Four title fights top ROC 42 Friday

Jamal Patterson with submission

Once again four title fights top Ring of Combat, this time being ROC 42 Friday night.  The event takes place at the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ with a live pay-per-view webcast on GoFightLive.

Deividas TauroseviciusDefending featherweight champion Deividas Taurosevicius may not be the most exciting fighter but he is very effective with no opponent so far being able to finish the WEC vet, just win decisions.  After losing high-profile decisions in Bellator and WEC in 2010 Taurosevicius turned his career around in 2011, capturing the ROC title with a rear-naked choke over Ronnie Rogers and defending the belt with an arm triangle choke of Marlon Moraes.  So far Mike Santiago hasn’t had the same opportunities with his biggest fight to date being in XFO, this being Santiago’s ROC debut.

Ed Gordon on rightAlso making a title defense will be undefeated Ed Gordon who won the light heavyweight title at ROC 41.  Gordon will make his first title defense facing Anton Talamantes, another newcomer to ROC.  Talamantes steps into the ROC cage with a 4-2 record, his most recent being a decision loss to Joey Beltran.

Jimmie RiveraAt Bantamweight Jimmy Rivera is mainly known as a TUF season 14 vet but he returned to ROC in June to take the vacant title with a defeat of Justin Hickey.  Joel RobertsFor his first title defense Rivera will face Bellator vet Joel Roberts, a 7-3 fighter on a five-win streak best known for his submissions.

Ron Stallings victoriousThe fourth title fight features Mike Massenzio vs. Ronald Stalling for the vacant middleweight title.  Massenzio is coming off a 1-3 UFC record which brought him to 13-7 overall.  Stallings’ loss to Joey Kirwan in Strikeforce was followed by a win over Willie Smalls in February bringing his record to 4-2.

ROC 42 card:

Fikret Darzanoff vs.Julio Germain
Soslan Abanokov vs.Anthony Facchini
Justin Dalton vs.Dexter Wright
Radu Spinghel vs.Mark Dubovoy
Mike Prokop vs.William Metts
Whitney Jean-Francois vs.Nodar Kuduxashvili
Tom English vs.Chip Gerber
Chris Wade vs.Alfred Walker
Andy Main vs.Pat DeFranco
Jamal Patterson vs.Chris Sutton
MW title: Mike Massenzio vs.Ronald Stallings
BW title: Jimmie Rivera vs.Joel Roberts
LHW title: Ed Gordon vs.Anton Talamantes
FW title: Deividas Taurosevicius vs.Mike Santiago