The World Series of Fighting gets to take center stage this weekend, and they’ve put together a solid card to do so with. Two titles will be on the line at WSOF 9, as Steve Carl returns looking to upset another former UFC veteran to retain his welterweight title. Also, Marlon Moraes finally gets a chance to wrap a title belt around his waist after four wins in WSOF, as he takes on Josh Rettinghouse for the promotion’s inaugural bantamweight title. After a 2-2 stint in Bellator, Steve Carl regained his footing on the regional circuit before being picked up by WSOF. After winning his first two bouts by first round submission, Carl was granted a title shot against Josh Burkman which he won as a huge underdog. His opponent, Rousimar Palhares, is one of the few fighters to leave the UFC coming off a win. Palhares looked impressive making his debut at welterweight, but he fought about 34 seconds in a 31-second fight. He was released by the UFC after holding on a heel hook on Mike Pierce for too long, and this will be his first bout since that time. Marlon Moraes has been one of the centerpieces of WSOF from the beginning, and, no offense to Josh Rettinghouse, but this seems like the organization’s attempt to make him a champion. He’s dispatched all of his WSOF opponents with ease, and in Rettinghouse he takes on an opponent who doesn’t appear to have the skills to trouble him either. Familiar faces like Yushin Okami and Josh Burkman also have bouts scheduled on the main card, which will air on NBC Sports Network on Saturday night. Today, MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting lines for the WSOF 9 main card at Several Bookmakers. Check them out: ——————– MAIN CARD (NBC Sports Network, 9pm ET) WSOF Welterweight Title Rousimar Palhares -230 Steve Carl +170 WSOF Bantamweight Title Marlon Moraes -505 Josh Rettinghouse +335 Yushin Okami -705 Svetlozar Savov +435 Josh Burkman -265 Tyler Stinson +185 Ozzy Dugulubgov -315 Johnny Nunez +235 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: The main event is a tricky fight, and the line is probably as long as it should get. I saw should, because it will probably go up even further. Carl doesn’t get a ton of respect and Palhares is the UFC vet coming over to WSOF off a victory, but if Palhares doesn’t win this fight in the first couple of minutes things will get tough for him. We’ve yet to see Palhares’ cardio tested at 170, and being thrown into a five-round fight could cause some issues if this makes it late. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Carl survives the early submission danger and ends up outlasting Palhares to retain his belt. The other title fight is far more cut-and-dry. Moraes is the better striker, better grappler, and Rettinghouse won’t be able to take him down. The result here will be the same as if Moraes was fighting any bantamweight outside of the UFC or Bellator, and that’s either a KO victory or a dominant decision. It’s one of those spots that’s a likely win, but also not likely to add a ton of value to any other plays. Svetlozar Savov is supposed to be a decent prospect, but I just don’t see it. Not only has he faltered against some of the mediocre competition he’s already come up against in his career, but he’s taking by far the biggest fight of his career after 18 months away from active competition. Yushin Okami has only ever lost to very good and great fighters throughout his career, and Savov isn’t there. Okami will more than likely take him down, get dominant position and pound him out. A fight that many may see playing out equally lopsided is Burkman/Stinson, but I think Stinson can give Burkman some serious issues in this one. He’s a rangier striker than Burkman and hits harder, and since Burkman has preferred to keep most of his fights standing of late, Stinson can take advantage of those areas. Burkman is the overall better wrestler and grappler, but Stinson has been improving those areas of late, so I can see this one being contested primarily on the feet. I would expect that the line should get a bit tighter here, but in reality people will probably come in on Burkman to push the price up. The last fight I have no insight on, other than half paying attention to one of Dugulubgov’s previous bouts that was on a WSOF prelim streak.
