(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?
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
Jon Fitch is back in the win column, taking a split-decision victory from Marcelo Alfaya at WSOF 6. In the first round, Fitch was taken down early, and he simply couldn’t get up. He gave up his back with time and was threatened with a rear-naked choke. He would survive the round, but it was […]
Jon Fitch is back in the win column, taking a split-decision victory from Marcelo Alfaya at WSOF 6. In the first round, Fitch was taken down early, and he simply couldn’t get up. He gave up his back with time and was threatened with a rear-naked choke. He would survive the round, but it was […]
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*)
Me In My Place shot Kat for a non-nude feature in the latest issue of Playboy, and posted the complete set of images on their subscription-only MIMP app. But because we’re so special, MIMP has given CagePotato ten photos from the Kat shoot to share with you, the red-faced and wheezing Potato Nation.
Check out more amazing Kat Kelley photos after the jump (click all images to enlarge), and subscribe to the MIMP Premium App right here. I’m just saying…it’s only a buck and change per month, and you’ll get to see girls like this completely naked. Do the right thing, okay?
Me In My Place shot Kat for a non-nude feature in the latest issue of Playboy, and posted the complete set of images on their subscription-only MIMP app. But because we’re so special, MIMP has given CagePotato ten photos from the Kat shoot to share with you, the red-faced and wheezing Potato Nation.
Check out more amazing Kat Kelley photos after the jump (click all images to enlarge), and subscribe to the MIMP Premium App right here. I’m just saying…it’s only a buck and change per month, and you’ll get to see girls like this completely naked. Do the right thing, okay?
(Is the WSOF ready for this jelly? / Photo via Getty)
Despite kicking off his UFC career with four consecutive wins — including a heroic comeback knockout against Todd Duffee in May 2010 — Chicago-based heavyweight Mike Russow was swiftly given his walking papers earlier this year after suffering back-to-back TKO losses against Fabricio Werdum and Shawn Jordan. The 37-year-old has kept a very low profile since then, but it looks like he’ll be re-emerging under the World Series of Fighting banner against an opponent to be named later. (Yes, World Series of Fighting, not Bellator. We’re just as surprised as you are.)
MMAJunkie reported the news over the weekend, adding that Russow will likely make his promotional debut early next year, and will join a still-developing WSOF heavyweight division that’s been dominated by ex-UFC champ Andrei Arlovski and perennial whateverweight champ Anthony Johnson, and also includes fighters like Derrick Mehmen, Devin Cole, and Dave Huckaba.
Russow’s decision to keep his job as a Chicago police officer has slowed his progress in MMA over the years — he’s only competed six times since 2009 — but occasional gigs in World Series of Fighting could be a good fit for this stage of his career. We’ll keep you posted when details of his WSOF debut are officially announced.
(Is the WSOF ready for this jelly? / Photo via Getty)
Despite kicking off his UFC career with four consecutive wins — including a heroic comeback knockout against Todd Duffee in May 2010 — Chicago-based heavyweight Mike Russow was swiftly given his walking papers earlier this year after suffering back-to-back TKO losses against Fabricio Werdum and Shawn Jordan. The 37-year-old has kept a very low profile since then, but it looks like he’ll be re-emerging under the World Series of Fighting banner against an opponent to be named later. (Yes, World Series of Fighting, not Bellator. We’re just as surprised as you are.)
MMAJunkie reported the news over the weekend, adding that Russow will likely make his promotional debut early next year, and will join a still-developing WSOF heavyweight division that’s been dominated by ex-UFC champ Andrei Arlovski and perennial whateverweight champ Anthony Johnson, and also includes fighters like Derrick Mehmen, Devin Cole, and Dave Huckaba.
Russow’s decision to keep his job as a Chicago police officer has slowed his progress in MMA over the years — he’s only competed six times since 2009 — but occasional gigs in World Series of Fighting could be a good fit for this stage of his career. We’ll keep you posted when details of his WSOF debut are officially announced.
