WSOF, also known as World Series Of Fighting, began in 2012 and is an American MMA promotion based out of Las Vegas. The organization, headed up by CEO Sig Rogich and President Ray Sefo, is televised on NBC Sports Network formerly known as Versus. Although WSOF if fairly new to the MMA scene, they have an impressive talent roster including Yushin Okami, Jon Fitch, Rousimar Palhares, Jake Sheilds, Melvin Guillard, Tyson Griffin, and until their recent invites back to the UFC, both Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Andrei Arlovski also fought for WSOF.
The organizations next event WSOF 12 takes place August 9th. I had the good fortune to be able to talk with Cully Butterfield, who will be facing off against Ronny Markes in the light heavyweight division on Saturday.
Cully “The Mason” Butterfield is a 24 year old fighter from Spooner, Wisconsin, with five years under his belt as a pro. He gets his nickname from his profession, and says that although it is tough work it is helped him become a physically strong fighter. A Former Heart Of The North conference champ and NJCAA All-American in wrestling, Cully has built on his early experience as a wrestler to become a well-rounded MMA up and comer.
While he was wrestling and studying for Elementary Education at Itasca Community College, Cully attended a regional MMA event. He had this to say about the event that changed his path in life:
“I attended the event with some friends and thought to myself, I can out wrestle these guys. I decided then, that I would give it a shot.”
According to Cully he fell in love with the sport, decided to pursue it full time and hasn’t looked back since.
Cully went pro in 2009, and had a rocky start going 3-2 in his first five fights.
“I was mainly a wrestler and didn’t have any formal coaching. The guy I learned from was about a year older than me and learned most of what he knew from watching the UFC.”
Since then Cully has been training at both The Grind MMA out of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Roufusport out of Milwaukee, and has been on a tear, going 10-1 in his last eleven outings, with the lone loss coming by decision. He credits the turn around, in part, to better coaching at the hands of kickboxing guru Duke Roufus, and training partners such as the Pettis brothers, Justin Lemke, Erik Koch, Mike Rhodes, and Dustin Ortiz, the latter three were his roommates while living and training in Milwaukee.
The fight this weekend will be by far his biggest fight and most likely the most challenging opponent he has faced. When I asked Cully how he ended up fighting Ronny Markes, he had this to say:
“I recently signed with Iridium Sports Agency to help me get bigger fights and promote myself, they were contacted by WSOF to find a replacement for Kelvin Tiller, who was originally scheduled to fight Ronny, and when they asked me if I wanted the fight, I told them I would step up.”
I asked “The Mason” what he thought about fighting the Brazilian, who is a former UFC fighter coming off a two fight losing streak.
“In his early fights Ronny capitalized on what he does best and overwhelmed his opponents, in his last two fights his opponents took advantage of his weaknesses. If he can’t take you down, he freaks, he needs to be on top dominating. If he can’t do that he breaks. I’m looking to do what I do best, which is wrestling and takedown defense. I want to keep the fight on the feet and catch him with my striking. If I don’t knock him out standing I’ll use my superior wrestling to take him down and finish him on the ground. I’ve spent the last week at Roufusport wrestling with Ben Askren, working on stopping the take down. I believe Ronny has good grappling, but is lacking in true wrestling skill.”
While finishing up my interview with Cully he was quick to point out that although the team at Roufusport has played a large role in helping him become the fighter he is today, he hasn’t forgotten his home camp.
“I want to give a big thank you to all my coaches and training partners at The Grind MMA for getting me prepared and helping me get to where I’m at.”
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