WSOF26: Tyrone Spong Injured, Five Undercard Bouts Announced
WORLD SERIES OF FIGHTING ANNOUNCES FIVE MATCHUPS FOR WSOF26 UNDERCARD FRIDAY, DEC. 18 AT THE COSMOPOLITAN OF LAS VEGAS
TYRONE SPONG WITHDRAWS FROM WSOF26 DUE TO INJURY; JAKE HEUN TO FACE CLINTON WILLIAMS
Hakeem Dawodu vs. Marat Magomedov in battle of undefeated featherweights
Andreas Spang vs. Shamil Gamzatov in light heavyweight matchup
Gil Guardado vs. Giga Chikadze in lightweight collisionFour-fight world championship main card airs live on NBCSN at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT
LAS VEGAS (Dec. 2, 2015) – World Series of Fighting has announced five bouts for the preliminary card of its much-anticipated “WSOF26: Palmer vs. Almeida” world championship event at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Friday, Dec. 18, live on NBCSN, at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.
In addition, an injury has forced Tyrone “King of the Ring” Spong to withdraw from his scheduled light heavyweight (205 pounds) co-main event bout with Jake Heun (7-4) of Coconut Creek, Fla., who will now face Clinton Williams (10-2) of Las Vegas in a preliminary card matchup.
The preliminary card will stream live in its entirety, on an embeddable video player on WSOF.com, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
Also featured on the undercard bill will be a welterweight (170 pounds) showdown between Abubakar Nurmagomedov, who will return to the decagon cage after a successful World Series of Fighting debut, to face Danny “Dee1” Davis, Jr.
Nurmagomedov (10-1) of Dagestan, Russia earned a unanimous decision over Jorge Moreno at WSOF22 on August 1. The bout marked the first time in his career that Nurmagomedov, whose previous nine victories all came by way of (T)KO or submission, required the judges’ scorecards to declare him the victor of a fight.
Davis Jr. (11-9-1) of Las Vegas is looking to return to the win column after a close, split decision loss to Matthew Frincu at WSOF23 on September 18, snapped a five-fight win streak that Davis, Jr. had been riding. The last three wins in Davis’ run all came under the World Series of Fighting banner.
In a light heavyweight (205 pounds) attraction, aggressive-minded finisher Andreas “Sweet Swede” Spang will battle undefeated wrecking machine Shamil Gamzatov.
Fighting out of Las Vegas where he trains under guru “One Kick” Nick Blomgren, the 37-year-old Spang, who has earned six of nine career wins by way of (T)KO or submission, will enter the cage for the first time in 2015. In his last effort, he notched a unanimous decision over J.A. Dudley on December 5, 2014.
Also making his first start of the year, the 25-year-old Gamzatov (9-0) of Makhachkala, Russia is the number four ranked light heavyweight in Ukraine. To date, all of his victories have come by way of (T)KO or submission.
In a matchup between two fearsome, undefeated featherweights (145 pounds) rising stars, Hakeem “Mean” Dawodu will lock horns with Marat Magomedov.
Dawodu (5-0) of Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a 24-year-old protégé of renowned Muay Thai master Mike Miles and a five-time veteran of World Series of Fighting competition. To date, Dawodu has scored (T)KO victories on all five of his opponents, including his last two adversaries – Tristan Johnson and Chuka Willis – whom he defeated by way of third round (1:59) TKO (punches) on February 12, and by way of second round (2:55) TKO (knees and elbows) on June 5, respectively.
Magomedov (7-0) of Dagestan, Russia is looking for his second win of 2015 after finishing Husanboy Ataghanov by way of first round (4:35) submission (rear-naked choke) on September 18. The 25-year-old has been taken the distance of a fight only once, earning all six of his other career wins via submission.
In the opening WSOF26 preliminary card bout, Gil Guardado will mix it up with Giga Chikadze at lightweight.
Guardado (4-1) of Las Vegas is a 30-year-old member of Xtreme Couture’s fight team seeking his second win of the year after submitting Pete Martin with a guillotine choke in the first round (3:31) of their bout at WSOF22. All four of Guardado’s wins to date have come by way of (T)KO or submission.
Chikadze (1-0) of Huntington Beach, Calif. via Tbisili, Georgia is a 27-year-old seasoned kickboxer who has twice competed for Glory where he holds a record of 1-1 and scored a first round KO on Ken Tran on May 8.
Priced from $29.99, tickets are available for purchase at www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com, www.WSOF.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
In the world championship featherweight main event, reigning kingpin Lance Palmer (10-1) will square off with submission expert Alexandre Almeida (17-5).
In other action on the four-bout, live NBCSN telecast, hard-hitting, rising star Ozzy Dugulubgov (7-2) will meet streaking submission ace Nic Herron-Webb (18-6) in a lightweight scrap.
Former World Series of Fighting championship challenger Josh “Gentleman” Hill (12-1) will collide with undefeated sensation Bekbulat Magomedov (16-0) in a bantamweight matchup.
Leading off the live NBCSN telecast will be a featherweight affair between accomplished KO artist Robbie “Problems” Peralta (18-6) who will make his World Series of Fighting debut against hard-hitting Muay Thai stylist Sheymon Moraes (7-1).
Doors at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will open for WSOF26 at 3 p.m. PT and the first preliminary card bout will begin at 3:30 p.m.
