Thanks to a last-minute injury that saw their (cursed) main event scratched, Ray Sefo and the gang were forced to push the featherweight title fight between Georgi Karakhanyan and Lance Palmer from the co-main spot into the spotlight at WSOF 7 last weekend. Viewing audiences apparently did not approve of this unfortunate yet necessary change, or maybe they just had better things to do on a Saturday night. Or maybe we were all tapped out from the epicness that was Fight Night 33. In any case, it appears that none of you heeded our advice and tuned into WSOF 7. Seriously, like none of you (via MMAPayout):
MMA Payout has learned through Nielsen sources that World Series of Fighting’s event on Saturday night received a meager 94,000 viewers. WSOF 7 from Vancouver, BC in Canada competed with a heavy night of college football, boxing and Invicta FC.
One could argue that the lack of “compelling” fights (which, as we pointed out in our breakdown, was not the case with WSOF 7) and multitude of events that transpired last weekend were responsible for the utter failure that was WSOF 7. But as MMA Payout also pointed out, WSOF 6 managed to draw in 161,000 viewers despite competing with both Mayweather-Alvarez and Fight Night 30.
Perhaps most troubling, however, is the complete nosedive WSOF’s ratings have taken over their last few events.
Thanks to a last-minute injury that saw their (cursed) main event scratched, Ray Sefo and the gang were forced to push the featherweight title fight between Georgi Karakhanyan and Lance Palmer from the co-main spot into the spotlight at WSOF 7 last weekend. Viewing audiences apparently did not approve of this unfortunate yet necessary change, or maybe they just had better things to do on a Saturday night. Or maybe we were all tapped out from the epicness that was Fight Night 33. In any case, it appears that none of you heeded our advice and tuned into WSOF 7. Seriously, like none of you (via MMAPayout):
MMA Payout has learned through Nielsen sources that World Series of Fighting’s event on Saturday night received a meager 94,000 viewers. WSOF 7 from Vancouver, BC in Canada competed with a heavy night of college football, boxing and Invicta FC.
One could argue that the lack of “compelling” fights (which, as we pointed out in our breakdown, was not the case with WSOF 7) and multitude of events that transpired last weekend were responsible for the utter failure that was WSOF 7. But as MMA Payout also pointed out, WSOF 6 managed to draw in 161,000 viewers despite competing with both Mayweather-Alvarez and Fight Night 30.
Perhaps most troubling, however, is the complete nosedive WSOF’s ratings have taken over their last few events. While usually remaining in the 200k range, viewership of WSOF events have been in steady decline since WSOF 4, which featured a main event showdown between Tyrone Spong and Angel DeAnda.
It could be a sign that the WSOF talent pool is simply not up to par with that of its peers and fans are reacting accordingly, or it could be a sign that the promotion is simply failing to stir up interest from a marketing perspective. I mean, how many of you have *ever* seen an ad for a WSOF card?
(Palhares would later describe this moment as “the first time I’ve ever been on an airplane.” / Props:@ToquinhoMMA)
When it comes to picking up the UFC’s leftovers, World Series of Fighting and Bellator have displayed two very different approaches. While Bellator tends to sign the most washed-up UFC castoffs in order to make their home-grown fighters look impressive when they beat the UFC guys (or to create negative buzz around a surely-doomed PPV), World Series of Fighting tries to pick up the best UFC castoffs available, in the hopes that fighters like Anthony Johnson, Miguel Torres, Jon Fitch, and Yushin Okami are famous enough to draw fans on their own. Bellator would rather avoid having champions who weren’t good enough to keep their jobs with Zuffa. For World Series of Fighting, having a UFC veteran win a belt is the kind of promotional hook they’ve been working towards all along.
