Sherdog.com Preview: UFC Fight Night Under Card
Sam Morgan vs. Forrest Petz
Aug 15, 2006
MORGAN: 5’ 11”, 170 pounds, 24, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
known as “The Squeeze”
BACKGROUND: Morgan fights as part of Team Bison and trains with fifth degree black belt Adam Rachuy, submission specialist Mike Reilly and fighters Kelly Kobold Gavin, Brandon Foxworth and UCS heavyweight champion Cory Walmsley. He sports a professional MMA record of 18-7.
MMA CAREER: Morgan began fighting as a pro in 2001. He lost a bout
via armbar to Adrian
Serrano (Pictures) in the Ultimate Wrestling
promotion. He would continue to fight on the local Minnesota
circuit until scoring his first major victory in 2003, a submission
over UFC veteran and former HOOKnSHOOT champion Aaron Riley (Pictures).
Morgan followed that performance with back-to-back losses to quality competition in the form of Manvel Gamberyian (Pictures) and to Killer Bee team member Akira Kikuchi (Pictures). Prior to his participation in TUF 2 he knocked out Duane Ludwig (Pictures) in less than a minute. Then he suffered the aforementioned loss to Burkman and is 2-0 since the show including a win over journeyman Shannon Ritch (Pictures).
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: Morgan likes the ground game. He loves to choke people out and works to finish the fight early (only five of his 25 bouts have gone outside the first round).
PETZ: 5’ 10”, 170 pounds, 30, Cleveland, Ohio, known as “The Meat Cleaver”
BACKGROUND: Petz fights out of the Strong Style Gym in Cleveland under the direction of coach Marcus Marinelli with Jeff Cox and the rest of the Strong Style Fight Team. He is the Cage Warriors and Fight Fest welterweight champion.
MMA CAREER: Petz began fighting professionally in 2002 and won the Absolute Combat Challenge 1 four-man tournament in ’03. He made his KOTC debut in 2004 and beat Adrian Serrano (Pictures) in the FFC that same year.
His first pro loss was to Jake Short (Pictures), but it would be Forrest’s only loss in KOTC, as he would go 3-1 in the promotion including a submission win over Charles Bennett (Pictures).
In ’05 Petz was submitted by UFC vet Josh Neer (Pictures), but he is 3-0 since the loss and recently defended his Cage Warriors and Fight Fest welterweight belts against a very tough Dan Hardy in a 25-minute conflict.
UFC EXPERIENCE: Debut.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: Petz is a good striker and has serious endurance. He’s not going to gas and his wrestling defense allows him to keep the fight where he wants it.
MY PICK: “The Squeeze” versus “The Meat Cleaver”? It really looks kind of hokey when you see it written like that. This appears to be a fairly even match, but I give the edge to Petz. Morgan will be so motivated to erase what happened with Burkman that he might make a mistake. However the facts show Sam has an overall edge in experience.
BACKGROUND: Morgan fights as part of Team Bison and trains with fifth degree black belt Adam Rachuy, submission specialist Mike Reilly and fighters Kelly Kobold Gavin, Brandon Foxworth and UCS heavyweight champion Cory Walmsley. He sports a professional MMA record of 18-7.
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Morgan followed that performance with back-to-back losses to quality competition in the form of Manvel Gamberyian (Pictures) and to Killer Bee team member Akira Kikuchi (Pictures). Prior to his participation in TUF 2 he knocked out Duane Ludwig (Pictures) in less than a minute. Then he suffered the aforementioned loss to Burkman and is 2-0 since the show including a win over journeyman Shannon Ritch (Pictures).
UFC EXPERIENCE: 0-1. Josh
Burkman (Pictures) slammed him unconscious on The
Ultimate Fighter season two finale.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: Morgan likes the ground game. He loves to choke people out and works to finish the fight early (only five of his 25 bouts have gone outside the first round).
PETZ: 5’ 10”, 170 pounds, 30, Cleveland, Ohio, known as “The Meat Cleaver”
BACKGROUND: Petz fights out of the Strong Style Gym in Cleveland under the direction of coach Marcus Marinelli with Jeff Cox and the rest of the Strong Style Fight Team. He is the Cage Warriors and Fight Fest welterweight champion.
MMA CAREER: Petz began fighting professionally in 2002 and won the Absolute Combat Challenge 1 four-man tournament in ’03. He made his KOTC debut in 2004 and beat Adrian Serrano (Pictures) in the FFC that same year.
His first pro loss was to Jake Short (Pictures), but it would be Forrest’s only loss in KOTC, as he would go 3-1 in the promotion including a submission win over Charles Bennett (Pictures).
In ’05 Petz was submitted by UFC vet Josh Neer (Pictures), but he is 3-0 since the loss and recently defended his Cage Warriors and Fight Fest welterweight belts against a very tough Dan Hardy in a 25-minute conflict.
UFC EXPERIENCE: Debut.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: Petz is a good striker and has serious endurance. He’s not going to gas and his wrestling defense allows him to keep the fight where he wants it.
MY PICK: “The Squeeze” versus “The Meat Cleaver”? It really looks kind of hokey when you see it written like that. This appears to be a fairly even match, but I give the edge to Petz. Morgan will be so motivated to erase what happened with Burkman that he might make a mistake. However the facts show Sam has an overall edge in experience.
