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World Series of Fighting announces contract with NBC Sports Network

SI.com – 09/07/2012

The World Series of Fighting, an upstart MMA promotion that plans to make Las Vegas its homebase, announced a one-year broadcast contract with the NBC Sports Network at its inaugural press conference Thursday.

WSOF President Ray Sefo, a K-1 kickboxing standout who trains and teaches at Xtreme Couture MMA in Las Vegas, said the promotion will debut live Nov. 3 on NBC Sports from the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino, with aspirations of holding 8-10 events in the next calendar year.

Former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Miguel Torres (40-5), who was released from the UFC this summer and has signed a three-fight contract with the new promotion, will headline the Nov. 3 event against an opponent to be determined, said Sefo.

Las Vegas businessman Sid Rogich, who once held a position in the White House under President George H.W. Bush and is a former chairman for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, was announced as the company’s chief executive officer.

Keith Evans, who’s worked for the UFC and the now defunct International Fight League, will serve as chief of operations. Ali Abdel-Aziz, who manages former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, will share matchmaking duties with Sefo.

The WSOF has a multi-event venue deal in place with Caesar’s Entertainment Corporation, the parent entity to Planet Hollywood, Sefo told SI.com.

“I 100 percent guarantee all the events will be in Las Vegas in the next year,” he said.

The WSOF has been in the works for at least a year and a half, when it quietly began approaching prospects to compete in elimination tournaments in multiple weight divisions with ridiculous $1,000,000 grand prizes.

But Sefo said the promotion’s first year of events won’t follow that ambitious tournament-style format.

“The tournaments were a consideration and that was the initial plan,” said Sefo, who explained the organization opted for the single-fight format most familiar with fans. The promotion plans to revisit tournament-style events after its first year.

The WSOF will have its work cut out for it in the fighter acquisitions department, as Zuffa LLC, which promotes the UFC, has roughly 90 percent of the world’s top-tier MMA athletes, as well as a majority of mid-tier talent, currently under contract. Zuffa has also established a strong presence in Las Vegas since the company’s formation in 2001, after local casino owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta purchased the UFC from its former owners for $2 million and built it into property valued at nearly $1 billion a couple of years ago.

Sefo said the WSOF has no designs to compete with the industry leader.

“I truly believe there’s enough talent out there, especially internationally, that hasn’t been seen in the States yet,” Sefo said.

Sefo said WSOF officials have successfully reached out to UFC Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta and President Dana White to pave the way for a smooth co-existence in Las Vegas.

Ten-time UFC welterweight veteran Josh Burkman (23-9) and Gregor Gracie (7-2), of the famed Brazilian jiu-jitsu dynasty that launched the sport in the States, are also scheduled to compete separately on Nov. 3. Former WWE and TNA pro wrestler Bobby Lashley (7-2), who competed twice in Strikeforce’s heavyweight division in 2010, was also announced as a participant.

Sefo said that with the exclusion of Torres, all fighters announced to the promotion Thursday have signed exclusive three and four-fight contracts with the organization. Torres will honor a one-fight contract he signed prior with Titan Fighting Championships, said Sefo, in addition to his three-fight agreement with the WSOF.

WSOF Press Conference:

0 Invicta FC Delivers with Sophomore Effort

LINK: The MMA Corner

What does a person typically expect from an up-and-coming MMA promotion? Cheesy show time announcement? Low-grade lighting and sound? Sub-par ring girls “discovered” in a contest at a dive bar? Referees who barely know what they’re doing? How about cutmen that look like they were pulled off the street?

Well, not only has Invicta Fighting Championships avoided all of those stereotypes, but the new all-pro, all-women’s promotion has done quite the opposite.

Invicta FC has been blowing the roof off all expectations. Shannon Knapp, Invicta’s CEO, led another fantastic evening of exciting fights at Invicta FC 2 on July 28 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan. On hand were famous cutmen and referees, including “Stitch” Duran and “Big” John McCarthy. The show was well-produced with excellent lighting and sound, and the camera work was almost worthy of the biggest promotions in the sport. The ringside commentators were professional fighters Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Julie Kedzie, along with veteran voice of MMA, Mauro Ranallo.

