Worldwide MMA Preview – WSOF, ROC and EFC

We have a busy weekend of MMA in front of us, including a card by World Series of Fighting and Ireland’s own Peter Queally competing for EFC in South Africa.

WSOF 21 comes from Edmonton, Canada on Friday night and features two title fights. Topping the bill is the featherweight clash between current champion Lance Palmer and Chris Horodecki. While both men may be the same age, Horodecki holds the experience advantage with over 25 professional bouts including fights in WEC and Bellator. Palmer fights out of Team Alpha Male and has a 9-1 record, as you can expect from a Team Alpha Male disciple he has a good array of chokes and all his finishes have come via submission.

In the co-main event heavyweight champion Smealinho Rama fights the Bulgarian Blagoy Ivanov. With a 9-1 record at only 23 years of age Rama is one of the top heavyweight prospects in the world but he has a tough challenge ahead of him. Ivanov beat Fedor Emelianenko on his way to the 2008 World Sambo Championship and the only blemish on his 11-1 MMA record came in the final of a Bellator tournament to Alexander Volkov. The winner of this fight will put themselves in a great position to be signed by the UFC in the near future and it is definitely one to watch, especially with the aging crop of fighters who currently occupy the upper echelons of the heavyweight rankings.

One of America’s finest regional promotions is also promoting a card this Friday. Ring of Combat 51 from New Jersey has a card with several title fights, the most interesting being the bantamweight scrap between Julio Arce and Michael Imperato. Arce sports a perfect 7-0 record which includes five wins under the ROC banner while Imperato is making his debut for the promotion and has a 7-1 record. Imperato gained some infamy last October when he was signed by the UFC only to be released 24 hours later as indiscretions in his past caught up with him and this is his first fight since then.

Saturday will give us an opportunity to see Peter Queally at lightweight as he takes on the 5-0 Igeu Kabesa at EFC 40 from South Africa. Queally looked impressive in his EFC debut last year and now hopes to make a run at the EFC lightweight belt. The card also features the return of Ruan Potts who had a successful run in the promotion before he was signed to the UFC and proceeded to go 0-3, being finished every time. He looks to get his career back on track on his home turf against the Frenchman Cyril Asker who holds a 5-1 record with the lone defeat coming against Karl Moore.