Most of the attention for World Series of Fighting 2 is focused on the headlining heavyweight bout between Anthony Johnson and Andrei Arlovski, but the co-main event of the evening is another excellent matchup with arguably more relevancy to the world of mixed martial arts.
Before “Rumble” and “The Pitbull” throw down in the three-round main event, bantamweight prospects Marlon Moraes and Tyson Nam will meet in the three-round co-main event of the evening, a battle of two top 15 bantamweights, and the top two 135ers not within the Zuffa organization.
Moraes (9-4) burst onto the scene with his decision victory over former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres at the first WSOF event last November. Moraes was a huge underdog in the fight, but he managed to squeeze out a split decision W over the UFC veteran in what was by far the biggest win of the 24-year-old’s young career to date.
Nam, meanwhile, attracted all sorts of hype from the fans and media for his scintillating knockout of Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas at a Brazilian charity event last summer. Nam, 29-years-old, has fought for promotions such as Elite XC, King of the Cage, and SportFight during his seven-year-career, but despite his age and experience he is still very much a prospect.
It’s a credit to WSOF that they were able to sign these two extremely high-level bantamweights to compete in their organization, especially Nam, who was locked into a messy contract situation with Bellator. Obviously WSOF president Ray Sefo saw that both of these men were worth pursuing as free agents, and they will be able to show the boss he was correct about them by putting on a dazzling show for the fans this weekend in Atlantic City, New Jersey at WSOF 2.
The winner of this fight will no doubt be in prime position to be courted by the UFC. When the WSOF started, Sefo said that he would never hold back a fighter who the UFC was interested in, because as a fighter himself, he doesn’t want to stop anyone from reaching their goal of making it to the big leagues, and Sefo realizes that the UFC can pay more money than anyone out there.
So if Nam goes out there and knocks out Moraes, or if Moraes goes out there and knocks out Nam, expect the UFC to inquire about either fighter’s services. However, six months later, there’s no guarantee that Sefo hasn’t changed his company’s policy, and would now prefer to keep his stars in the fold after good performances. Though that still won’t stop the UFC from at least making an attempt to poach them — that much we can be sure of — it will ultimately be up to WSOF whether they stay or go.
The fight between Moraes and Nam this weekend should be one of the better MMA matches of the month. So if you were planning on watching this card just for the main event, or if you weren’t planning on watching WSOF 2 at all, remember that there’s an excellent co-main event to be watched as well, and if you miss this one you’ll regret it.
World Series of Fighting 2 will take place on March 23, 2013 at Revel Resort & Casino in Atlantic City, NJ.
Click the stars to rate how good you think World Series of Fighting 2 will be.