Palhares is expected to make his WSOF debut in March, against an opponent to be named later. Jon Fitch has already pre-emptively turned down the fight, but matching Toquinho up against another American wrestler is a possibility. As MMAJunkie reports:
(Palhares would later describe this moment as “the first time I’ve ever been on an airplane.” / Props:@ToquinhoMMA)
When it comes to picking up the UFC’s leftovers, World Series of Fighting and Bellator have displayed two very different approaches. While Bellator tends to sign the most washed-up UFC castoffs in order to make their home-grown fighters look impressive when they beat the UFC guys (or to create negative buzz around a surely-doomed PPV), World Series of Fighting tries to pick up the best UFC castoffs available, in the hopes that fighters like Anthony Johnson, Miguel Torres, Jon Fitch, and Yushin Okami are famous enough to draw fans on their own. Bellator would rather avoid having champions who weren’t good enough to keep their jobs with Zuffa. For World Series of Fighting, having a UFC veteran win a belt is the kind of promotional hook they’ve been working towards all along.
Palhares is expected to make his WSOF debut in March, against an opponent to be named later. Jon Fitch has already pre-emptively turned down the fight, but matching Toquinho up against another American wrestler is a possibility. As MMAJunkie reports:
WSOF officials recently expressed interest in signing former Bellator champion Ben Askren, who parted ways with his former home earlier this week. With the UFC apparently not interested in signing Askren…sources close to the WSOF said the organization is interested in booking him against Palhares, though nothing has been signed.
Yeah, I’d watch that. Otherwise, WSOF could just give Palhares an immediate title shot against welterweight champion [*checks Wikipedia*] Steve Carl. Why the hell not? Are you telling me Palhares needs to break the legs of two nobodies who don’t even have Wikipedia pages in order to “earn” a fight against [*checks Wikipedia again, just to be sure*] Steve Carl?
In the very brief history of The World Series of Fighting, Anthony Johnson vs. Mike Kyle has been booked on two separate occasions yet has never come to fruition. It probably never will.
The pair was first scheduled to collide in the main event of WSOF 5last September, until “Rumble” was forced to pull out from the bout with an injury and replaced by Andrei Arlovski (who eventually defeated Kyle via unanimous decision). The pair was then rescheduled to throw down in the main event of WSOF 7 on December 7th. A press release sent out earlier this morning, however, informs us that the fight has once again been scrapped. Did I mention that it will likely never happen ever?
“I’m as disappointed as anyone that we’re forced to cancel this fight, but Mike just could not compete with his broken toe, and we simply could not find a suitable opponent for Anthony on such short notice,” World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo said.
“That said, we are fortunate that we still have a fantastic championship matchup between Georgi Karakhanyan and Lance Palmer that will now serve as our main event, and I think fans are still going to enjoy an incredible fight card.”
In the very brief history of The World Series of Fighting, Anthony Johnson vs. Mike Kyle has been booked on two separate occasions yet has never come to fruition. It probably never will.
The pair was first scheduled to collide in the main event of WSOF 5last September, until “Rumble” was forced to pull out from the bout with an injury and replaced by Andrei Arlovski (who eventually defeated Kyle via unanimous decision). The pair was then rescheduled to throw down in the main event of WSOF 7 on December 7th. A press release sent out earlier this morning, however, informs us that the fight has once again been scrapped. Did I mention that it will likely never happen ever?
“I’m as disappointed as anyone that we’re forced to cancel this fight, but Mike just could not compete with his broken toe, and we simply could not find a suitable opponent for Anthony on such short notice,” World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo said.
“That said, we are fortunate that we still have a fantastic championship matchup between Georgi Karakhanyan and Lance Palmer that will now serve as our main event, and I think fans are still going to enjoy an incredible fight card.”
As Sefo mentioned, the injury pictured above has shuffled the featherweight title bout between Georgi “Insane” Karakhanyan and Lance “The Party” Palmer to the main event slot. But rather than inform you of Karakhanyan’s current 8-fight win streak or Palmer’s unblemished 7-0 record (do you see what I did there?), I’d rather we use this opportunity to brainstorm a better nickname for poor Lance Palmer. I’ll get us started:
Bellator is where the bad UFC castoffs go and, from what we’ve seen so far, World Series of Fighting is where the good UFC castoffs go—the ones who shouldn’t have been fired because they were legitimately talented or were in the UFC’s own top-10 rankings when they were let go.
But at WSOF 6, the tried and true formula of putting ex-UFC fighters with name value against fighters without Wikipedia pages failed. Nearly all the fighters that you’re reading this recap for lost.
