WSOF a Force To Be Reckoned With?

WSOF 2 Review
 By Tommy Strong - @stong_tea

The World Series of Fighting kicked off with its second event last night. With a solid first event and with some very positive reviews and feedback from MMA fans, people were eagerly anticipating the arrival of WSOF2.. 

With the main event being held Atlantic City between two ex UFC fighters:

Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson v Andrei 'The Pit Bull' Arlovski 

Anthony Johnson once a Welterweight contender in the UFC before being cut for failing to make the weight on numerous occasions, now finds himself fighting at heavyweight, weighing in at a staggering 230.5 pounds - A huge step up from the 170 pounds of the Welterweight division he once fought at.

Johnson and Arlovski came out swinging for the fences looking for an early KO, with each man landing his share of decent shots early in their encounter.
Johnson started getting the better of the striking exchanges and landing the heavier blows, at the end of the first round Johnson came very close to finishing Andrei off only to be saved by the clock. Johnson actually thought the ref had stepped in to stop the fight and walked around the cage with his hands raised, only to realise seconds later the ref had called an end to the round.

It was becoming obvious in the 2nd round to that Johnson's cardio was starting to fade. Changing his tactics from the striking and high head kicks to grappling with Arlovski and trying to take him down, much to the  disapproval of his corner!!  

Going into the 3rd round Johnson had 2 rounds in the bank. Will little energy left the natural heavyweight in Arlovski knew he had to take advantage of his fatigue and finish Johnson.  

Arlovski lands a few body shots but couldn't stop Johnson clinching and stalling for time. Neither fighter managed to take the round decisive but Arlovski edges it. 

From a very promising start to the fight, it somewhat petered out in the later rounds. 

The fight goes to the score cards and all judges score the fight the same 29/28 in favour of Johnson.

After the fight Johnson commented that the heavyweights are to big for him, prompting that a return back down to Light-heavyweight is likely to be his next destination. 

Marlon Moraes def. Tyson Nam (Bantamweight)

With Tyson Nam coming into the fight on a 4 fight winning streak and a knock out victory in his last fight ove the Bellator Bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas in 1 round. Moraes enters the bout coming off a split decision win over Miguel Torres.

Moraes wasted no time finding his range with some leg kicks and a combination of strikes to put Tyson Nam on the back foot whilst Tyson was trying to find that one single knockout punch to end the fight. Moaraes was pressing the action and wouldn't let Nam settle into his stride. 

Moaraes was having great success switching his fighting style from kicks, combinations and take downs, until he lands a high head kick that grazes the top of Nam's head and drops him to the floor giving Moares the chance to finish the fight with a flurry of punches before Kevin Peterson stops the fight! 

David Branch def. Paulo Filho (Middleweight)

Branch put in a very dominant performance by beating Paulo Filho  30/27 , 30/27 30/26  on the judges score cards. 

The score cards don't really reflect the fight, it could've been 30-24 - Branch dictated the fight, striking and take down whenever he felt the need to do so. The only criticism you could aim at Branch was he didn't get the finish over Filho.

This wasn't one of Filho's finest nights, and will want to forget about this fight in a hurry!!

Josh Burkman def. Aaron Simpson (Welterweight)

Josh started very brightly , catching Simpson early on land a 1/2 combination in which Simpson responded by using his wrestling skills to clinch with Burkman up against the cage looking to take Burkman down. 

Burkman showed great clinching and take down defence up against the cage and Simpson seemed to have run out of ideas. Once the fight got back to the centre of the cage Burkman made the most of his opportunity and landed a combination of strikes to unbalance Simpson - rocking him, and up against the cage lands a final knee to the face prompting Dan Miragliotta to put a stop to the fight in the 1st round.

Josh Burkman now gets the opportunity of  fighting Jon Fitch at WSOF 3 .

Justin Gaethje def. Gesias Cavalcante (Lightweight)

Undefeated Justin Garthje got the chance to prove himself against veteran Gesias Cavalcante. 

Right from the off this was looked like it was going to be an entertaining fight whilst it lasted. 

Garthje came out from the bell throwing a leg kick which was countered by Cavalcante with a left & right then attempted a take down which Garthje stuffed and kept the fight standing! 

From there, the better and more accurate striking came from Garthje who started to land with perfect timing including vicious knees up against the cage. His work started to pay off when he opened up Cavalcante's forehead with what looked like an elbow. 

With the ref calling in the doctor to have a look at the cut it was deemed to severe to carry on. With 2.27 of round 1 the contest was over.  Handing Garthje his 8th straight victory with only 1 fight going the distance!

Prelim fight card results:

Danillo Villefort def. Kris McCray via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Rick Glenn def. Alexandre Pimentel via KO (strikes) – Round 3, 

Waylon Lowe def. Cameron Dollar via KO (punch) – Round 1, 

Richard Patishnock def. Igor Gracie via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 

Ozzy Dugulubgov def. Chris Wade via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Brenson Hansen def. Tom Marcellino via TKO (flying knee) – Round 2, 

Bill Algeo def. Frank Buenafuente via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 

Overal Verdict:

Whilst the fights on the card were very entertaining, it was outside of the ring that I felt WSOF struggled to impress. Bas Rutten & Todd Harris were the pairing that failed to connect most on Saturday night.

Play by play commentary is without doubt a very hard job to master and connect with the viewing public, but I felt the connection just wasn't there and at times cringeworthy. 
I don't want to give both of them a hard time seeing as its only their second show working together . But there were too many errors from play to play commentary/interviews to getting names mixed up. 

Hopefully this will be worked upon by the next event in March! 

I score the card overall a solid 7.5/10.