Titan FC 29, 30 get title bouts, plus Walel Watson-Anthony Gutierrez

Titan FC has dates and locations for its next two cards, and each of them will have title fights on the bill.

Titan FC 29 is set for Aug. 22 at Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C., while Titan FC 30 takes place Sept. 26 at Cedar Park Center in Cedar Park, Texas. Promotion officials announced the cards on Tuesday following an initial report from MMAFighting.

Titan’s inaugural welterweight title will be on the line at Titan FC 29 as UFC vets Matthew Riddle (8-3) and Ben Saunders (16-6) meet for the belt. And at Titan FC 30, the inaugural middleweight championship is up for grabs with UFC vets Jason Brilz (22-5-1) vs. Vinny Magalhaes (10-7).

Additionally, a source close to the promotion told MMAjunkie that an as-yet unannounced bantamweight bout between Walel Watson (12-7) and Anthony Gutierrez (5-0) has been booked for Titan FC 30.

In February, Riddle fought outside the UFC for the first time and submitted Michael Kuiper with a second-round guillotine choke at Titan FC 27. Saunders, who was 4-3 in the UFC and 7-3 for Bellator MMA, will fight for the first time for Titan. He’s coming off a knockout loss to Douglas Lima at Bellator 100, his second knockout loss to Lima, who now is that promotion’s welterweight champion.

Brilz ran his winning streak to four fights since being released from the UFC on a three-fight skid in 2011. In May, he took a split decision from Raphael Davis at Titan FC 28, his debut with the promotion. Magalhaes returns to action for the first time in what will be more than a year. In August 2013, he was knocked out in 14 seconds by Anthony Perosh at UFC 163. That followed a loss to Phil Davis at UFC 159.

Watson made his promotional debut in May and submitted William Joplin at Titan FC 28. That got the four-fight UFC veteran back on track after a two-fight skid. The 23-year-old Gutierrez stayed unbeaten in February when he submitted Charlie DuBray in less than a minute at Titan FC 27. That gave the Missourian five straight first-round stoppage wins to open his career, all under the Titan FC banner.

For more on Titan FC 29 and Titan FC 30, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Walel Watson)