Miguel Torres lost too, sadly. The unheralded Pablo Alfonso dispatched the former WEC champ in the first round. He rocked Torres with punches which ultimately set up a guillotine choke finish at 3:05. Torres was once 37-1. Now he’s 40-7 and just lost decisively to a no-name (who’s record was 7-5 heading into the fight) on the prelims of a minor league show. Can it get much worse? Torres doesn’t have a comeback in him. And at age 32, the problem is both the years and the mileage. If Torres doesn’t retire, he might be in for a rough, Jens Pulver-like future.
Remember Joe Lauzon‘s younger brother Dan who was in the UFC back in 2006 at the young age of 18, losing to Spencer Fisher? Remember when he returned in 2010 and lost to both Cole Miller and Efrain Escudero. After the two failed stints in the UFC, Lauzon won five fights in a row on the regional scene. His luck didn’t continue at WSOF 6. The man with the hardest to pronounce last name in MMA, Justin Gaethje, cut Lauzon’s legs out from under him throughout the first round. In the second round, Lauzon was slow and immobile enough for Gaethje to capitalize on it with a right hook and an uppercut which put Lauzon’s lights out.
Find out what happened to Jon Fitch and Josh Burkman, as well as the complete results of the card after the jump.
Bellator is where the bad UFC castoffs go and, from what we’ve seen so far, World Series of Fighting is where the good UFC castoffs go—the ones who shouldn’t have been fired because they were legitimately talented or were in the UFC’s own top-10 rankings when they were let go.
But at WSOF 6, the tried and true formula of putting ex-UFC fighters with name value against fighters without Wikipedia pages failed. Nearly all the fighters that you’re reading this recap for lost.
Miguel Torres lost too, sadly. The unheralded Pablo Alfonso dispatched the former WEC champ in the first round. He rocked Torres with punches which ultimately set up a guillotine choke finish at 3:05. Torres was once 37-1. Now he’s 40-7 and just lost decisively to a no-name (who’s record was 7-5 heading into the fight) on the prelims of a minor league show. Can it get much worse? Torres doesn’t have a comeback in him. And at age 32, the problem is both the years and the mileage. If Torres doesn’t retire, he might be in for a rough, Jens Pulver-like future.
Remember Joe Lauzon‘s younger brother Dan who was in the UFC back in 2006 at the young age of 18, losing to Spencer Fisher? Remember when he returned in 2010 and lost to both Cole Miller and Efrain Escudero. After the two failed stints in the UFC, Lauzon won five fights in a row on the regional scene. His luck didn’t continue at WSOF 6. The man with the hardest to pronounce last name in MMA, Justin Gaethje, cut Lauzon’s legs out from under him throughout the first round. In the second round, Lauzon was slow and immobile enough for Gaethje to capitalize on it with a right hook and an uppercut which put Lauzon’s lights out.
Jon Fitch was the only “mainstream” fighter on the card to win his fight, but his split decision victory was somewhat questionable (the fans booed it, for whatever that’s worth). Marcelo Alfaya—whose claim to MMA fame is getting knocked out by a young Jake Ellenberger at Bellator 11 in 2009—took Fitch down several times and even had Fitch’s back at one point. Fitch eventually landed some takedowns of his own and demonstrated some marginally improved striking, but he didn’t look great. In fact, he looked embarrassingly mediocre against a guy he should’ve destroyed. Fitch wrestle-f*cked Erick Silva yet had serious difficulties with a C-level fighter in Alfaya. Based on this performance, you’d have never thought Fitch once fought for a world title.
In the main event, Josh Burkman fought Steve Carl for the WSOF welterweight championship. Burkman fought well enough in the first round, but faded in the second and third rounds, and was ultimately choked unconscious in the fourth.
It wasn’t a good night for the “established” fighters—the fighters that the WSOF brought in to get you to watch the show in the first place.
