Justin Gaethje has grown to appreciate the view from the top.
Gaethje last appeared at WSOF 23 on Sept. 18, when he stopped Luis Palomino with second-round punches to punctuate their memorable two-fight series. The 27-year-old Grudge Training Center rep has secured 13 of his 15 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission and owns a perfect 8-0 mark in World Series of Fighting competition. Wins over Melvin Guillard, Nick Newell, Dan Lauzon and Gesias Cavalcante anchor the Gaethje resume.
Foster won an eight-man lightweight tournament on Nov. 20 to land his shot at the 155-pound title. The onetime Victory Fighting Championship titleholder boasts 24 finishes -- 12 by submission and 12 by knockout or technical knockout -- among his 25 professional wins, including five-, 32-, 59-, 67-, 69- and 90-second stoppages. Foster, 31, has gone 9-3 since being released by the Ultimate Fighting Championship following a November 2010 guillotine choke submission on Matt Brown.
With the Gaethje-Foster clash as the marquee attraction, here are 10 facts surrounding World Series of Fighting 29:
FACT 1: Gaethje’s eight World Series of Fighting victories tie him with reigning bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes for most in the Las Vegas-based promotion’s history.
FACT 2: Only one of Foster’s 33 professional bouts has gone the distance: a unanimous decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 17 graduate Gilbert Smith under the Titan Fighting Championship banner in 2014.
FACT 3: A Safford, Arizona, native, Gaethje wrestled collegiately at the University of Northern Colorado, where he became the first wrestler in school history to earn NCAA Division I All-America honors.
FACT 4: Foster has competed in 18 different promotions: World Series of Fighting, Titan Fighting Championship, Reto de Campeones MMA, C3 Fights, Victory Fighting Championship, Combat MMA, Capital City Cage Wars, Cage Warriors Fighting Championship, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Shine Fights, Pro Battle MMA, TAP Entertainment, Link Fighting Championship, Art of War, Warriors of the Cage, Dana Pitcher Productions, Blackeye Productions and Masters of the Cage.
FACT 5: The three men who have defeated former Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion Josh Copeland -- Ruslan Magomedov, Jared Rosholt and Vitaly Minakov -- own a cumulative record of 45-4.
FACT 6: Mike Hayes has gone 1-6-1 in eight appearances since capturing the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship heavyweight title with a third-round submission against Andreas Kraniotakes a little less than four years ago.
FACT 7: Strikeforce veteran Cory Devela has held titles in the Sparta Combat League and High Roller Productions promotions.
FACT 8: Louis Taylor has submitted his last three opponents -- Brian Houston, Robbie Gotreau and Eric Hammerich -- with guillotine chokes in a combined 8:14.
FACT 9: Team Wildman Vale Tudo’s Josh Cavan boasts five submissions among his 11 victories: three by triangle choke, one by rear-naked choke and one by Peruvian necktie.
FACT 10: Ian Heinisch was a two-time state wrestling champion at Ponderosa High School in Parker, Colorado.