(Well that’s pretty much the greatest photo I’ve ever seen. / Props: Nick’s Facebook page.)
World Series of Fighting executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz confirmed with Yahoo! Sports yesterday that undefeated lightweight Nick Newell will finally get his shot at the WSOF lightweight title this July, when he faces incumbent champion Justin Gaethje. The exact date and venue for the match are still TBA. MMAFighting adds that “The promotion is expected to make its NBC debut this summer, but Abdel-Aziz wouldn’t disclose whether the title fight would air on the broadcast network.”
On paper, Newell and Gaethje have identicalrecords of 11-0 with 10 wins by stoppage. Arguably, Gaethje’s level of competition during his WSOF stint has been higher than Newell’s, as the champ’s list of TKO-victims has included Gesias Cavacante, Brian Cobb, and Dan Lauzon (i.e., guys you’ve actually heard of). Of course, finding decent opponents has always been a challenge for Newell, who left the XFC and signed with WSOF last May specifically to fight world-class opponents — but has only been able to squashjourneymen so far.
Still, it’s better late than never. Newell’s fight against Gaethje is the big opportunity that the one-handed fighter has been begging for, and could lift his already-expanding profile in a major way, especially if the event is indeed aired on NBC. It’s also simply one of the greatest lightweight matchups you’ll see outside the UFC, and we’re psyched for it. Your predictions, please.
Semi-related: In case you forgot, Rousimar Palhares is fighting Steve Carl for the WSOF welterweight title this Saturday at WSOF 9. Ray Sefo says people are underestimating Steve Carl, which is surprising, because I had no idea that people had any opinions about Steve Carl whatsoever. Anyway, RIP that guy’s ankles.
(Well that’s pretty much the greatest photo I’ve ever seen. / Props: Nick’s Facebook page.)
World Series of Fighting executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz confirmed with Yahoo! Sports yesterday that undefeated lightweight Nick Newell will finally get his shot at the WSOF lightweight title this July, when he faces incumbent champion Justin Gaethje. The exact date and venue for the match are still TBA. MMAFighting adds that ”The promotion is expected to make its NBC debut this summer, but Abdel-Aziz wouldn’t disclose whether the title fight would air on the broadcast network.”
On paper, Newell and Gaethje have identicalrecords of 11-0 with 10 wins by stoppage. Arguably, Gaethje’s level of competition during his WSOF stint has been higher than Newell’s, as the champ’s list of TKO-victims has included Gesias Cavacante, Brian Cobb, and Dan Lauzon (i.e., guys you’ve actually heard of). Of course, finding decent opponents has always been a challenge for Newell, who left the XFC and signed with WSOF last May specifically to fight world-class opponents — but has only been able to squashjourneymen so far.
Still, it’s better late than never. Newell’s fight against Gaethje is the big opportunity that the one-handed fighter has been begging for, and could lift his already-expanding profile in a major way, especially if the event is indeed aired on NBC. It’s also simply one of the greatest lightweight matchups you’ll see outside the UFC, and we’re psyched for it. Your predictions, please.
Semi-related: In case you forgot, Rousimar Palhares is fighting Steve Carl for the WSOF welterweight title this Saturday at WSOF 9. Ray Sefo says people are underestimating Steve Carl, which is surprising, because I had no idea that people had any opinions about Steve Carl whatsoever. Anyway, RIP that guy’s ankles.
Believe it or not, there’s a World Series of Fighting event happening this weekend. WSOF 8 goes down this Saturday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, featuring the twice-delayed fight between Anthony Johnson and Mike Kyle, and the promotion’s inaugural lightweight title fight between undefeated banger Justin Gaethje and Richard “Who Da Fuq?” Patishnock. [Ed. note:Not his real nickname. But seriously, have any of you heard of this guy?]
Look, I’d happily tune in to watch Rumble Johnson beat up any unretiredjobber they throw at him. But it’s worth mentioning that WSOF 8 features a second title fight, which might turn out to be the most competitive, meaningful fight on the entire card. I’m speaking, of course, of the inaugural women’s strawweight championship match between Jessica Aguilar and Alida Gray.
For devoted fans of WMMA, Jessica Aguilar should need no introduction, but here it is anyway: Aguilar is an eight-year veteran of the sport who’s best known for her 5-1 stint in Bellator, where she won decisions against Carla Esparza, Lisa Ellis, and Megumi Fujii. Then, last October, Aguilar traveled to Fujii’s home-turf and beat her again (although not without controversy).
