WSOF President Ray Sefo: ‘I Want to Be on Every TV Around the World’

World Series of Fighting (WSOF) president Ray Sefo and executive vice president/matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz created a hit product, and they want you to watch it. 
A six-time Muay Thai world champion and decorated K-1 veteran, Sefo understands the co…

World Series of Fighting (WSOF) president Ray Sefo and executive vice president/matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz created a hit product, and they want you to watch it. 

A six-time Muay Thai world champion and decorated K-1 veteran, Sefo understands the combat sports game well, and his latest endeavor as president of WSOF sees him step out of the cage and into the executive’s chair, a position that he commands with an expert’s touch. 

“The good thing about my history as a fighter is that I get to see where the guys are coming from. I understand it from a fighter’s perspective,” Sefo told Bleacher Report. “But I also see it from an executive’s perspective. When I combine those two things together, it allows me to make the best decision that benefits the fighter and the company.” 

As a self-described “open book,” Sefo is happy to offer advice—both inside and outside the cage—to better his fighters’ careers and to maintain the peace within the organization. This sense of friendship and understanding, he feels, is vital to WSOF‘s success.

“I always say to my guys, ‘anything you want to talk about or get off your chest, I’m here,'” Sefo said. “I understand the game. I understand what these fighters go through day in and day out for 10 weeks of camp. It (this understanding) plays a major role in the way I operate and the way I run things and the way I make decisions that benefits our fighters and also, obviously, our company.”

Sefo‘s formula has worked well to this point. 

In a little over one year, WSOF has stormed the scene, becoming one of the world’s premiere MMA organizations. The company’s roster boasts well-known names and world-class talents such as Jon Fitch, Anthony Johnson, Nick Newell and Yushin Okami, and matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz dedicates his life to crafting fights with these men that resonate with audiences across the globe. 

“I sit down at midnight every night, and I watch a lot of videos. I’m a big fan,” Abdel-Aziz told Bleacher Report. “I love this. It’s never too much, it never makes me tired…I believe every match we’ve put on so far has been great except two matches, which, for seven shows, is pretty good.” 

While Abdel-Aziz works every night to ensure a quality product for the consumer, he can not say the same for a particular rival organization.

“The UFC puts on great matches, but you see the guys in Bellator, they put on mismatches all the time,” Abdel-Aziz said. “It’s ridiculous. There’s no entertainment. You see guys go and knock somebody out—there’s no competition, and we have to put on equal competition.”

Now a little over one year into business, Sefo and company host their eighth eventWSOF 8Saturday, Jan. 18. Headlined by a lightweight title fight between undefeated powerhouse Justin Gaethje and 6-1 Richard Patishnock, Saturday’s event affords Sefo a rare opportunity to relax and to reflect on his organization’s accomplishments. 

“We’ve come a long way in one year,” Sefo said. “We’ve crowned two champions already, and we’re going to crown another one Saturday, so everything’s exciting. We’re working hard to put on fan-friendly, entertaining events, and that’s what we will continue to do.” 

But Sefo is not a man who finds satisfaction in the past. 

A moment after relishing in his promotion’s accomplishments in 2013, he turned back to the future to the work at hand. 

“I want to be on every TV around the world,” Sefo said. “I don’t care where you are, where you’re from, where you live—if you have a television, I want to be on that TV.” 

And with a product crafted after hours of studying, hard work and deliberation, they expect you to tune in and watch. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

WSOF Executive Challenges Bellator to ‘WSOF vs. Bellator’ Fight Card

World Series of Fighting match maker Ali Abdelaziz floated an interesting idea on the MMA Hour, proposing a WSOF vs. Bellator MMA pay-per-view event. While WSOF lacks a roster sexy enough to craft a pay-per-view, and Bellator‘s initial foray into the pay-per-view business turned out less-than awesome, putting the two together creates very interesting matchmaking […]

World Series of Fighting match maker Ali Abdelaziz floated an interesting idea on the MMA Hour, proposing a WSOF vs. Bellator MMA pay-per-view event. While WSOF lacks a roster sexy enough to craft a pay-per-view, and Bellator‘s initial foray into the pay-per-view business turned out less-than awesome, putting the two together creates very interesting matchmaking […]

WSOF 8 World Series of Fighting

World Series of Fighting 8 Hollywood, Florida Picks Lewis Gonzalez vs Justin Gaethje I don’t know who Lewis Gonzalez is, but I saw Justin Gaethje fight in Miami and he destroyed Dan Lauzon. Gaethje fights very smart and attacks where he should be attacking at the right spots. When Lauzon was covering up low Justin [&hellip

World Series of Fighting 8 Hollywood, Florida Picks

Lewis Gonzalez vs Justin Gaethje

I don’t know who Lewis Gonzalez is, but I saw Justin Gaethje fight in Miami and he destroyed Dan Lauzon. Gaethje fights very smart and attacks where he should be attacking at the right spots. When Lauzon was covering up low Justin went high and vice versa. Surprisingly a lot of fighters don’t take advantage of simple things like that. It might just be that in the heat of the moment its hard to think. I’m picking Gaethje.W

Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson vs Mike ‘MAK’ Kyle

Anthony Johnson has the speed and will have a kicking advantage. On top of that Johnson should have a slight reach advantage as well. Kyle will have the power advantage and his stamina has really improved over the years. Johnson is very hard to finish and I see this one going to distance due to Kyle’s durability, but the win going to Anthony for being more active.

Cody ‘Bam Bam’ Bollinger vs Tyson Nam Tyson Nam

Cody is the first fighter that got sent home from this season of TUF for missing weight. On the show he seemed like one of the favorites to win the whole thing. I’m sure that embarrassing national tv situation will have him fired to up to prove himself. I’m picking Cody here.

Ben Askren Confirms 2-Year Deal with ONE FC; Explains Not Going with WSOF

Now-former Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren appeared on today’s edition of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and dropped bombshell after bombshell regarding his present and future in MMA. The biggest, most important topic he covered was his future in MMA. After weeks of rumbles, Askren officially revealed that he will be leaving Bellator and […]

Now-former Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren appeared on today’s edition of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and dropped bombshell after bombshell regarding his present and future in MMA. The biggest, most important topic he covered was his future in MMA. After weeks of rumbles, Askren officially revealed that he will be leaving Bellator and […]

Nick Newell Chokes Out Sabah Fadai, and Other Weekend MMA Updates [VIDEO]

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.

WSOF 7 Results: Nick Newell Submits Sabah Fadai with Guillotine Choke in Round 1

Nick Newell continues his amazing streak, notching yet another victory Saturday night at World Series of Fighting 7 in Vancouver. The fight began with some relatively tentative stand-up from both fighters. From there, though, the action went to the cage and Newell quickly locked up a tight guillotine choke, forcing Fadai to tap at just […]

Nick Newell continues his amazing streak, notching yet another victory Saturday night at World Series of Fighting 7 in Vancouver. The fight began with some relatively tentative stand-up from both fighters. From there, though, the action went to the cage and Newell quickly locked up a tight guillotine choke, forcing Fadai to tap at just […]