Friday night, World Series of Fighting showcased two title matches during an action packed main card. Lance Palmer defended his featherweight title in impressive fashion against Chris Horodecki and a new heavyweight champ was crowned as Blagoi Ivanov won by submission against Smealinho Rama. In addition to the title matches, one of the most promising young fighters on the WSOF roster, Hakeem Dawodu, was on display. Dawodu looked impressive in a two round dismantling of Chucka Willis. With World Series of Fighting 21 in the books, lets take a look at what’s next for the winners and losers.
The party didn’t stop as Lance Palmer looked excellent in his title defense against Chris Horodecki. He is one of the top talents on the WSOF roster and has the feel of a fighter they can build their featherweight division around. Up next should be former Bellator contender Magomedrasul “Frodo” Khasbulaev, who was supposed to fight on this card against former champ Rick Glenn, before Glenn withdrew due to injury. One would have to imagine that fight would have served as a number one contender match so it seems logical for Khasbulaev to be next for Palmer. The one wrinkle to this scenario is that WSOF might want to showoff Frodo before then and if that’s the case don’t be surprised if WSOF gives Hakeem Dawodu some serious consideration.
It’s back to the drawing board for Chris Horodecki. He was thoroughly outclassed by Palmer and will need to put together a few wins to get another crack at the champ. A second fight against Mike Corey seems like a fit. These two fought to a draw in 2011 and WSOF needs to start figuring out what exactly they have on their roster and establish their rankings.
Blagoi Ivanov weathered a strong start by Smealinho Rama to secure a second round submission and the title belt, but what’s next for Ivanov isn’t so cut and dry. Due to its relative infancy WSOF lacks quality depth on their roster and the most glaring example of this is the heavyweight division. Barring the signing of a big name, a rematch with Smealinho Rama makes the most sense based on the active roster. Rama is young and has nice potential and a rematch would allow WSOF time to get some more talent in the division. The division is weak and Rama has already beaten anyone who might enter into the title conversation. When you look at the roster, would anyone really be upset having to watch these two fight again?
Hakeem Dawodu has looked like the real deal earning stoppages in all five of his fights and has earned a step up in competition. While giving him a title shot might be hard to argue with, WSOF would be better served having him fight Rick Glenn. A win against Glenn will allow WSOF to put together a high quality title fight against Palmer, assuming he wins his next fight as well. However if he keeps finishing people at 145lbs the UFC is bound to come calling sooner rather than later so how they handle Dawodu’s development will have a long lasting impact on the brand one way or another.
Chucka Willis looked good early in his fight against Dawodu but he had no answer for Dawodu’s clinch game. He ate one vicious knee after another and it was just a matter of time before he would be unable to continue. Willis is young and talented but he ran into a buzz saw in Dawodu. A fight against Chris Gruetzmacher should be up next for Willis. Gruetzmacher is riding an 11 fight winning streak and this fight would be an excellent litmus test for both of them.
WSOF has some sneaky good top tier talent but they are currently extremely top heavy and needs to fill out their roster to ensure fight cards have enough quality matchups. They have been aggressively recruiting fighters out of Russia, which has been a hotbed of talented fighters over the last few years. If they can unearth some diamonds in the rough it will go a long way in keeping this promotion competitive and healthy moving forward.
