World Series of Fighting
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|
| Private | |
| Industry | Mixed martial arts promotion |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Headquarters | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States |
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Key people
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Carlos Silva (CEO) Ray Sefo (President) Kevin Alires (VP of Operations) |
| Parent | MMAWC |
| Website | http://wsof.com/ |
World Series of Fighting is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its live events and competitions are shown on NBCSN in the United States, TSN2 in Canada, on Esporte Interativo in Brazil and in the Kiswe and FITE.tv apps worldwide.
WSOF was formed in 2012, having signed a broadcast deal with the NBC Sports Network. This will be the third MMA promotion that NBC Sports has hosted, having broadcast World Extreme Cagefighting and Ultimate Fighting Championship events when the channel was formerly known as Versus. NBC Sports had been one of the bidders for the rights to broadcast future UFC events, but lost out to Fox. However, some journalists regarded WSOF's deal with NBC Sports to be a considerable coup for a debuting promotion, considering NBC Sports' past interest in the UFC. Upon the announcement of the broadcast deal, WSOF President Ray Sefo stated that the promotion wanted to host 8-10 events per year, whilst holding a one-year deal with NBC Sports. However, the next day, an NBC spokesman revealed that the deal only covered WSOF's inaugural event, with the option for more, should NBC hold a positive evaluation. On February 4, 2013, it was reported by several news outlets that NBC Sports signed a 3-year deal with WSOF. On September 23, 2014, it was announced that the WSOF was moving their events to PPV in 2015.
Soon after the promotion's event announcement, they confirmed that Bas Rutten, Michael Schiavello and Kurt Angle would be the commentators for the debut event. However, days later, Angle, a TNA wrestler, was removed from the broadcast by Viacom (the owner of Spike TV, who broadcast TNA Wrestling), who claimed that the job was a conflict of interest. On September 10, 2012, Ray Sefo tweeted "There's a conflict of interest, so he won't be able to do the (Nov.) 3 show," Sefo said, adding the split was amicable. A replacement had yet to be found, until commentator Kenny Rice was added at WSOF 5 on September 14, 2013, along with reporter Joey Varner. Todd Harris who is under contract with NBC Sports has been the main play by play announcer for the WSOF.Ring Announcer Jazz Securo was also acquired and debuted September 14, 2013 at WSOF 5 in Atlantic City, NJ. He has since become the "Official Voice of the World Series of Fighting Decagon".
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