Danny Sabatello was levels above Da'Mon Blackshear on the ground at Titan FC 67 on Friday, and it led to a one-sided main event.
Sabatello (10-1) put his grappling to use over and over throughout the course of five rounds, and Blackshear (8-4) had no answer. As a result, Sabatello left the cage with a unanimous decision victory, as he successfully defended his Titan FC bantamweight title for the first time. The scores were 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46 at the InterContinental Miami in Miami, Fla.
Sabatello’s strategy was no secret from the outset. He attacked with takedowns and established a presence from top position in the first round. It was a route from there on out, with Sabatello controlling Blackshear in the grappling positions, chipping away with ground-and-pound and going for submissions.
The semi-conservative approach from Sabatello garnered come displeasure from the small crowd in attendance as well as the commentary team. Nevertheless, he got his hand raised in his first fight since not receiving a UFC contract for his dominant win at Dana White’s Contender Series 35 in November.
He didn’t care, though, and shared his thoughts to anyone who took issue with his style.
“If you (expletive) (expletives) want to boo me, that’s fine,” Sabatello said in his post-fight interview. “But this is mixed martial arts. You don’t like? Come (expletive) beat me. If it’s not exciting, I don’t give a (expletive). Come beat me. You won’t.”
Blackshear, who, according to the broadcast experienced a travel crisis en route to the event, missed the 145-pound championship limit by three pounds, and would have been ineligible to leave as champion.
Sabatello would have still kept the title had he lost, but it didn’t matter in the end, because he delivered a dominant victory.
Prior to Sabatello’s triumph in the main event, Olivier Murad (5-0) claimed the vacant Titan FC featherweight belt in the event co-headliner in a competitive unanimous decision win over Muhammad Naimov (5-2).
Complete Titan FC 67 result included:
- Danny Sabatello def. Da’Mon Blackshear via unanimous decision unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)
- Olivier Murad def. Muhammad Naimov via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) – to win vacant featherweight title
- Alberto Montes def. Richie Santiago via submission (anaconda choke) – Round 1, 2:01
- Dilano Taylor def. Lewis Gonzalez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Evelyn Martins def. Melissa Croden via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Adrian Garcia def. Rudy Isidro via TKO (body kick) – Round 1, 4:27
- Adi Alic def. Carlos Espinosa via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
