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411’s WSOF 28 Report 2.20.16

February 20, 2016 | Posted by Robert Winfree

Hello everyone and welcome to 411mania’s LIVE coverage of World Series of Fighting 28. I’m Robert Winfree and I’ll be relaying all of the action to you just as I see it. Before we get going I need to give public thanks to Mark Radulich for covering Bellator 149 last night, after catching the “highlights” of that event I think my sanity might have been stretched to the breaking point if I’d had to sit and cover that. So thank you again Mark. To everyone who was off put by last nights event, WSOF should be providing the exact opposite in terms of quality action though sadly it’s likely to be the reverse in terms of viewership as well. The main event has WSOF bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes defending that title, Moraes is one of the top seven or so bantamweights in the world and has made it known that once his current contract is up he’s looking to move to the UFC, so he’s got to keep winning to keep his prospective value high. This event is taking place in Garden Grove, California and the duo of Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten on commentary so at least Bas should keep me entertained.

Andrew Ramm is making his WSOF debut here and is coming off of a loss, but a win here on what is easily the biggest stage of his career would be a great way to rebound from that. Ozzie Alvarez is also making his promotional debut and coming off of a loss but had a five fight winning streak going before that and tonight looks to get back on the winning side of things as he takes a step up to a bigger promotion.

Welterweight Bout: Ozzie Alvarez (6-3, 169 lbs.) vs. Andrew Ramm (4-3, 170 lbs.)

ROUND ONE: Ramm has two inches of height and three of reach on Alvarez. Alvarez fighting southpaw. Ramm moving forward early while Alvarez circles. Alvarez pushes forward with punches, gets a knee in the clinch then Ramm pulls guard and goes to rubber guard quickly. Now to a full high guard for Ramm. Ramm has Alvarez tied up pretty well here, looking to transition to a submission but Alvarez keeping himself compact. Ramm bails on the high guard for a bit but Alvarez still has no offense from top. Alvarez can’t do anything and the ref stands them back up. Ramm walking forward, Alvarez misses a couple of hooks. Ramm lands an inside leg kick. Ramm misses a spinning attack then avoids being thrown from the clinch. They stare away the final ten seconds.

SCORECARD: 10-9 Alvarez

ROUND TWO: Touch of gloves for the second round. Ramm lands a couple of leg kicks while Alvarez circles. Another leg kick from Ramm. Alvarez lands a stepping knee to the body. Alvarez lands a right hook. Ramm lands another leg kick. Not a lot going on, Ramm’s movement is rudimentary and Alvarez is afraid of the grappling so he’s keeping distance. Alvarez lands a left to the body, Ramm lands a right to the head. Ramm lands a front kick to the body. Alvarez lands a right uppercut then a knee to the chest. Alvarez is doing a better job of countering Ramm now. They clash then Alvarez gets an elevated double leg and lands in the guard of Ramm. Ramm back to rubber guard, Alvarez keeps his posture and Ramm bails on that. Alvarez lands some short rights to close the round.

SCORECARD: 10-9 Alvarez, 20-18 Alvarez overall

ROUND THREE: They touch gloves to get the last round going. Alvarez doing a lot of circling, ducks a punch and gets a takedown into the guard of Ramm. Ramm trying to walk his guard up the back, Alvarez passes to half guard and starts landing rights to the body. Ramm hip escapes to full guard again. Alvarez with some more punches to the body. Ramm up to a high guard, Alvarez able to push forward and break that position. The ref stands them up now. Alvarez circling, lands a left then a right uppercut. Alvarez has a left blocked. Ramm lands a body kick. Alvarez reaches for a single leg, Ramm uses a kimura threat to escape to his feet then Alvarez lands a spinning kick to the face of Ramm at the bell. Ramm’s nose got broken pretty badly by that one.

SCORECARD: 10-9 Alvarez, 30-27 Alvarez overall

OFFICIAL RESULT: †WINNER – Ozzie Alvarez via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 x2)

No interview, but here’s a video of the kick at the end of the fight.

