World Series of Fighting 7’s headlining bout between Mike Kyle and Anthony Johnson, set to take place on Dec. 7 in Vancouver, has been postponed due to an injury suffered by Kyle in training. The new date for the fight will be January 18, 2014, at a location that is still yet to be determined. WSOF 7’s new main event will be Georgi Karakhanyan versus Lance Palmer for the inaugural featherweight title.
Kyle, who trains with AKA in San Jose, broke a toe on his right foot, WSOF president Ray Sefo and matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz told MMA Fighting, and will need the extra time to heal. This is the second time that a bout between Kyle and Johnson has been altered. The two were supposed to meet at WSOF 5 this past September in Atlantic City, but that time Johnson was forced off the card with an injury and was replaced with heavyweight Andrei Arlovski. Kyle dropped a three-round decision.
With Karakhanyan and Palmer now as the headliners, the fight between UFC veteran Khalib Starnes and Alberta’s Dwayne Lewis now shifts to the main card, which will air on the NBC Sports Network. To round out the four-fight main card will be bouts between undefeated Nick Newell and Sabah Fadai, as well as a fight between Jesse Taylor and Elvis Mutapcic.
Mutapcic and Taylor were also supposed to have met at WSOF 5 before the New Jersey Athletic Commission cancelled the bout last second upon seeing Mutapcic take an unknown substance in the locker room.
The full line-up for WSOF 7 now looks like this:
Main card
Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Lance Palmer (for inaugural featherweight title)
Jesse Taylor vs. Elvis Mutapcic
Sabah Fadai vs. Nick Newell
Khalb Starnes vs. Dwayne Lewis
Prelims
Shawn Albrecht vs. Josh Machan
Michael Hill vs. Richard Arsenault
David Perron vs. Matt Baker
Marcus Vinicius vs. Ryan Chiappe
Jake MacDonald vs. Myles Merola
Micah Brakefield vs. Brendan Kornberger