The World Series of Fighting’s 13th event comes to us this weekend from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with about as nondescript a card as they have ever presented. The main event features Bantamweight Champion Marlon Moraes facing Chad Bollinger in a non-title match.
The WSOF airs on NBCSN, so the show is potentially seen by a lot of people, but the company recently saw the loss of both Andrei Arlovksi and Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson to the UFC, and the fighters they have added from the UFC (Jake Shields, Yushin Okami) have yet to have an impact for the company.
Now, Bollinger, who is 2-0 in the WSOF, is a late replacement for Josh Hill, who was injured and pulled out of a main event title match with Moraes. The match with Bollinger is at 140 lbs, therefore the title is not on the line, but Bollinger is 16-2 overall and a decent late replacement. Bollinger fights int he southwest circuit, and one of his losses was in a step up fight for Bellator, so this is a big jump in competition for Bollinger. Look for Moraes to be the strong favorite when the lines pop up at the books later this week.
Moraes is riding a seven fight winning streak, and he is 5-0 under the WSOF flag. Moraes has faced solid names outside of the UFC, and it may be time for Moraes to be looked at by the big company. At 26 years old, Moraes is heading into his prime and he should continue to impress.
Keon Caldwell vs Ozzy Duglubgov pairs two WSOF vets who are relatively unknown otherwise. Ozzy is 2-1 in the WSOF, but is coming off a loss in his last outing. Caldwell too, took a loss his last time out, and he is 0-1 in the WSOF. Look for Ozzy to be favored in this one, possibly by a lot.
Tom Marcellino and Frankie Perez meet at Lightweight in what is a match of two organizational newcomers. The company, running for the first time in Pennsylvania, is using talent from the region here, and it remains to be seen whether this level of talent is developed enough to warrant being on major television.
