World Series of Fighting will be going head-to-head with Bellator and RFA on a very crowded Friday night for MMA. The offering which will be on NBC Sports Network at 9pm ET features a heavyweight title bout and a number one contender’s match in the lightweight division. Heavyweight champion Blagoi Ivanov makes the second defense of his belt against former UFC vet and RFA champion Josh Copeland. Ivanov moved directly over to WSOF after dropping a tournament bout in Bellator, and immediately won the WSOF title. He then defended it against Derrick Mehmen with a second-round TKO back in October. Copeland has been busy since getting cut from the UFC last March. He has already competed four times, posting a 3-1 record with the only loss coming to former Bellator champion Vitaly Minakov. Most recently he picked up a decision over Mike Hayes at WSOF 29. The WSOF 31 co-main event sees a pair of Octagon veterans vie for their shot at Justin Gaethje’s lightweight title. Jason High and Mike Ricci have both gone undefeated since leaving the UFC, with High picking up a win in his only WSOF fight, while Ricci has gone 3-0 combined in Titan FC and WSOF. The rest of the WSOF 31 main card features former lightweight title challenger Luis Palomino taking on former bantamweight title challenger Sheymon Moraes. Both men are moving a weight class to fight at 145, in an attempt to climb the ladder there. UFC vet John Howard is also in action against Michael Arrant, and Phil Hawes is hoping that so few people watch ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ these days that his hype train can quickly get back on track. MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting odds for the main card of WSOF 31 today at Several Bookmakers. Take a look: ——————– MAIN CARD (NBC Sports Network, 9pm ET)
——————– Brad’s Analysis: I’m going to keep these short and sweet. Ivanov will eventually get to Copeland, but I think it will be after the over 1.5 cashes, since Copeland is the type who sticks around, and Ivanov isn’t the greatest finisher. Mike Ricci has struggled too much with wrestlers in the past for me to believe that he can handle a guy like Jason High early in the fight. Even Rafael dos Anjos couldn’t do that. The question is, how will High’s cardio hold up. I think he’ll manage his energy and have enough to take two rounds from Ricci, but the third could definitely be a sweat. Palomino is the one dog I’m considering on this card, but I would like a higher line. Moraes is the more technical striker here, but there should be a significant difference in size and power. Most of the shots Palomino landed on Gaethje would’ve stopped a normal lightweight, and now he’s facing a natural bantamweight. Assuming his own chin will still hold up through the extra weight cut, I have to side with the veteran here. John Howard is declining, but still has enough in the tank to beat a guy who is a step above regional journeyman. Do I want to lay -500 on it? No. It’ll be interesting to see how the public bets Phil Hawes here coming off of his TUF loss. He’s going to dispatch of Joshua Keys quickly, and there’s not much to bet on the opener, but it will be nice to see if Hawes will provide some value until people get back on board him as a top prospect.