Check out the full results and some video from tonight’s World Series of Fighting 31 card in Connecticut.
World Series of Fighting took their decagon to Foxwoods tonight, and the show featured some pretty good action. The heavyweight champ retained his title in a dramatic fight, there’s a new number one contender in the lightweight division, and a former UFC fighter picked up a win in his first bout in the promotion.
Here’s how it all went down, with some video thrown in for you to check out.
Blagoy Ivanov defeated Josh Copeland by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)
Generally you wouldn’t want to see heavyweights go five rounds, but this was pretty good. There was major drama early, with Ivanov suffering a cut on the side of his head that was bleeding a ton. In the second round, the referee checked the cut and the doctor told Ivanov that he’d have to stop the fight if blood went into his eyes again. Luckily for him, it didn’t. Ivanov controlled the striking in the bout, with Copeland looking to potshot and run away when he got touched up. He put up a good fight, but Ivanov was never in trouble and looked good in defending his title.
Jason High defeated Mike Ricci by TKO (punches), 4:08 of round 2
High looked to be in trouble in the second, but his hands took care of that. After easily winning the first with his wrestling and control, Ricci put him on his heels in the second with some hard shots and a surprising takedown. A left hand High on wobbly legs, but after some ground work by Ricci, High popped to his feet and crushed Ricci with a left hook. Ricci did the stanky leg before going down, and High jumped on him for the finish. Here’s some video of the ending:
Jason High def Mike Ricci #WSOF31 pic.twitter.com/wPjmYLHguE
— WSOF (@MMAWorldSeries) June 18, 2016
John Howard defeated Michael Arrant by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Arrant started strong here, taking the first round in my eyes with a bevy of strikes that Howard had little answer for. Howard turned up the aggression after that though, working Arrant over in the second and third. He actually dropped Arrant late in the fight, and slammed him to the ground when he got back up. It was Howard’s first win in WSOF, and that should set him up for a big fight next.
Sheymon Moraes defeated Luis Palomino by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Phil Hawes defeated Joshua Key by TKO (strikes), 2:52 of round 1
Preliminary Card
Devin Powell defeated Tom Marcellino by split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
Justin Willis defeated Juliano Coutinho by TKO (punches), 2:30 of round 2
Tyler King defeated Lorenzo Hood by submission (front choke), 4:20 of round 2
Bruce Boyington defeated Saul Almeida by Split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
Marcus Surin defeated Christian Torres by TKO (knees), 2:51 of round 2