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This weekend welcomes a potential new player in the national MMA landscape, as World Series of Fighting makes its debut. New MMA organizations come and go, but WSOF has a few things going for them, including a solid line-up of fighters like Andrei Arlovski, Anthony Johnson, and Tyrone Spong, plus, most importantly, a TV deal on the NBC Sports Network.
The man behind WSOF is K-1 legend Ray Sefo. Sefo is best known for his hall of fame career in kickboxing, but in recent years he's been more closely associated with MMA; much of Sefo's recent career has been spent working as a striking trainer at XTreme Couture where he has made a positive contribution to the career of fighters like Vitor Belfort.
Now, Sefo is taking a key behind the scene role as President at WSOF. The Fight Nerd recently spoke to Sefo, who had a lot of great comments about plans for the organization, including future tournament plans, why a 10 sided cage, and how they compare to the UFC:
We're not looking to compete with the UFC. We can't... But what we do want to do is be at some point, someday be as good as the UFC. That's going to take some time, that's going to take some work, but that's what hard work is all about... You got to crawl before you walk and that's what we're doing.
...
Do we have room for another league? I think all you got to do is look at the card we have and it tells you that there is room, a lot of room for another league. And I think the more the merrier. It's not only good for the sport, it's good for the fighters to have more leagues out there.
Lots of good stuff from Sefo here - watch the full interview below:
Check back all week for more coverage of WSOF, and be sure to join us here at Bloody Elbow Saturday night for live coverage of the show.
And for more from Sefo, including his thoughts on his K-1 career, check out part 2:
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