Following the recent purchase of Aggression FC by World Series of Fighting, the organization is making their Canadian debut with a card that looks like a typical WSOF card with a little bit of Northern flavor. The main event will crown the inaugural featherweight champion, and the matchup between Lance Palmer (7-0) and Georgi Karakhanyan (22-3-1) is a very interesting one. Some of the hype on Palmer has cooled after his tight bout with Jared Downing at RFA earlier this year. Palmer has a big wrestling edge, but Karakhanyan is the superior striker and submission grappler making how the fight will play difficult to peg. The second middleweight tournament semifinal which got removed at the last minute from WSOF 6 is set to go this time around, as Jesse Taylor and Elvis Mutapcic finally square off. The dynamic is somewhat similar to the main event, as Taylor has a wrestling edge and Mutapcic is the better striker, but Taylor likely has a slight submission edge as well. Also on the main card, Nick Newell looks to continue his inspiring run against Sabah Fadai, and canucks Dwayne Lewis and Kalib Starnes fight for the pride of Western Canada. Today, MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting odds for WSOF 7 at Several Bookmakers. Take a look: ——————– WSOF Featherweight Title Lance Palmer -165 Georgi Karakhanyan +125 Middleweight Tournament Semifinal Elvis Mutapcic -120 Jesse Taylor -120 Nick Newell -280 Sabah Fadai +200 Dwayne Lewis -150 Kalib Starnes +110 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: On most WSOF cards, it’s fairly easy to see who the organization wants to win. This isn’t the case on this event at all. In the main event, Palmer is the younger prospect with more notoriety, but Karakhanyan is the more exciting fighter to watch. Palmer’s fight against Downing shouldn’t really affect people’s perceptions of this bout, as Downing is a much better wrestler than Karakhanyan. If Karakhanyan finds success here — and he very likely could — it will be by outstriking or threatening with submissions, rather than outwrestling. Across 25 minutes, it’s always difficult to bet against the more dangerous fighter, but Palmer’s ability to control this bout shouldn’t be understated. I may be in the minority, but I give Jesse Taylor a clear advantage over Elvis Mutapcic. Taylor has fought and beat better competition, and Mutapcic hasn’t faced a wrestler of this calibre yet. Mutapcic is the better striker, but Taylor has proven to be extremely durable over his career, with his real drawback always being his submission defence. The one fight where it is clear who the WSOF wants to win is in the Nick Newell fight. The organization always wants him to find success, and against Sabah Fadai he should do just that. Newell will eventually run into problems due to his congenital shortcomings, but it will take a higher quality of fighter than Fadai to bring that out in him. Finally, a very difficult fight to call kicks off the main card. Both Dwayne Lewis and Kalib Starnes are past their best before dates, and this fight is a placeholder meant to attract local fans to the arena more than moving either fighter forward in the WSOF light heavyweight division. Lewis has a slight edge on the feet, while Starnes is the more talented grappler. I think the gap on the ground is far more than the gap on the feet however, and give Starnes a slight edge. Not enough to bet him at the current line though.
