The second ever World Series of Fighting card is set to take place tomorrow (Saturday) night, live on NBC Sports Network. However, Bloody Elbow has learned that there are major issues that may prevent the show from taking place.
From what we have been told, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board had not approved the WSOF cage for the event by late Friday evening. There are issues with both the corner pads and the canvas — which is a foot short — that are holding things up.
WSOF will apparently be borrowing corner pads from a local promoter and has a canvas being flown in from Las Vegas. The main issue is that if the canvas does not correctly fit the cage floor, it could lead to a situation where the cage will not be cleared which would almost certainly lead to the cancellation of the event.
This would, of course, be a disaster for the promotion. I can’t imagine that NBC Sports will appreciate having a suddenly empty block of programming at the last minute, and the cost of promoting the event without any sort of gate receipts or advertising..etc. would likely be crippling.
The weigh-ins for the event suffered from issues as well, with delays caused by issues with the proper paperwork for the fighters not being filled out correctly.
Update: Nick Lembo of the New Jersey commission tells Bloody Elbow “The cage still needs to gain approval, has not yet. New canvas to be flown in, and new post pads. Will check out tomorrow. Cage must still be inspected and gain approval after noted deficiencies are addressed.”
Edit: The original version said corner posts were one of the issues, it is actually corner pads.
Update: The canvas had not been officially cleared by 2:30 p.m. ET. However, it is the canvas they used on their first show that was flown in, so one would assume that it will be cleared once the NJSACB gets to the arena and inspects it.
About the author