The commentators all had great input, but the star of this cast was by far Kedzie. She had already fought a few of the ladies on this card and had excellent insight, similar to the likes of Stephan Bonnar, Frank Mir and Kenny Florian on UFC broadcasts. Having battled with these ladies in the past, she brought a lot to the table.

The only glitch of the night was in the initial live stream.

Near the beginning of the event, so many people tried logging in at once that the server crashed and they had to go to a backup. Some people were really up in arms about this issue on Twitter, but at that point, people need to be realistic. They were about to get one of the best cards in MMA history for free, and the problem was resolved quickly, so bravo to the Invicta management for getting it taken care of right away. The critics of the glitch need to pipe down, because in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t have any major effect on the quality of the event.

Invicta FC 2 was a huge success for the young promotion with over 250,000 viewers watching the free live stream of the event. The event quickly flooded Twitter, trending big time in the United States, second only to the Olympics.

The card was comprised of fourteen fights covering all five weight classes. Three of the weight classes coincide with their male counterparts: flyweight (125), bantamweight (135), and featherweight (145). The other two weight classes, atomweight (105) and strawweight (115), are exclusive to the women’s side of the sport. Only four of the fourteen fights went to decision. Of the ten fights that ended in stoppage, only two made it to the third round. That’s one exciting night of fighting. With no television commercials, it just rolled right through from one great fight to the next.

The ladies were really going all out. There was no boring gamesmanship with fighters strategically trying to secure victories by decision. The gamesmanship is one huge criticism of some of the recent UFC events, especially from fighters coming out of one particular camp, which shall remain nameless. Even the fights that went to decision in Invicta FC 2 were all-out brawls, including the main event, which earned “Fight of the Night” honors.

The main event was a much anticipated match-up between veteran brawler Shayna Baszler and highly-decorated wrestler Sara McMann. There was a lot of hype leading up to this fight.

Baszler, 14-6 going into the fight, trains out of Sioux Falls, S.D., under UFC, Pride and Strikeforce veteran Josh Barnett. Her previous two professional fights earned her championships in two separate promotions, and both took place in 2010. She was definitely the more experienced fighter from an MMA standpoint, having competed in the sport professionally since 2003. Baszler looked really composed and confident in her Invicta FC debut, like a pro’s pro.

McMann comes from a completely different background, although she is no stranger to one-on-one competition. McMann started wrestling at the age of fourteen, competed in freestyle wrestling at the Pan American Games and World Championships, won a silver medal in Athens at the 2004 Olympic Games, and won gold and silver medals in submission grappling championships, all prior to trying her hand at MMA. Having only competed in MMA for a little over a year, she went into the fight with an undefeated record of 5-0, ready for the next step toward a bantamweight title fight.

The back-and-forth battle went the distance with both fighters showcasing their various skills. Baszler had the opportunity to show off her quick and powerful counter-strikes, while McMann took full advantage of her superior wrestling. The most exciting part of the fight was the last 10 seconds, when a flurry of strikes by both fighters almost ended with McMann knocked out. However, in the end, McMann won the fight on the scorecards and earned her shot at the title at October’s Invicta FC 3.

So, at the end of the night, Shannon Knapp announced the bantamweight title fight between McMann and a yet unnamed challenger to take place at Invicta FC 3 on Oct. 6, again at Memorial Hall. In addition, about halfway through the night, she also announced that the atomweight title fight will take place at that event, featuring 9-1 veteran Jessica Penne, fighting out of Reign MMA, versus undefeated Japanese fighter Naho Sugiyama, who has run the gamut at the last five events for the Jewels promotion in Japan.

With the announcement of the next event, including two inaugural Invicta FC title fights, the hype continues to grow. For now, the plans are to stay online and in Kansas City, but Knapp has reportedly received calls with offers to buy her promotion already. She intends to grow the brand and continue to support her women fighters, who may finally have a promotion all to themselves, instead of sharing with the men, as has happened with other promotions.

The world of women’s MMA hit another high point on Saturday, but now the fans must wait until Oct. 6 for the third show from the promising promotion. With Invicta upping the ante by putting gold on the line, the promotion can only hope to continue building on its great start.

0 Genesis of Invicta FC

A behind-the-scenes look at Invicta FC’s debut event in Kansas City from MMA Fighting’s E. Casey Leydon.