Press Release
Former UFC middleweight contenders are set to collide at Xtreme Fight Night in Tulsa on Friday, November 12. Jake Rosholt (7-2) and Matt Horwich (26-17-1) deliver fast-paced, super-intense fights every time. The stakes are high as only one gets their hand raised and takes the next step to the big leagues.
Rosholt, a member of Team TakeDown, used his All-American wrestling pedigree and vicious ground-n-pound to notch a 5-0 record prior to his UFC stint. His UFC run ended prematurely with a 1-2 record, but not before securing an impressive submission victory over Chris Leben at UFC 102.
Horwich, now training at Legends Gym, is an experienced fighter. He is one of the most active fighters in the industry. He has fought four times in the past six months. He battled some of the best middleweights in the game including victories over Thales Leites, Benji Radach, Mike Pyle and Jason Lambert. He is currently training Jiu-Jitsu with Eddie Bravo, Muay Thai with Chris Reilly, and boxing with Frankie Liles.
“He’s not someone who is going to run away,” said Rosholt about his opponent. “He goes out there to fight. He’s well-versed. He’s had a lot of fights and he’s a complete fighter. It should be interesting.”
The respect is mutual.
“Jake is a stud wrestler, a great fighter,” said Horwich. “He has a lot of good wins. I want to fight the best so we are both going to go out there and flow on the technique. I think I’m working a really intelligent game plan for Jake. It’s going to be a great fight. It’s an honor to fight him.”
Neither fighter promotes through disrespecting their opponent. Both understand a trip back to national prominence happens through performance and not self-promotion. It starts in Tulsa.
Rosholt last fought in March on a XFL fight card. He was scheduled to meet Jeremy Horn this summer until a neck injury sidelined him for several months. “I’m 100 percent,” Rosholt claimed. He’s been training at full speed for seven or eight weeks now.
Rosholt is not taking the fight with Horwich lightly. Quite the opposite. “I’m not going to become a better fighter without fighting other good fighters. It does me no good to fight people who are not going to push me and make me train hard and make me a better fighter in the end.”
He is confident he’ll wind up back in the UFC sooner than later. He believes he will receive the call within the next year.
Horwich feels the same way, only he expresses it in slightly different terms. “I would like to give UFC another shot, but there are a lot of other great organizations I would like to fight in as well. Eventually I want to become the number one fighter, like the champions I look up to, who have left a great mark on the sport like Anderson Silva, GSP, Shogun Rua and all the great champions.”
The fight takes place in a ring versus a cage. Horwich battled many times between the ropes while this will be Rosholt’s first outside of a cage. “It’s harder to take someone down in the ring than in the cage,” explained Horwich. “I think that is the main difference. In the cage, you have the (cage) to push them against and shoot a double leg.”
Meanwhile, Rosholt seems less concerned. “I will be putting some time in sparring and training in a ring to get myself acclimated to (the ring). It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. I should be pretty well adjusted to it.”
Promoter Dale “Apollo” Cook delivers another knock-out card in Tulsa. Xtreme Fight Night is shaping up to be a historic night in The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. MMA, kickboxing and boxing bouts bring out the stars including special guest and iconic fighter “Sugar” Ray Leonard.
Additional MMA bouts include Trey “That Just Happened” Houston battling Brandon Lyons in a 185-pound contest. Houston, a student at the University of Tulsa, is a fight or two away from breaking into the national MMA scene.
A 170-pound XFL title fight features Levi “The Marine” Avera fighting UFC veteran Anthony Macias. Rising 145-pound local star Josh “Platypus” Pulsifer takes on Nate “No Mercy” Murdock in another championship tilt.
Get your tickets today by visiting HardRockCasinoTulsa.com or calling Apollo’s Martial Arts at 918-627-7070.