Witt looked like a safe bet to fall quickly off the UFC roster, but
“The Vanilla Gorilla” has managed to overachieve. Witt is a bit of
a throwback as a plodding pressure fighter who looks to swing his
way forward into a wrestling game. That served him well on the
regional scene, but getting knocked out by Takashi
Sato in just 48 seconds in his UFC debut suggested that Witt
would not have the speed or durability to hang around in the long
term. Witt is still capable of getting sparked out at any time
during his fights, but he has put together some impressively gutsy
wins when given the opportunity, with a decision over Bryan
Barberena about a year ago serving as a huge upset and aging
well in the interim. Witt looks to rebound from a February loss to
Phil Rowe against an Octagon newcomer in Quinlan. Only a pro since
2019, Quinlan is quite raw, but he is an impressive physical
specimen. He may not always be able to dictate the terms of his
fights, but he cracks with some thudding power, as evidenced by the
47-second knockout on Dana White’s Contender Series that earned him
a contract in September. After failing a drug test, Quinlan’s
contract status was up in the air until this debut was announced,
and it will be interesting to see how he looks, between the drug
test layoff and the fact that this is his toughest test to date.
Witt does seem to fall short against anyone with one-shot knockout
power, which certainly describes Quinlan, so the newcomer looks to
be the much safer bet. However, things may be quite dicey up to
that point, so it would not be a shock to see Quinlan suddenly turn
things around in a fight he is otherwise losing. The pick is
Quinlan via first-round knockout.
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