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?
Nick Newell scored a guillotine choke victory over Sabah Fadai at WSOF 7 last night. It looked like Newell, who’s now 11-0, hardly broke a sweat during the 81 seconds the match lasted.
Nick Newell kicked ass and tore up the regional lightweight scene en route the WSOF. He even left the XFC because he felt he was fighting beneath his level of competition; he wanted UFC veterans and promising prospects. Newell deserves a fight against such an opponent at this point in his career; his abilities surely can’t be denied at this point.
Also of note on WSOF 7: Georgi Karakhanyan defeated the highly accomplished wrestler Lance Palmer to become the first-ever WSOF featherweight champion. Jesse Taylor, the guy who got kicked off TUF for trashing a casino with a drunken possy (except without the possy), won a No.1 contender fight against Elvis Mutapcic. Taylor will now face David Branch for the inaugural WSOF middleweight title.
See other highlights from the weekend after the jump.
Nick Newell scored a guillotine choke victory over Sabah Fadai at WSOF 7 last night. It looked like Newell, who’s now 11-0, hardly broke a sweat during the 81 seconds the match lasted.
Newell kicked ass and tore up the regional lightweight scene en route the WSOF. He even left the XFC because he felt he was fighting beneath his level of competition. Newell wanted UFC veterans and promising prospects. He deserves a fight against such an opponent at this point in his career; his abilities surely can’t be denied at this point.
Also of note on WSOF 7: Georgi Karakhanyan defeated the highly accomplished wrestler Lance Palmer to become the first-ever WSOF featherweight champion. Jesse Taylor, the guy who got kicked off TUF for trashing a casino with a drunken possy (except without the possy), won a No.1 contender fight against Elvis Mutapcic. Taylor will now face David Branch for the inaugural WSOF middleweight title. Check out the complete WSOF 7 results here.
A couple of other important highlights from the weekend, specifically Invicta FC 7: Barb Honchak defended her Invicta FC flyweight title against Leslie Smith. And apparently inaugural titles were in vogue last night, as Lauren Murphy captured the inaugural Invicta FC bantamweight championship by defeating Miriam Nakamoto. Felice Herrig dropped a decision to Tecia Torres. Former Bellator women’s champ Zolia Frausto Gurgel was on the card too but came up short against Vanessa Porto. Here are the card’s complete results.
Also, Leonard Garcia became the Legacy FC featherweight champ by knocking out Kevin Aguilar. We’ve embedded the video for you:
Overall, it was a fun weekend of fights. We had one of the best fights of all time Friday night, followed by some great action on Saturday.
(INVICTA FC 7 – Road to Honchak vs Smith via Invicta FC)
With the UFC putting on an event practically every weekend nowadays, it’s getting harder and harder for even the most hardcore fan to keep up with all the action, let alone the great fights transpiring under lower-level banners like WSOF, Invicta FC, Cage Warriors, and the like. So while most of the MMA world will remain focused on Fight Night 33: Hunt vs. Bigfoot (which is a relatively stacked card, all things considered) this Friday, we’ve decided to highlight a handful of lesser-known-yet-equally-intriguing bouts for you Taters to keep an eye out for this weekend. And here you thought we weren’t MMA fans anymore.
Thanks to a last second toe injury, the originally scheduled (also, cursed) main event between Mike Kyle and Anthony Johnson was recently scrapped from WSOF 7, shuffling the co-main event matchup between Armenian powerhouse Georgi Karakhanyan and undefeated grappler Lance Palmer into the spotlight. And quite honestly, it’s a far more compelling fight in our opinion.
(INVICTA FC 7 – Road to Honchak vs Smith via Invicta FC)
With the UFC putting on an event practically every weekend nowadays, it’s getting harder and harder for even the most hardcore fan to keep up with all the action, let alone the great fights transpiring under lower-level banners like WSOF, Invicta FC, Cage Warriors, and the like. So while most of the MMA world will remain focused on Fight Night 33: Hunt vs. Bigfoot (which is a relatively stacked card, all things considered) this Friday, we’ve decided to highlight a handful of lesser-known-yet-equally-intriguing bouts for you Taters to keep an eye out for this weekend. And here you thought we weren’t MMA fans anymore.
Thanks to a last second toe injury, the originally scheduled (also, cursed) main event between Mike Kyle and Anthony Johnson was recently scrapped from WSOF 7, shuffling the co-main event matchup between Armenian powerhouse Georgi Karakhanyan and undefeated grappler Lance Palmer into the spotlight. And quite honestly, it’s a far more compelling fight in our opinion — Karakhanyan has scored 8 straight victories (5 finishes) since being released from Bellator back in 2011, including a first round submission over UFC veteran Waylon Lowe in his WSOF debut. Prior to that, the current Tachi Palace featherweight champion put the stamp on another, more well known UFC vet, Din Thomas, at Legacy FC 19.