When Bellator shut down its women’s division last August, Aguilar signed with the World Series of Fighting — perhaps prematurely. In short order, other female Bellator refugees found themselves snatched up by the UFC (like Jessica Eye) or signed to Invicta and then snatched up by the UFC (like Felice Herrig). In other words, Jessica Aguilar is probably the best female 115-pounder not in the UFC, for better or worse.
As for Alida Gray, well, even if you don’t recognize her name, you may have seen her around here before…
Believe it or not, there’s a World Series of Fighting event happening this weekend. WSOF 8 goes down this Saturday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, featuring the twice-delayed fight between Anthony Johnson and Mike Kyle, and the promotion’s inaugural lightweight title fight between undefeated banger Justin Gaethje and Richard “Who Da Fuq?” Patishnock. [Ed. note:Not his real nickname. But seriously, have any of you heard of this guy?]
Look, I’d happily tune in to watch Rumble Johnson beat up any unretiredjobber they throw at him. But it’s worth mentioning that WSOF 8 features a second title fight, which might turn out to be the most competitive, meaningful fight on the entire card. I’m speaking, of course, of the inaugural women’s strawweight championship match between Jessica Aguilar and Alida Gray.
For devoted fans of WMMA, Jessica Aguilar should need no introduction, but here it is anyway: Aguilar is an eight-year veteran of the sport who’s best known for her 5-1 stint in Bellator, where she won decisions against Carla Esparza, Lisa Ellis, and Megumi Fujii. Then, last October, Aguilar traveled to Fujii’s home-turf and beat her again (although not without controversy).
When Bellator shut down its women’s division last August, Aguilar signed with the World Series of Fighting — perhaps prematurely. In short order, other female Bellator refugees found themselves snatched up by the UFC (like Jessica Eye) or signed to Invicta and then snatched up by the UFC (like Felice Herrig). In other words, Jessica Aguilar is probably the best female 115-pounder not in the UFC, for better or worse.
As for Alida Gray, well, even if you don’t recognize her name, you may have seen her around here before…
Here we have Gray’s crushing third-round knockout of Soannia Tiem back in October, which we called “the Most Vicious (Strawweight) One-Punch KO of All Time” — and we still stand by that. With a pro record of just 4-0 (all wins by stoppage), Gray is significantly under-seasoned compared to the 16-4 Aguilar. But when you can slug like that, does experience even matter? What’s crazy is that Gray doesn’t even come from a striking background — she’s a former competitive judoka (and 1996 Olympic alternate) who became a high school wrestling coach and began studying MMA in 2010. She has won three amateur fights and one pro fight by armbar. Gray is green, so to speak, but she’s no pushover.
Can you blame us if we’re more excited about Aguilar vs. Gray than the latest Rumble Johnson squash-match or a “Lightweight World Title Fight” featuring a virtual unknown? If you’re interested, you can watch the action this Saturday at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on NBC Sports Network.
When we last checked in on Drew Fickett, he had moved from Arizona to Florida to enter a rehabilitation facility, and celebrated his forty-two days of sobriety with a knockout loss to Jonatas Novaes at ShoFIGHT 20. Not to add insult to injury, but Fickett said before the fight that he was in very real danger danger of becoming homeless if he didn’t receive his win bonus as well. I wish I was here today to tell you that things have gotten better for him, but that’s not exactly the case.
Fickett met up with undefeated Grudge Training Center prospect Justin Gaethje at last weekend’s Rage in the Cage 163. I’d describe the fight for you, but that’d be a waste of time. Let’s just say that Gaethje is still undefeated, Fickett is now 1-6 in his last seven fights and I’m only writing about this fight because I have lost control of my life.
Video is after the jump.
Yep.
When we last checked in on Drew Fickett, he had moved from Arizona to Florida to enter a rehabilitation facility, and celebrated his forty-two days of sobriety with a knockout loss to Jonatas Novaes at ShoFIGHT 20. Not to add insult to injury, but Fickett said before the fight that he was in very real danger danger of becoming homeless if he didn’t receive his win bonus as well. I wish I was here today to tell you that things have gotten better for him, but that’s not exactly the case.
Fickett met up with undefeated Grudge Training Center prospect Justin Gaethje at last weekend’s Rage in the Cage 163. I’d describe the fight for you, but that’d be a waste of time. Let’s just say that Gaethje is still undefeated, Fickett is now 1-6 in his last seven fights – with his last four losses all coming in under one minute – and I’m only writing about this fight because I have lost control of my life.
