Travis Lizotte "Full Contact Writer"
Seabrook, New Hampshire native Charles "Boston Strong" Rosa (13-4, 4-4 UFC) will return to action this Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada when he meets fellow submission specialist; Nebraska's Darrick Minner (25-11, 1-1 UFC) on the main card at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Lewis. Rosa returns to the UFC's Featherweight division after jumping up to Lightweight last time out and eeking out a Split-Decision victory over Kevin Aguilar (17-4) last May in Vegas. Of Rosa's 13 professional wins, eight have come via submission including two submission victories inside the UFC's Octagon, both against fellow New Englanders; Sean Soriano (D'arce Choke) and Manny Bermudez (Armbar).
Nebraska's Darrick Minner is also renowned for his submission accolades, of Minner's 36 career fights, 30 have ended via Submission, including 22 of Darrick's 25 wins coming by way of tapout. Minner hung his first UFC victory last time out when he submitted the heavily favored T.J. Laramie (12-4) by Guillotine Choke under a minute into their bout at UFC Vegas 11 in September of last year. There is no doubt that both fighters will be hunting a Submission in this contest, as both men have publicly downplayed the grappling skills of one another and feel as though they have something to prove.
However, if Minner plans to put the light out on Rosa he is going to need to fire his entire arsenal, as Rosa has never fallen victim to Submission in his 17 professional bouts, including an amazing display of submission defense in an absolutely insane May 2020 bout with the ever-crafty Bryce "Thug Nasty" Mitchell (14-0). Rosa thoroughly believes that he holds advantages in both experience and ability when it come to the match up with Minner, as he has been tested against some elite level competition throughout his career in the cage. Rosa also believes it will be tough to replicate the looks that he receives daily, training with the World-Class roster at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida.
Fight fans should be in store of a fun one here as both of these guys are high energy and dangerous. That mixed with a little bad blood that has been spilled on social media in the past couple weeks between these two; now we have a score to settle. These two UFC Featherweights will finally have their turn this Saturday night at the UFC's Apex in Las Vegas when the pin falls on their main card bout, broadcast live on ESPN+ starting at 8 pm Eastern time, preliminary card begins at 5pm. Fifteen bouts are scheduled leading up to the Heavyweight Showcase between Curtis "Razor" Blaydes and Derrick "The Black Beast" Lewis, here is a look at the entire fight card;
UFC Vegas 19 Main Card on ESPN+ (8 pm Eastern):
Main Event; Heavyweight: Curtis Blaydes vs. Derrick Lewis
Co Main Event; Women's Bantamweight: Ketlen Vieira vs. Yana Kunitskaya
Featherweight: Darrick Minner vs. Charles Rosa
Heavyweight: Chris Daukaus vs. Aleksei Oleinik
Featherweight: Rafael Alves vs. Pat Sabatini
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski vs. Tom Aspinall
UFC Vegas 19 Prelims on ESPN+ (5 p.m. ET):
Middleweight: Nassourdine Imavov vs. Phil Hawes
Featherweight: Danny Chavez vs. Jared Gordon
Lightweight: Drakkar Klose vs. Luis Pena
Bantamweight: John Castaneda vs. Eddie Wineland
Featherweight: Julian Erosa vs. Nate Landwehr
Women's Flyweight: Shana Dobson vs. Casey O’Neill
Bantamweight: Drako Rodriguez vs. Aiemann Zahabi
Heavyweight: Serghei Spivac vs. Jared Vanderaa
Featherweight: Jamall Emmers vs. Chas Skelly