While Karakhanyan has proven himself to be a well-rounded fighter — he balances 12 submission victories against 4 knockouts — he’ll be facing a stiff test in late replacement opponent Lance Palmer. Currently 7-0 as a professional, Palmer is a hard-nosed grappler fresh off a tough split decision win over Jared Downing at RFA 8. Given the relative lack of pressure being placed on Palmer’s shoulders, we could be in for a huge upset should “The Party” (eesh) be able to take Karakhanyan to the mat early and often.
Our history with Nick Newell has been extensively documented, but that doesn’t change the fact that “Notorious” will be facing one of the biggest tests of his career this weekend. On the heels of another successful first round ass-kicking in his own promotional debut (his 9th in 10 fights), Newell will be squaring off with British Columbia native Sabah Fadai, a 7-2 fighter who has finished all of his victories by either TKO or submission. While Fadai has been out of action for over a year now, a win over a rising star like Newell would more than make up for his lost time.
To refresh your memory, here’s a video of Newell kicking some dude’s ass at XFC 19 last December:
If you’ve been following the WMMA scene at all over the past few years, chances are that you’ve heard of Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith, an Invicta and Bellator veteran known for her tough-as-nails demeanor and penchant for putting on wild slugfests. MMAFighting’s Chuck Mindenhall recently wrote an excellent profile on Smith, who has fought on 5 of the 6 Invicta cards (and who holds a record of 3-1-1 in the promotion) and holds victories over Kaitlin Young and TUF 18 semifinalist Raquel Pennington. We’d highly recommend that you check it out to learn a little more about the fan-friendly fighter, who recently earned her shot at flyweight champion Barb Honchak with a FOTN-earning unanimous decision victory over Jennifer Maia in her flyweight debut at Invicta 6.
Speaking of Honchak, we’d be remiss if we did not sing the praises of the current champ in the days prior to her first title defense. Although her career got off to a bumpy 1-2 start, Honchak has put together 7 straight wins including 3 under the Invicta banner since 2011. A fierce counter striker with solid boxing mechanics, Honchak has been criticized (by Young, amongst others) for being a “points fighter,” so it will be interesting to see how she responds to the criticism in her biggest fight to date. And that’s saying something for a woman who holds victories over Roxanne Modafferi, Vanessa Porto, and…
We might have irked Herrig with our recent criticism of the TUF 18 Finale, but we only did it out of love. And the truth is, aside from being a dynamic, intelligent, and visually-striking woman who knows how to market herself, Herrig is also a legitimately talented fighter who is a surefire poster girl for the UFC’s upcoming strawweight division. Currently 4-1 in her last 5 and coming off back-to-back decision wins in Bellator, Herrig’s extensive Muay Thai/kickboxing background has been coupled with an ever-improving ground game under the tutelage of Jeff Curran and has led her to victory over the likes of TUF 18 finalist Jessica Rakoczy and Patricia Vidonic (twice).
Looking to steal some of Herrig’s thunder, however, will be 3-0 Tecia Torres. Perhaps one of the more overlooked fighters in strawweight division, “The Tiny Tornado” is no stranger to halting hype trains, as she is fresh off a decision victory over our own “Thug” Rose Namajunas at Invicta FC 6…
If Torres is able to knock off Herrig this weekend, she will more or less become the female Lawrence of Arabia of the strawweight division (confusing analogy much?), so keep an eye out for this matchup, Taters.
While Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia was known for putting on Fight of the Year contenders in the UFC, he wasn’t known for actually winning fights at the end of his second tour of duty (as for the fights he “won,” well…). However, since being mercifully released from the promotion in April following five straight losses, Garcia has managed to both put on entertaining fights and walk away with his hand raised. Since signing with Legacy Fighting Championships, Garcia has scored back-to-back stoppage victories over Rey Trujillo and Nick Gonzalez at LFC 21 and 23, respectfully. A big win over undefeated “Angel of Death” Kevin Aguilar could easily see Garcia reinstated in the UFC for another run.
Aguilar, on the other hand, is no slouch. Currently 8-0, this Bellator veteran has gone the distance just once in his professional career and has balanced 5 TKOs against 2 submissions. Could he be the man to bring Garcia’s resurgence to a halt? FIND OUT THIS WEEKEND. It’s kind of the point of this article.
Finally, we have a potential barnburner of a scrap taking place between two always entertaining, if inconsistent, fighters in Ulysses Gomez vs. Neil Seery. Transpiring under the London-based Cage Warriors banner, Gomez vs. Seery will serve as the main event of Cage Warriors 62 and promises to be one for the ages. Despite going 0-2 in the UFC, Gomez is an incredible grappler who has previously secured both the flyweight and bantamweight titles while fighting for Tachi Palace Fights back in 2010-11. In his 9 professional victories, Gomez has claimed all but two of them by submission.
After trading wins and losses for the majority of his career, Seery has been on a roll as of late, scoring 4 straight wins over the past year. Seery and Gomez share a common opponent in current UFC fighter Phil Harris, who has defeated them both by way of UD, but we’ll be tuning into this fight solely to see how a guy who calls himself “2 Tap” will hold up against a ground wizard like Gomez.
Are there any other lower-level fights taking place this weekend that warrant a mention? Let us know in the comments section.
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:
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.
