The card is set, the cage is designed and the marketing for the World Series of Fighting debut is ongoing. Now, the promotion just needs the fans to show up.
According to WSOF president Ray Sefo, they will.
Tickets for the event are moving quickly, he said on a Wednesday conference call, and by the time the event kicks off on the night of Nov. 3, he expects a sellout.
“The tickets are going great at the moment thanks to the hard work of our team and our partners, so we’re very pleased with the way things are moving right now,” he said.
The host venue, PH Live at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, is configured to hold about 7,000 fans, and WSOF spokesman Jim Hunter said that number is about what the promotion will be expecting.
If they’re right, that would be considered a very strong number for a non-UFC show.
At least in the major MMA world, WSOF will get the night to itself as a previously scheduled Strikeforce card has been canceled. That has left the promotion with hope and excitement that a show that features familiar names like Andrei Arlovski, Anthony Johnson and Miguel Torres will draw.
“This has taken us almost two years to put together,” Sefo said. “Just like anything, when you start something, obviously you want to start slow. We’ve overcome some bumps along the way and I think those bumps have become a blessing in disguise. We were able to sit back and reflect on what needed to change and so on. When things started falling in to place, I think the stars were aligned for us to have the guys we have. The team and myself feel very blessed to have the card that we have because at the end of the day, nothing is possible without these guys.”