The UFC has a big pay-per-view coming up with UFC 166 this weekend, but its competitors have finalized key shows in their respective companies.
Both Bellator and World Series of Fighting have completed their important upcoming cards, which are on quite opposite ends of viewing access. While Bellator 106 will be on pay-per-view, a first for Bellator, World Series of Fighting will be on their normal NBC Sports slot.
Both companies are seen as the biggest competition of the UFC and are looking to gain ground in the market with stacked cards and exciting action. Let’s take a look at each card.
Bellator 106: Rampage vs. Tito (Nov. 2)
Bellator‘s first pay-per-view will place former UFC light heavyweight champions against one another, even though they are obviously over the hill. Those two champs are Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Tito Ortiz.
Bjorn Rebney is obviously relying on the drawing power of two old guardsman, which can either pay off or fail horribly. So far it’s not looking promising, as there are way too many seats left to be comfortable with.
Also on the PPV portion of the card are a bevy of title fights. The most intriguing one is a lightweight title tilt between champ Michael Chandler and the man he uncrowned, Eddie Alvarez.
Chandler upset Alvarez after last time they met after dropping and tapping him out. Alvarez, who was involved in a well-publicized contract dispute with Bellator and the UFC, returns for the first time in a very long time looking to avenge that loss to Chandler.
Also defending his title is Pat Curran, who is also in a rematch against a man he beat before his amazing Bellator run. Curran takes on Daniel Straus, who earned his title shot through the patented Bellator tournament.
In a controversial move, Emanuel Newton and Muhammed Lawal will meet for an interim title at light heavyweight in yet another rematch. The champion, Attila Vegh, is apparently unable to defend his belt, which led to this bout.
The final main card bout is the heavyweight tournament final between Cheick Kongo and Vinicius Queiroz. The winner of this bout will take home $100,000 and earn a title shot at the winner of Alexander Volkov and Vitaly Minakov later this year.
The preliminary card hosts a number of notable talents, including UFC vets Terry Etim, Karo Parisyan and Mike Guymon. Four of the prelims will air on Spike TV before the PPV, while the rest of the prelims stream live on bellator.com and spike.com.
Main Card
| LHW | Quinton “Rampage” Jackson | Tito Ortiz |
| LW | Michael Chandler | Eddie Alvarez |
| LHW | Emanuel Newton | Muhammed Lawal |
| FW | Pat Curran | Daniel Straus |
| HW | Cheick Kongo | Vinicius Queiroz |
Preliminary Card
| WW | Joe Riggs | Mike Bronzoulis |
| LW | Terry Etim | Patrick Cenoble |
| FW | Mike Richman | Akop Stepanyan |
| WW | Karo Parisyan | Cristiano Souza |
| WW | Jesse Juarez | Joe Williams |
| LHW | Hector Ramirez | Brandon Halsey |
| LW | Mike Guymon | Aaron Miller |
| FW | Cleber Luciano | Joe Camacho |
| LW | Darren Smith | Josh Smith |
World Series of Fighting 6: Burkman vs. Carl (Oct. 26)
World Series of Fighting’s sixth installment looks to be a good one, as the company heads to Florida for the first time. If you were unaware, recently they made an aggressive expansion (pun definitely intended) when they purchased Canadian MMA promotion Aggression Fighting Championship, showing they are serious about becoming a major player.
Their upcoming card will be headlined by Josh Burkman and Steve Carl, who will fight for the vacant welterweight strap. Both men have been dominating the competition in the company since joining.
Burkman is well noted for his last win, where he quickly choked out heavily-favored Jon Fitch with a guillotine. As for Carl, he earned his title shot when he outlasted Tyson Steele recently.
In the co-main feature, new bantamweight star Marlon Moraes returns to the cage in hopes of keeping his undefeated streak in WSOF alive. With wins over Miguel Torres, Tyson Nam and Brendan Hempleman, he looks to be a world-ranked bantamweight.
Standing in his way is Carson Beebe, a highly touted up-and-comer in the sport who is the brother of the better-known Chase Beebe. The wrestler looks to upend Moraes, who is one of the main pieces of this company.
The other two bouts on the main card will see welterweights Jon Fitch and Marcelo Alfaya meet, as well as lightweights Justin Gaethje and Dan Lauzon.
The prelims, which you can catch on mmajunkie.com, have a number of notables on them. A couple of the names you may recognize are Miguel Torres, Alexis Vila and Jacob Volkmann.
Main Card
| WW | Josh Burkman | Steve Carl |
| BW | Marlon Moraes | Chase Beebe |
| WW | Jon Fitch | Marcelo Alfaya |
| LW | Justin Gaethje | Dan Lauzon |
Preliminary Card
| FW | Miguel Torres | Pablo Alfonso |
| LW | Jacob Volkmann | Luiz Firmino |
| LHW | Francisco France | Hans Stringer |
| BW | Alexis Vila | Josh Rettinghouse |
| FW | Nick LoBosco | Fabio Mello |
| BW | Chad Robichaux | Andrew Yates |
| FW | Alexandre Pimentel | Jade Porter |
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com