World Series of Fighting Debut: Arlovski vs. Cole (11/3 on NBC Sports)

[EmpireWF]

Seemingly, out of nowhere, WSOF pops up. Todd Harris & Bas Rutten have the call on NBC Sports.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Devin Cole
Anthony "Rumble" Johnson vs. D.J. Linderman
Miguel Torres vs. Marlon Moraes
Gregor Gracie vs. Tyson Steele
Tyrone Spong vs. Travis Barlett


---PRELIMS on SHERDOG.COM------

Brian Cobb vs. Ronys Torres
Gerald Harris vs. Josh Burkman
JZ Cavalcante vs. T.J. O'Brien
David Branch vs. Dustin Jacoby
Steve Carl vs. Ramico Blackmon
Waylon Lowe vs. Fabio Mello


Hopefully Arlovski knocks that piece of shit out. Like this:

Winner of Torres/Moraes will fight Tyson Nam next..

This is Spong's debut, he's a K-1 star.

[EmpireWF]

Tonight.

[EmpireWF]

Tyson Steele gets some pub with his KO of Gracie.

Moraes looked good, Torres kept getting beat to the punch.

Spong is sick. Crazy good striking as expected.

[SHOGUN]

Tyrone Spong tries to deliver death with every strike. The finishing blow was crazy.

[SHOGUN]

All the other fights on the main card essentially went as expected.

Goddamn @ how Rumble folded up Linderman.

Torres still looking tentative standing and that will do you in against a superior striker. Props to Moraes for staying on Miguel and not getting himself into prolonged grappling situations. The only time Torres really looked good was when he was on his back. The crowd was completely brutal in this fight. Did not deserve the boos at all.

JZ Calvan won his fight. Yay.

Gerald Harris looked AWFUL.

Didn't see the Gregor fight.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Great show, enjoyed it.

Great production values, good crowd, quality top level fighters, felt "major league", here's hoping these guys can hold on and build something. They paid for their time tonight, that's obviously not a great business model, hopefully they pull a decent number and NBC gets behind this.

If these guys hold on for more shows, with Bellator moving to Spike, the MMA world is starting to have that exciting feel it had a few years ago when UFC wasn't the only game in town.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Ariel Helwani @arielhelwani
For the record, Spong said on The MMA Hour this fight was offered to Houston Alexander, but HA turned it down. WSOF confirmed this.

[Warner2BruceTD]

This show had great booking. They put a (shitty) standup fighter in there with Spong, they knew Cole would bang with Arlovski, they gave Rumble a dude who wasn't afraid to throw with him, and they predictably ended up with three cool looking KO's.

THAT is how you book for a first time out, they knew they were going to get action, and the right guys ended up winning the one sided fights.

[JimLeavy59]

Tyrone Spong has some brutal kicks.

[Liquidrob]

Warner, you had to love they gave Spong a white pasty jobber just like in the old pro wrestling days

[Warner2BruceTD]

Rumored date for the second show is 1/26, head to head with UFC on FOX, which is pretty stupid.

Also, the NBC deal was one show, so they can shop this thing around if it did a decent number, but they can't keep paying for air time beyond show #2 if this thing is going to last long term.

Maybe the plan is to tread water until Strikeforce dies, and get on Showtime. That would probably be the best case scenario, with the built in MMA fan base and people in charge who like having combat sports on the network.

[EmpireWF]

Post Strikeforce, if I'm Showtime, WSOF is a no brainer pickup.

Only option that's already in business, too.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Arlovski has two fights left on his deal, and i've read that all of the big names are locked up at least one more fight beyond last night.

[Liquidrob]

How many different shows has AA headlined now?

UFC
Affliction
ProElite
OneFC
WSOF

Any more? Dis he headline any EliteXC shows?

[Jmiles]

How many different shows has AA headlined now?

UFC
Affliction
ProElite
OneFC
WSOF

Any more? Dis he headline any EliteXC shows?

His only elitexc show was against Roy Nelson, and that was the Seth petruzzeli phantom KO over kimbo and death of elitexc...