You might recognize Jamie Yager from the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter where he gained a reputation for both looking like Sideshow Bob and being a bit of a one round wonder, he got a fight on the finale of that season but lost decisively. He’s 4-2 in his last six fights but is on a two fight losing streak and needs a win here in his WSOF debut. Daniel McWilliams took this fight on short notice and is coming off of a loss, no great surprise given his overall record, but a win in his WSOF debut would be the biggest of his career by far.

Welterweight Bout: Daniel McWilliams (13-32, 169 lbs.) vs. Jamie Yager (6-4, 171 lbs.)

ROUND ONE: Body kicks raded early, McWilliams pushes into the clinch and gets Yager on the fence. Yager has a standing arm in guillotine, bails on that and spins McWilliams down and lands in side control. Yager locks up an elbow lock with his legs from side control and McWilliams taps out.

OFFICIAL RESULT: †WINNER – Jamie Yager via Submission, scarf hold arm lock, at :38 of Round 1

Replay shows it was an armbar just done with only the legs and hips for leverage, not a bad technique if your opponent doesn’t know how to avoid it. Yager gets some mic time, he says being back after three years off feels great, puts over his team, gives glory to God, then thanks his friends and family who are in attendance. He says the submission is an old school technique that his first wrestling coach taught him, he reiterates that he’s back and thanks WSOF for having him.

There’s the finish for those interested, thanks to the good folks on Twitter for getting back to me on the name of that arm lock so quickly.

This next fight will determine the next challenger for the bantamweight title pending the outcome of the main event. Chris Gutierrez has a six fight winning streak going coming into this fight and while this is his WSOF debut a win over the highly touted prospect Valiev and subsequent title opportunity would be huge for the young fighter. Timur Valiev has a ten fight winning streak going on, the last four in the WSOF, and a win here sets up the biggest opportunity of his young career.

Bantamweight Bout: Chris Gutierrez (8-1-1, 136 lbs.) vs. Timur Valiev (10-1, 136 lbs.)

ROUND ONE: Gutierrez has three inches of height but just one of reach on Valiev. Khabib Nurmagomedov sighting, he’s one of Valiev’s cornermen. Valiev circling on the outside early, Gutierrez keeping him in front of him. Gutierrez misses a leg kick then switches to the southpaw stance. Valiev misses a right, both men just getting a feeling for the distance and reaction of the other. Both men range finding with some low and middle kicks. Gutierrez misses a wheel kick. Guierrez lands a left, Valiev shoots a double leg, Gutierrez tries to hold the neck but Valiev able to spin out of it. Gutierrez back up but still in the clinch and Valiev has him on the fence. Valiev uses a head throw, Gutierrez back up quickly and they separate. Gutierrez misses another wheel kick. Valiev moving forward now, keeping Gutierrez on the fence then misses a spinning back fist. Valiev lands a hard right, Gutierrez lands a body kick. Gutierrez tries another spinning attack that lets Valiev clinch him into the fence then land an elbow and a knee to the body. Valiev just misses a spinning back fist as Gutierrez spins from the clinch. Valiev misses a wheel kick. Valiev lands a left then an inside leg kick. They feint away the last few seconds.

SCORECARD: 10-9 Valiev

ROUND TWO: Valiev misses a lead leg high kick then lands a leg kick. Gutierrez misses a high kick, then lands a leg kick. Valiev lands the end of a high kick then a hard leg kick. They both try spinning techniques, Valiev landed to the low leg and knocked Gutierrez down for a second before he regained his feet. Valiev lands a left then gets a takedown, Gutierrez threatening with the guillotine again but bails to wall walk. Valiev keeps him in the clinch on the fence. Valiev trying to work an outside trip, lands a knee to the body. Valiev able to get the takedown into the guard of Gutierrez. Valiev avoids an armbar and lands a couple of punches. Valiev avoids another hip attack from Gutierrez and lands a couple of punches. Valiev lands a couple of elbows, Gutierrez keeping his guard pretty high. Valiev avoids an armbar and passes to side control. Gutierrez able to hip escape to half guard then to full guard. Valiev lands to the body then head. Valiev lands another couple of elbows before the round comes to a close.