Here are the complete results, for the guys you were interested in reading about and the guys you’re just hearing about for the first time:
Main Card
Steve Carl def. Josh Burkman via Technical Submission (Triangle) Round 4, 1:02
Marlon Moraes def. Carson Beebe via KO (Punches) Round 1, 0:32
Jon Fitch def. Marcelo Alfaya via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Justin Gaethje def. Dan Lauzon via KO (Punches) Round 2, 1:40
Preliminary Card
Pablo Alfonso def. Miguel Torres via Submission (Guillotine) Round 1, 3:05
Luiz Firmino def. Jacob Volkmann via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Chad Robichaux def. Andrew Yates via Technical Submission (North-South Choke) Round 2, 4:09
Josh Rettinghouse def. Alexis Vila via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Nick LoBosco def. Fabio Mello via KO (Head Kick and Punches) Round 1, 1 2:02
Alexandre Pimentel def. Jade Porter via Submission (Triangle Choke) Round 3, 3:05
Sabah Fadai is a 28-year-old B.C. native who hasn’t competed since a first-round triangle-choke victory against Cody Krahn at MFC 35 in October 2012. Fadai’s two fights before that resulted in a no-contest (after Fadai illegally kneed Diego Bautista at MFC 33) and a decision loss to Mukai Maromo at MFC 31. Though all of Fadai’s wins have come by stoppage, he’s only been victorious once in the last three years.
Sabah Fadai is a 28-year-old B.C. native who hasn’t competed since a first-round triangle-choke victory against Cody Krahn at MFC 35 in October 2012. Fadai’s two fights before that resulted in a no-contest (after Fadai illegally kneed Diego Bautista at MFC 33) and a decision loss to Mukai Maromo at MFC 31. Though all of Fadai’s wins have come by stoppage, he’s only been victorious once in the last three years.
Newell left the XFC earlier this year specifically to pursue fights against top free agents and UFC veterans. So far, that hasn’t happened during his stint with the WSOF. Though Newell’s win over Caldwell was supposed to clinch him a spot in a lightweight tournament where he’d potentially face off against higher-profile vets like Gesias Cavalcante and Dan Lauzon, his match against Fadai is a non-tournament bout. We’ve reached out to Newell and WSOF officials about the current status of the lightweight tournament, and we’ll update you as soon as we know more.
WSOF 7 will mark World Series of Fighting’s first card in Canada, and will feature Anthony Johnson vs. Mike Kyle in the main event, as well as the rescheduled middleweight bout between Jesse Taylor and Elvis Mutapcic, which was canceled at WSOF 5 due to a pharmaceutical-related misunderstanding.
When looking back at the past few years of their respective careers, it’s hard not to draw a comparison between Yushin Okami and Jon Fitch. We’re guilty of it. Hell, pretty much everyMMAsite out there is guilty of making the somewhat obvious comparison, and it’s pretty easy to see why. Both guys were perennial UFC contenders (or so we thought) who were ranked in the top 10 of their promotion’s horribly preferential ranking system at the time of their release. Both guys also possess a style that is oft described as “grinding” or “taxing” or “like watching 2001: A Space Odyssey at half speed while on Ketamine.”
In an exclusive interview with CagePotato.com, Okami elatedly spoke on his new home in the WSOF and new beginnings in general, as well as the emotional toll his UFC release had on his physical well-being:
Yes. Hello. Yushin Okami. Thank you. Yes. World Series of Fighting. Hello. Thank You. Yushin Okami.
Good to be back, Nation! (*hums Kazoo and hitch kicks off stage*)
When looking back at the past few years of their respective careers, it’s hard not to draw a comparison between Yushin Okami and Jon Fitch. We’re guilty of it. Hell, pretty much everyMMAsite out there is guilty of making the somewhat obvious comparison, and it’s pretty easy to see why. Both guys were perennial UFC contenders (or so we thought) who were ranked in the top 10 of their promotion’s horribly preferential ranking system at the time of their release. Both guys also possess a style that is oft described as “grinding” or “taxing” or “like watching 2001: A Space Odyssey at half speed while on Ketamine.”
In an exclusive interview with CagePotato.com, Okami elatedly spoke on his new home in the WSOF and new beginnings in general, as well as the emotional toll his UFC release had on his physical well-being:
Yes. Hello. Yushin Okami. Thank you. Yes. World Series of Fighting. Hello. Thank You. Yushin Okami.
Good to be back, Nation! (*hums Kazoo and hitch kicks off stage*)
