(PRESS RELEASE) -- LAS VEGAS – World Series of Fighting (WSOF.com) will kick off the New Year with its 27th live event and first trip ever to the FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn. on Saturday, Jan. 23, live on NBCSN at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
“We are excited to make our debut in Memphis thanks, in great part, to V3 Fights, which has a stellar reputation for putting together great events in that market and is helping us bring our brand of live, world-class MMA action to new fans,” said World Series of Fighting CEO Carlos Silva.
Tickets for the event start at just $39.99, and are on sale at WSOF.com, all Ticketmaster locations, ticketmaster.com, the FedExForum Box Office, or by phone at (800) 745-3000.
Mike Ricci vs. Caros Fodor
The 29-year-old Ricci (11-4) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada will enter the World Series of Fighting decagon cage on a three-fight win streak after scoring a highlight reel KO on Joe Condon with a head kick in the first round (2:41) of their matchup in the quarterfinal stage matchup of the WSOF25 one-night, eight-man tournament.
Fodor (10-4) of Kirkland, Wash. is looking to notch his third consecutive win in his World Series of Fighting debut after concluding a successful, four-fight run in Asia. The 31-year-old protégé of Matt Hume and brother of fellow World Series of Fighting competitor and costumed superhero Phoenix Jones exploded onto the national MMA scene in 2010 when he ran to five consecutive wins with the now defunct Strikeforce promotion.
Teddy Holder vs. Shamil Gamzatov
Holder (9-2) of Bartlett, Tenn. is a former high school football star turned MMA machine who made his first big mark in the sport at WSOF19 on March 28 after being bumped up from the event’s undercard to a co-main event matchup with established star Thiago Silva, on the day of the event due to the withdrawal of Silva’s original opponent, Matt Hamill, from the matchup.
Holder, whose nine-career victories have all come by way of (T)KO or submission, scored an upset, first round (2:00) TKO on Silva with a barrage of punches.
The unbeaten Gamzatov (9-0) of Makhachkala, Russia will make his debut in the U.S. after finishing all of his professional opponents to date in either the first or second round. The 25-year-old is the number two ranked light heavyweight in the Ukraine and the number 24 ranked light heavyweight in Russia.
Additional matchups for WSOF27 will be announced soon.
For more information, visit fedexforum.com, ‘like’ FedExForum on Facebook or follow on Twitter (@FedExForum).
ABOUT WORLD SERIES OF FIGHTING
"World Series of Fighting" (WSOF) is a worldwide premier professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight promotion dedicated to delivering the best action-packed fights for fight fans by producing the best possible match-ups between elite fighters from around the world. For more information please visit WSOF.com and follow "World Series of Fighting" on Twitter @MMAWorldSeries. WSOF and World Series of Fighting are registered trademarks of MMAWC, LLC.
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