Event: World Series of Fighting 1 Date: Saturday, November 3, 2012 Location: Las Vages, NV, U.S. How to Watch: Preliminary card streams on Sherdog.com Main card airs on NBC Sports Network New Las Vegas-based MMA promotion World Series of Fighting debuts Saturday night, and the card is a good one. In the main event, it’s former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski (17-9, 1 No-Contest) taking on former Strikeforce competitor Devin Cole (20-9-1) in a heavyweight contest. Arlovski opened as a -285 favorite (bet $285 to win $100) while Cole is a +215 underdog (bet $100 to win $215) according to the MMA odds. Arlovski is coming off a No-Contest in his last outing, a fourth bout against Tim Sylvia where Arlovski knocked him out with an illegal soccer kick. Prior to that, Arlovski had won two straight overall, including a head kick KO of Travis Fulton, which turned him in the right direction following a brutal four-fight losing streak that included three vicious knockout losses to Fedor Emelianenko, Brett Rogers, and Sergei Kharitonov. Cole, on the other hand, is riding a two-fight winning streak over Gabriel Salinas-Jones and Shawn Jordan since a two-fight losing streak to Daniel Cormier and Aaron Rosa snapped a seven-fight unbeaten streak. Cole’s a big and powerful fighter, but against Arlovski, it’s likely he’ll be outclassed on the feet, so his best course of action is to take this fight to the ground. In the co-main event, it’s Anthony Johnson (13-4) vs. D.J. Linderman (13-3) in a light heavyweight affair. Johnson is a -355 favorite while Linderman is a +255 underdog. Since being cut by the UFC for missing weight, Johnson has gone 3-0, including 2-0 as a light heavyweight. He’s an extremely talented fighter who has collected nine of 13 wins by way of knockout, and if he can beat Linderman, it might be enough to get another shot in the big show. Linderman is an underrated veteran and is currently riding a three-fight winning streak. However, most believe Linderman been brought in as a showcase opponent for Johnson, who could be one of the promotion’s stars if WSOF sticks around and he doesn’t get snapped up again by the UFC. Linderman has lots of experience, but he’s likely to be overmatched by Johnson in all facets of the game. Also on the main card is a bantamweight fight between Miguel Torres (-365) and Marlon Moraes (+265). Torres (40-5) is a former WEC bantamweight champion and is still regarded as one of the Top 10 bantamweights in MMA, but he was cut from the UFC after some rude tweets put him in Dana White’s dog house before a knockout loss to Michael McDonald sealed the deal. Still, he’s an amazing talent and should have his way with Moraes (8-4-1), who is pretty unknown to most fight fans.The Armory product is riding a two-fight winning streak, but he lacks experience and has never faced anyone close to Torres’ level in a fight yet. Finally, the main card opens with a welterweight tilt between Gregor Gracie (-310) and Tyson Steele (+230). Gracie (7-2) is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and holds six of his career seven wins by way of submission, including an armbar victory over Nicholas Mann in ONE FC in his last fight. Steele (9-1), a Canadian, is also a solid ground fighter and has seven of nine wins by submission himself, including two during his current three-fight winning streak. One interesting thing about this bout is that Gracie has three wins via rear-naked choke while Steele has six wins by that same method, so don’t be surprised if one of these men ends up getting submitted.
