WSOF 25: Rules Announced For One-Night, Eight-Man Tournament

LAS VEGAS (October 29, 2015) –World Series of Fighting (WSOF.com) announced today, a comprehensive set of rules for its historic, one-night, eight-man lightweight (155 pounds) tournament on Friday, Nov. 20, live on NBCSN at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT from Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz.

“We are looking forward to a competitive night of tournament action after months of evaluating how we could make this the most exciting event possible and, at the same time, ensure the safety of our athletes and give each of them the best opportunity to prevail in the cage,” said World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo.

A former, six-time world kickboxing champion and two-time Hall of Famer, Sefo is a decorated veteran of over 50, one-night tournaments.

Designed to maximize the performance of its athletes and ensure that a decisive winner emerges in each bout, the “WSOF 25: 8-Man Lightweight Tournament” rules include scoring by a fourth cageside judge in the event that the original three judges in place score any bout a draw.

Additionally, elbow strikes will be permitted in the championship bout of the tournament when the standard, Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts take effect, but not in the quarterfinal or semifinal stages of the single-elimination affair.

Each of the four quarterfinal stage tournament bouts as well as both semifinal stage bouts will consist of two, five-minute rounds. The championship bout will be comprised of three, five-minute rounds.

Priced from $29.99, tickets for “WSOF 25: 8-Man Lightweight Tournament” are on sale at the Comerica Theatre box office as well as online at Ticketmaster.com and WSOF.com.

In one bracket of the eight-man tournament affair, Luis “Baboon” Palomino (23-11) of Miami, Fla. will square off with Rich Patishnock (6-2) of East Stroudsberg, Pa., while Brian Foster (23-7) of Sallisaw, Okla. will collide with Joao Zeferino (18-6) of Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

In the opposite bracket, Brian “The Bandit” Cobb (20-8) of Bakersfield, Calif. will battle Mike “The Martian” Ricci (10-4) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, while Islam Mamedov (12-1) of Jersey City, N.J. via Derbent, Dagestan, Russia will face Jorge “Macaco” Patino (38-15-2, 1 NC) of Houston, Texas via Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The winner of the fight between Palomino and Patishnock will meet the winner of the fight between Foster and Zeferino in the semifinal stage of the tournament, while the winner of the bout between Cobb and Ricci will square off with the winner of the bout between Mamedov and Patino in the semifinal stage of the event.

The two semifinal stage winners will face one another in the championship round.

In the lightweight co-main event, Jason “The Kansas City Bandit” High (18-5) of Kansas City, Mo. will duke it out with Estevan “El Terrible” Payan (16-8, 1 NC) of Tempe, Ariz.

In one of two tournament reserve bouts, LaRue “The Cannibal” Burley (6-1) of Mesa, Ariz. will go to war with Joe Condon (12-8) of Victorville, Calif.

In the second reserve contest, Benny “El Hijo” Madrid (11-3) of Phoenix will face Ramil Mustapayev (3-1) of Ossetia, Russia.

Should any of the tournament’s quarterfinal stage fight winners be unable to re-enter the cage for his semifinal stage commitment due to an injury sustained en route to victory, the loser of the bout will advance to the following tournament round in place of the hurt fighter.

If neither the winner nor loser are healthy enough to re-enter the cage, however, one of the reserve fight winners will serve as a replacement in the tournament field.

Doors at Comerica Theatre will open at 5 p.m. MT, and the first bout will begin at 6 p.m.

Additional bouts will be announced soon.