SCORECARD: 10-9 Valiev, 20-18 Valiev overall

ROUND THREE: Valiev moving forward early, Gutierrez circling. Valiev lands a leg kick. Valiev misses a leg kick. Valiev misses a right then a high kick. Gutierrez lands a left then eats a knee to the body. Valiev lands a hard leg kick. Valiev has a high kick blocked, he’s picking up the aggression this round and seems to have a feel for the distance. They trade right hands in close. Valiev lands a leg kick. Short right from Valiev lands then a leg kick. Valiev misses a flying side kick. Valiev misses a couple of lefts, Gutierrez sliding just out of range. Both men land leg kicks. Valiev lands another leg kick. Valiev just misses an overhand right, then misses a spinning back kick. Gutierrez pushes close, Valiev slips and gets back up then fights in the clinch but can’t complete a takedown before the round ends.

SCORECARD: 10-9 Valiev, 30-27 Valiev overall

OFFICIAL RESULT: †WINNER – Chris Gutierrez via split decision (27-30, 29-28 x2)

What the heck were those judges watching?

photo clucky_zps208e4184.jpg

That’s the only thing that makes sense.

Joseph Barajas has won his last two fights, including his WSOF debut, and in fact his only loss is to current UFC bantamweight Sirwan Kakai. Tonight Barajas looks to unseat a top ranked bantamweight and claim the WSOF bantamweight title. WSOF bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes is riding a ten fight winning streak including two successful title defenses, a third successful defense here is important if he wants to keep his value high for an eventual UFC run and would possibly move him up in the world bantamweight rankings.

Bantamweight Title Bout: (c) Marlon Moraes (15-4-1, 135 lbs.) vs. Joseph Barajas (12-1, 135 lbs.)

ROUND ONE: Frankie Edgar sighting, he’s wearing a nice dress shirt and slacks while cornering his team mate Moraes. Touch of gloves to get us going. Moraes lands a couple of quick leg kicks. Barajas fighting southpaw early, but he’ll switch frequently. Moraes lands a hard inside leg kick. Moraes lands another leg kick. Moraes lands a high kick then a hard leg kick that drops Barajas to a knee for a moment. Another hard leg kick and Barajas drops holding his leg, Moraes pounces with a few punches but the ref jumps in to stop this one.

OFFICIAL RESULT: †WINNER – Marlon Moraes via TKO, leg kicks, at 1:13 of Round 1

That last leg kick looks like it injured the knee of Barajas, Moraes is a bad man.

Here’s the finish for those interested. Mic time for the champ now. He thanks Christ first for his blessings of family and his team. He says he trained hard and had a rough camp, puts over his training partners including Frankie Edgar then says he wants to use all of his skills and thinks he’s one of the best bantamweights in the world and could fight with any of them. Asked who’s next after Valiev’s loss, he says he thinks Valiev won that fight, then says he’ll fight anyone even the featherweight or lightweight guys next. He says he doesn’t want to sound cocky as he respects the other champions but he feels he can beat them. He thanks his hometown in Brazil for watching to close the interview.

Alright, to kill the rest of their broadcast time they’ll be airing some prelims but that’s going to wrap up live coverage. Thanks for being here and reading along, and it’s nice to see an MMA organization that can have an event without a couple of fighters gassing so badly one of them falls over unprovoked and the other just stands there with his hands on his knees. I’ll be back tomorrow evening for UFC Fight Night 83 when Donald Cerrone takes on Alex Oliveira, hope to see you all there and until then keep checking 411mania for all your pop culture needs.

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Marlon Moraes, WSOF, WSOF 28, Robert Winfree

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