 12 July 2011 20:41

The Shark Fights 17 fight card is a good one and our predictions are ready to go.

All of the action is going down July 15th at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas, and the main event between Matt Horwich and Jake Rosholt is reason enough to check out this fight card.  It’ll be a rematch of a fight in late 2010 when Horwich handed Rosholt the only TKO defeat of his career, and the two UFC veterans are ready to do battle once again at Shark Fights 17.  Other fighters on the Shark Fights 17 card include former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez, Karl Knothe and his 12-fight winning streak, and talented King of the Cage veteran Emanuel Newton.

Full Shark Fights 17 Fight Card:

Matt Horwich vs. Jake Rosholt

Ricco Rodriguez vs. Karl Knothe

Emanuel Newton vs. Ilir Latifi

Erik Perez vs. Douglas Frey

Daniel Almeida vs. Doug Williams

Quaint Kempf vs. Victory Hernandez

Alan Jouban vs. Andrew Goldthwaite

Jay Flores vs. Matt Hober

Brad Cox vs. Russell Brewer

Shark Fights 17 Predictions:

Matt Horwich vs. Jake Rosholt

Matt “Sauve” Horwich (26-18-1), a Jiu Jitsu fighter and part of the Legends MMA team, has proven to be a versatile gamer that can hang with the best on any given day.  Although he does have quite a few losses, Horwich has an iron chin and has never lost to strikes.  His notable wins include Thales Leites, Jason Lambert, Benji Radach, Brian Foster, Mike Pyle, Vernon White, Krzysztof Soszynski, Jason McDonald, and Josh Burkman.

Jake Rosholt (11-3) is a high-level collegiate wrestler who took home a win over Chris Leben during his earlier stint in the UFC.  Since taking the loss to Horwich, Rosholt has gone on to win 4 straight while showing improvements in the weaker parts of his fight game.  Although I think his submission game is constantly improving, it does concern me that Rosholt was submitted in 2 of his 3 UFC fights.  Horwich is a crafty veteran that actually ended the first fight with punches while on Rosholt’s back and I can’t wait to see how the rematch plays out.

I feel confident in saying that it will almost definitely be a decision win for Rosholt if he pulls out the victory.  Horwich is simply too tough to finish, and this one should have some high-level scrambles to complement a bit of sloppy yet potentially exciting striking exchanges.  Although Horwich will threaten with submissions and reversal attempts throughout, I think Rosholt’s fight IQ is at a level where he should be able to use his wrestling to get the decision victory.  Although fights with a high amount of wrestling are occasionally less than pleasant to watch, Horwich’s ability to threaten from his back should ensure that this bout will still be largely entertaining.  Although we picked him to lose a close fight, it is worth pointing out that Horwich has a dangerous triangle should Rosholt get overly content on top.

Ricco Rodriguez vs. Karl Knothe

Ricco “Sauve” Rodriguez (46-11) is on an 11-fight winning streak and holds notable career wins over top fighters like Randy Couture, Andrei Arlovski, Jeff Monson, Paul Buentello, and Rob Broughton.  He’s shown a better gas tank since dropping down to light heavyweight and has proven to be extremely durable over his career.  Rodriguez has never been submitted and one of his two career TKO or KO losses was to former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.  He’s a very accomplished Jiu Jitsu fighter that has shown the ability to finish opponents with punches and kicks in recent fights.

Opposing Rodriguez will be Karl “The Original Son of Punishment” Knothe (19-6).  Knothe is a well-rounded fighter with a bit of a wrestling background, and his dominant run of late has some thinking he’s turned the corner on his MMA career after some losses during the earlier stages.  Knothe missed a year of fighting after a motorcycle accident in 2009, but has come back to punch out 3 straight opponents while looking like he’s at 100%.

This is a tough fight to call because it is tough to know what type of endurance Ricco will bring into the cage.  He’s faded a little bit in some recent matchups and he’s also had some issues with wrestlers in the past.  Knothe has some excellent ground and pound and he could put Rodriguez in trouble if he gets the takedown successfully.  That being said, I think that the UFC veteran will be able to get the victory because of his big edge in experience.  It’s nearly impossible to finish Ricco, and the guy knows how to avoid being controlled in the ground game.  We’ll call for Rodriguez to get the 2nd round submission victory to extend that winning streak.

SIDE NOTE: This has to be the first ever fight card with the top two bouts each having fighters nicknamed “Sauve”.

Emanuel Newton vs. Ilir Latifi

Emanuel “The Hardcore Kid” Newton (14-6-1) has shown he can compete with the best and is coming off a 2nd round submission victory of Rodney Wallace.  Although Wallace does have losses to top UFC fighters like Brian Stann and Phil Davis, it is impressive to note that Newton is the only one to ever beat him by anything other than a decision.  Ilir Latifi (4-1) is an Albanian fighter that has shown a well-rounded game in his short fight career.  Newton is a step up in competition and it will be interesting to see if Latifi can answer the big challenge.

Newton’s weakness seems to be guys with good striking and takedown defense, and Latifi does pose a challenge because he possesses some of those skills.  That being said, Latifi has displayed what I’ve seen of him against lesser fighters than Newton, and I just don’t think he’s ready just yet.  Newton should be able to use his strength to get this fight to the ground, and I’m calling for a 2nd round TKO victory.