World Series of Fighting eyes 8-12 events and title fights in 2013...

Although cautious about planning too far ahead of its inaugural event, World Series of Fighting has ambitious goals for 2013.

WSOF President Ray Sefo said if all goes well with WSOF 1, the promotion would like to hold between eight to 12 events next year.

Additionally, Sefo told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that WSOF will soon crown champions in the weight divisions it promotes.

"That's something we've definitely discussed with the team, and I think we'll look at setting up belts by our third or fourth event," he said. "By then, we would have guys competing several times and looking at crowning a champion."

The promotion anticipates a strong showing out of the gate, noting during a media teleconference that a sellout is expected for WSOF 1, which takes place Nov. 3 at a 7,000-seat venue within the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Main-card fights air live on NBC Sports Network while preliminary-card bouts stream on Sherdog.com.

Sefo said WSOF and NBC Sports Network executives will meet after the event to decide whether to exercise an option to extend their partnership.

"We're looking at the end of January for our second show, so there's definitely concrete discussions when the next event will be," Sefo said.

The promotion got an unexpected boost when the Zuffa-owned Strikeforce canceled an event set for Nov. 3 to air on Showtime. A show promoted by Resurrection Fighting Alliance on Nov. 2 will compete for ticket buyers in Las Vegas, but Sefo expressed confidence in the drawing power of the WSOF 1 fight card.

The inevitable question of whether WSOF intends to compete with the industry-leading UFC was also broached.

"We are really happy where we are today," Sefo said. "We're not in competition with anybody. We're in competition with ourselves. Obviously, our goal is to try and be to the best we can be. Going back to our fight card, we have some of the best in the world on that card. So for us, we're very happy and very blessed with where we are.

"It's obvious that the UFC is the best at what they do, and they've done an amazing job to be where they are, and at the end of the day, without them doing so well, we wouldn't be where we are today, as well. So the biggest competition is against ourselves, to put on the best fights we can and for the guys to perform the best they can on the night."

Backed by MMAWC, a Nevada-based company founded in 2011, WSOF in August received its promoter's license in Nevada with advertising mogul Sig Rogich acting as the company's CEO and Sefo taking the role of president.
http://mmajunkie.com/news/31280/world-series-of-fighting-eyes-8-12-events-and-title-fights-in-2013.mma

Sefo is a good & honorable man. WSOF has huge potential.

What happened to their sixteen man tournament idea?

I was really looking forward to that

wekka wrote:What happened to their sixteen man tournament idea?

I was really looking forward to that

eventually they will go a gp format, but according to sefo, they had to start this way beacuse theyre roster needs to grow to do that...

but common people they are starting with a stacked card, dont complain about small things

MR.WILLIE wrote:

wekka wrote:What happened to their sixteen man tournament idea?

I was really looking forward to that

eventually they will go a gp format, but according to sefo, they had to start this way beacuse theyre roster needs to grow to do that...

but common people they are starting with a stacked card, dont complain about small things

I wouldn't necessarily call that a small thing. Its still a pretty unique aspect in MMA in this day of age and its the most efficient way to get your stars over outside of spectacular finishes. Honestly they already have a roster capable of holding tournaments. I didn't expect them to organize tournaments immediately anyways, as these cards would be better suited to introduce people to your product and build the figthers that you.want to be stars.

The only.thing.I'm disappointed with is.the fact that they're going to.hand out title shots for the time being instead of earning a belt through a linear tournament. I know Sefo won't do it, but favoritism could always play a role in a situation like this.

i got your point and i agree to some degree, but having said that, i think that this card is more stacked than any of their gp's....so as an introduction is a big splash imo...

let me correct you, they dont have 16 guys on each division, they dont have a roster to make a big gp my friend....

for example they have 4 135 guys signed, torres, moraes, nam and marques


5 hw's arlovski,cole, barnett, rolles and duffee

their deepest group is 155 and they have 9 guys:

huerta, southern, mckee, beerbohm, gunderson, o'brien, jz, torres, cobb,

so my friend they dont have a full roster to do this, when pride begun they did super fights then they moved to the gp's thats the right way...

Let them first get a commitment for a long-term TV deal and then they can plan tournaments. Right now they only have this one date on NBC Sports Network.

nhbnews wrote:Let them first get a commitment for a long-term TV deal and then they can plan tournaments. Right now they only have this one date on NBC Sports Network.

100000% agree....they need to crawl first and then walk, step by step....

also nice interview on your part to ray sefo, congrats...

Thanks. Ray is obviously very busy but took the time to speak on No Holds Barred. His leadership could be a refreshing change in MMA in North America.