World Series of Fighting announces undercard for Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – World Series of Fighting announced its Mixed Martial Arts undercard for the NBC Sports Network special headlined by the heavyweight showdown between Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (19-9) and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (15-3).

Local product Kris McCray (8-4) of Toms River, N.J. will be in a middleweight (185 pounds) scrap against battle-tested Danillo “Indio” Villefort (13-4) of Coconut Creek, Fla., and Waylon Lowe (13-4) of Philadelphia, Pa. will square off with Cameron Dollar (11-4) of Colorado Springs, Colo. in a featherweight (145 pounds) tilt, from Ovation Hall at Revel in Atlantic City, N.J. on Saturday, March 23.

No strangers to Atlantic City, having fought there nine times (combined) professionally, Ozzy Dugulubgov (3-1) of Hackensack, N.J. will go up against undefeated prospect Chris Wade (5-0) of Long Island, N.Y. in a catchweight (160 pounds) bout.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and welterweight (170 pounds) upstart Igor Gracie (5-3) of Rio de Janeiro will face Rich Patishnock (4-1) of Whippany, N.J.

The six-bout preliminary card will be topped by a featherweight collision between streaking Duke Roufus protégé Rick “The Gladiator” Glenn (12-2) of Milwaukee, Wisc., and undefeated submission specialist Alexandre”Pulga” Pimentel (12-0) of Rio de Janeiro.

In the bantamweight (135 pounds) co-main event, red-hot 29-year-old star Tyson Nam (12-4) of Portland, Ore., will face off with two-time national Muay Thai champion and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt Marlon Moraes (9-4) of Jupiter, Fla., via Nova Friburgo, Brazil.

“We are excited to bring the World Series of Fighting brand of MMA to Atlantic City, where some of the greatest fights in history have taken place,” said World Series of Fighting President and six-time world kickboxing champion and two-time Hall of Famer, Ray Sefo.  “Andrei Arlovski, Anthony Johnson and Marlon Moraes are all coming off superb performances on our inaugural fight card, and Tyson Nam has been on fire of late, so we felt that it was essential to showcase these stars at the top of our first card on the East Coast.”

Also slated for action on the five-bout TV card are welterweight sensation Josh Burkman (24-9) of Salt Lake City, Utah, who will collide with former UFC star Aaron “A-Train” Simpson (12-4) of Phoenix, Ariz., and former PRIDE Fighting Championships superstar and WEC champion Paulo Filho (23-4) of Rio de Janeiro, who will face off with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt David Branch (11-3) of Brooklyn, N.Y., in a middleweight bout.

Explosive finisher J.Z. Cavalcante (16-6) of Deerfield Beach, Fla., via Brazil, will take on unbeaten, emerging star Justin Gaethje (7-0) of Greeley, Colo., at lightweight (155 pounds).

Coming off his second consecutive victory, a unanimous decision over Mike “300” Hayes Dec. 16, Arlovski, a 33-year-old, 6-foot-4-inch, former UFC heavyweight champion, shined in the main event of the inaugural World Series of Fighting card Nov. 3 in Las Vegas, crumbling fellow power puncher Devin Cole with a barrage of blows in the first round (2:37).

Likewise, the 28-year-old, 6-foot-2-inch Johnson dominated D.J. “Da Protégé” Linderman in the first-ever World Series of Fighting co-main event, scoring a first-round (3:58) KO of Linderman with a punch.  The victory was Johnson’s fourth straight.

Nam made waves Aug. 25 when he pulled off a stunning upset on reigning Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas, scoring a first-round (1:36) KO (punch) in a non-title bout in Brazil.  Nam will put a four-fight win streak on the line in his World Series of Fighting debut.

The 24-year-old Moraes shocked the world on the first World Series of Fighting card, beating former WEC champion Miguel Torres to the punch repeatedly for the majority of three rounds en route to being being awarded a split decision victory.  The win was Moraes’ third straight.