Parent MMAWC Founder Ray Sefo Type of business Private | Founded 2012 | |
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Industry Mixed martial arts promotion Key people Carlos Silva (CEO)
Ray Sefo (President)
Kevin Alires (VP of Operations) Headquarters Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, United States Profiles | ||
World series of fighting 34 full main card 720p
World Series of Fighting is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its live events and competitions are shown on NBCSN in the United States, on TSN2 in Canada, on Claro Sports in Latin America, on SportsMax in the Caribbean countries, on Esporte Interativo in Brazil and on the Kiswe and FITE.tv apps worldwide.
Contents
Formation
WSOF was formed in 2012, having signed a broadcast deal with the NBC Sports Network. This will be the third MMA promotion that NBC Sports has hosted, having broadcast World Extreme Cagefighting and Ultimate Fighting Championship events when the channel was formerly known as Versus. NBC Sports had been one of the bidders for the rights to broadcast future UFC events, but lost out to Fox. However, some journalists regarded WSOF's deal with NBC Sports to be a considerable coup for a debuting promotion, considering NBC Sports' past interest in the UFC. Upon the announcement of the broadcast deal, WSOF President Ray Sefo stated that the promotion wanted to host 8-10 events per year, whilst holding a one-year deal with NBC Sports. However, the next day, an NBC spokesman revealed that the deal only covered WSOF's inaugural event, with the option for more, should NBC hold a positive evaluation. On February 4, 2013, it was reported by several news outlets that NBC Sports signed a 3-year deal with WSOF. On September 23, 2014, it was announced that the WSOF was moving their events to PPV in 2015.
Presentation
Soon after the promotion's event announcement, they confirmed that Bas Rutten, Michael Schiavello and Kurt Angle would be the commentators for the debut event. However, days later, Angle, a TNA wrestler, was removed from the broadcast by Viacom (the owner of Spike TV, who broadcast TNA Wrestling), who claimed that the job was a conflict of interest. On September 10, 2012, Ray Sefo tweeted "There's a conflict of interest, so he won't be able to do the (Nov.) 3 show," Sefo said, adding the split was amicable. A replacement had yet to be found, until commentator Kenny Rice was added at WSOF 5 on September 14, 2013, along with reporter Joey Varner. Todd Harris who is under contract with NBC Sports has been the main play by play announcer for the WSOF.Ring Announcer Jazz Securo was also acquired and debuted September 14, 2013 at WSOF 5 in Atlantic City, NJ. He has since become the "Official Voice of the World Series of Fighting Decagon".
WSOF uses a ten-sided (Decagon) cage for their events, unlike the UFC's eight-sided octagon.
Rules
WSOF uses the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts implemented by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
International promotions
In the Summer of 2013, the World Series of Fighting quietly purchased Nicaragua’s Omega MMA and rebranded it World Series of Fighting: Central America. The promotion held its first event on July 27, 2013, headlined by former boxing world champion Ricardo Mayorga. In September 2013, World Series of Fighting purchased the Aggression Fighting Championship organization to enter the Canadian market, but it was later found out the AFC executives closed down the company to join a new organization World Series of Fighting: Canada. World Series of Fighting: Japan was created along with the newly formed partnership with Pancrase to host events in Japan, whilst plans are in place to create branches in New Zealand and Australia.
World Series of Fighting started the WSOF Global Championship brand it features events in Japan, China, Philippines and other destinations.
Events
As of October 7, 2016, World Series of Fighting has held a total of 41 events.