WSOF 24 Date: October 17, 2015 Arena: Foxwoods Resort Casino City: Mashantucket, CT The World Series of Fighting (WSOF) returns with WSOF 24: Fitch vs Okami. The event will feature 12 bouts in entirety, including a seven fight preliminary card to stream live on the promotion’s website at 7pm ET and a five fight main card to get going on the NBC Sports Network at 9pm ET. If interested in wagering on any bouts for this fight card, all betting lines will be made available at Several Bookmakerss. My Fights to AVOID betting for WSOF 24: Heavyweight title bout: Blagoi Ivanov (-270) vs Derrick Mehmen (+210) Gabe’s Thoughts: Ivanov is coming off a third round submission victory over Smealinho Rama, where he captured the WSOF heavyweight title. At the time, Rama was coming off a first round knockout win over Mehmen, who has since bounced back into the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Brett Rogers. Ivanov will be looking to make his first title defense in this five round heavyweight contest and I favor him to get his hand raised again. I think he has several realistic routes to victory, as I could easily see him submitting Mehmen, putting him away with a T/KO or grinding out a decision win on the cards. If this heavyweight title bout plays out for all 25 minutes, it likely won’t be a very exciting fight and we’d see Ivanov blanketing Mehmen. If his cardio proves to be superior, I could see him scoring a late finish, but I don’t think he will have a cardio advantage in this bout. That said, while I do favor Ivanov to get the win here, I don’t see any value in him for a wager at his current betting line of -270. I think he should be a -250 favorite, so I more-or-less agree with the line, but since it offers no value, I am going to avoid it at the sportsbook tomorrow night. Gabe’s Call: Ivanov by Submission (armbar, 3:04 round 3) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID Featherweight bout: Adam Ward (+365) vs Rick Glenn (-505) Gabe’s Thoughts: Ward last saw action half a year ago, where he saw an impressive five fight winning streak (which included unanimous decision victories over veteran Rey Trujillo and now-UFC featherweight Makwan Amirkhani, respectively) snapped in a third round rear naked choke submission against Wisconsin’s Nate Jennerman. Glenn is coming off a loss, as well, being defeated by Lance Palmer via, also via third round rear naked choke, and ultimately losing his WSOF featherweight title in the process. The loss snapped a 13 fight undefeated streak for the Roufusport product, and he is eager to get back to his winning ways. I do agree that Glenn should be the betting favorite in this bout, however I don’t agree with the current betting odds. I do think there’s value to be had with Ward and see this as a “dog or pass” situation, however I am opting to take the pass. I can’t blame anybody for taking a shot with him at his current underdog tag of +365, but I couldn’t justify playing Glenn at his current betting price of -505. Gabe’s Call: Glenn by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID
