World Series of Fighting Sets its Sights on Japan for Global Expansion; Partnership with Pancrase

(Andrei Arlovski vs. Mike Kyle at WSOF 5)

 

The World Series of Fighting (WSOF) has been making a name for themselves, putting on solid shows with a nice roster of talents and names alike. This past weekend, it held its first ever title fight in the welterweight division and plans on more in the coming months to create coherent divisional rankings with a champion at the head of each, respectively.

This move to Japan comes with a partnership with the Pancrase organization which operates out of Tokyo.

Now this upstart promotion headed up by president Ray Sefo has set sail for Japan to expand its global presence and to become a premiere source of MMA in the world (via Press Release):

“Japan has long been a home of top-level martial arts competitions of all types, and I personally have enjoyed some of the best moments of my fighting career there,” World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo said. “I’m excited to announce this new division with the launch of World Series of Fighting Japan.

 “I look forward to working with Pancrase CEO Masakazu Sakai and his team, and together we will produce amazing events for the Japanese fight fans, as well as big opportunities for both Asia-based fighters and MMA fighters around the globe.”

The first World Series of Fighting Japan event is expected to take place in early 2014. The relationship will allow fighters from both sides of the Pacific Ocean to be featured in fight cards in both the U.S. and Japan, including recent World Series of Fighting addition Yushin “Thunder” Okami (29-8), one of the world’s top-ranked middleweights.

You’ll notice the mention of recent signee and former UFC middleweight contender, Yushin Okami who will likely headline the first WSOF card in his native Japan.

This will be the third country that the WSOF has traveled to as they head to Canada on December 7th for their WSOF 7 show at the PNE Agrodome in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. That card is headlined by Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson and Mike ‘MAK’ Kyle.

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