World Series of Fighting 33 goes down in Kansas City tonight, and unfortunately the main event has been canceled on short notice. Lightweight title challenger Ozzy Dugulubgov was forced to go to the hospital today, and is unable to compete against champion Justin Gaethje.
This doesn’t mean that the card is doomed though. There are still plenty of recognizable names, and another title fight has been bumped up to the headliner. Dual champion David Branch will defend his light heavyweight title against Vinny Magalhaes in the new main event.
The WSOF 33 prelims can be streamed right here beginning at 8pm ET/5pm PT. There will be five fights on the preliminary card. The main card begins at 11pm ET/8pm PT on the NBC Sports Network (or the same stream here if you’re international), and has five fights as well, including the title fight.
You can check out a preview for the event here, and watch a Vivisection about the event here. Both were produced before the main event change.
David Branch vs. Vinny Magalhaes [LHW title]
Round 1 – No glove touch. Branch with two left jabs and a hard shot that sends Vinny down to his back. He may have just been looking to get Branch to follow him though. Magalhaes waded in with some strikes but couldn’t clinch up. Branch with a four-punch combo. Branch using his speed advantage well. Nice jab and overhand right from Branch. Vinny with a straight left. Jab from Branch. Magalhaes with a big head kick at the horn. 10-9 Branch.
Round 2 – Branch pumping the jab and kicking the inside leg. Hard outside leg kick from Magalhaes. To the inside now. Branch with a lefting left hook that drops Magalhaes! Vinny is scrambling but Branch is landing hard GnP. He’s engaging Vinny on the ground. Finally he let him up. Magalhaes is still wobbled. Two more left hooks, and Branch with some knees in the clinch. He steps away. Another left hook. Big rights again. Magalhaes flopped to his back but Branch let him up. Magalhaes still firing back, but Branch is beating him up. Jab from Branch. Another left hook. Branch is letting him off the hook a bit though. 10-8 Branch.
Round 3 – Jab from Branch. He checked a few Magalhaes kicks. Branch with the left hook, doesn’t land flush though.h Another left hook sends Vinny staggering back. Leg kick from Magalhaes, and another. Body shots from Branch now. More jabs. Magalhaes is just kicking. To the body again from Branch. They trade jabs. 10-9 Branch.
Round 4 – Branch caught a kick and scored with a right hook. Vinny responded with a body kick. Jab from Branch. Pretty tepid pace now. Two leaping left hooks come up just short. The next one connects. Not much happening though. Branch landed another left hook that seemed to wobble Magalhaes. 10-9 Branch.
Round 5 – Branch bringing pressure immediately. Magalhaes finally shot for a takedown but missed badly. Branch caught a Vinny kick and kicked him in the gut. Jab. Big combo against the fence. Magalhaes circles away. Vinny with some kicks. Branch with a combo that’s mostly blocked. It feels like Branch should have put him away a while ago. Branch with another left hook. 10-9 and 50-44 Branch.
David Branch defeated Vinny Magalhaes by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-44)
Jason High vs. Joao Zeferino
Round 1 – High with a hard inside leg kick. He followed it with a body kick. Big takedown from Zeferino but High locked up a guillotine. Zeferino fought for position but High got to mount. High let it go and Zeferino got up. High with a counter left. Zeferino wades in with a combo. High clinches up. Zeferino with a right hook. Both men throwing single shots. Zeferino cracked High and got a takedown. He dropped a few elbows and contolled High pretty easily. High got up with 10 seconds to go but ate a kick on the way up. 10-9 Zeferino.
Round 2 – High jumped in with an early right. Zeferino waded in an got a takedown. High thought he took a low shot, but the ref didn’t stop it. High with a nice reversal off of a guillotine attempt. Zeferino with another takedown not long after though. The ref stood them up rather quickly with 2:20 to go. High with a right hook but Zeferino backed him up to the fence. Nice trip takedown. Quick standup again. 10-9 Zeferino again.
Round 3 – Zeferino with a body kick. High with a hard right. A right from Zeferino drops High and the fight is over! Wow, that may have been a quick stop.
Joao Zeferino defeated Jason High by TKO (punch), :51 of round 3
Luiz Firmino vs. Brian Foster
Round 1 – Leg kicks from both men. Firmino closed the distance but Foster stopped the takedown and landed a few shots. Firmino dropped for a leg lock, but ended up in top position. Firmino very active on top, but Foster is matching his every move. Foster briefly looked for an arm, but Firmino is grinding. Foster used the cage to spin and locked up a triangle. And Firmino tapped! It’s over! Firmino is saying he didn’t tap, but it’s over.
Brian Foster defeated Luiz Firmino by submission (triangle choke), 3:14 of round 1
Firmino was complaining about an illegal kick on the ground earlier in the fight. But nothing came of it.
John Howard vs. Abubakar Nurmagomedov
Round 1 – Nurmagomedov with a looping right, and an inside leg kick. Howard with his own inside leg kick. Quick straight right from Nurmy. Hard knee in the clinch from Khabib’s cousin. Howard with a combo and wanders into the clinch. Nurmagomedov looked for a takedown but couldn’t get it. After a few more seconds, he shot in beautifully and got Howard to the floor. Abubakar just smothered Howard for the rest of the round. 10-9 Nurmagomedov.
Round 2 – Jab from Nurmagomedov, and a head kick. Howard with an outside leg kick. Combo from Nurmy. Howard looks for a takedown but Abubakar squirms away. Howard cracks him with a right though. Nurmagomedov shoots in but gets stuffed. Straight right from Nurmy. And another. Howard not throwing much, just reacting. Nurmahomedov dancing around and consistently scoring with the right. Howard waded in and got cracked with a right elbow that put Howard on the mat! He’s back up though, looking for a takedown. And he got it, for a couple of seconds at least. Now Nurmy got a takedown. 10-9 Nurmagomedov.
Round 3 – Howard trying to press the action now that he’s down a couple of rounds. They clinch up briefly. Leg kick from Howard. Nurmagomedov chains together a few things and eventually gets a takedown. Khabib is shouting instructions in the corner. Not much happening. The ref stood them up with 90 seconds to go. Howard charhing forward with hands but Nurmagomedov avoided the damage. Howard stuffed a takedown attemp and connected with a right hook while Abubakar was looking at the clock. Howard tried to jump into a submission and…nothing happened. 10-9 and 30-27 Nurmagomedov.
Abubakar Nurmagomedov defeated John Howard by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Ashley Gooch vs. Shawn Jordan
Round 1 – A bunch of feinting to start. Gooch charged forward but got caught with an elbow. Jordan coming forward now, and gets a takedown against the cage after landing three or four punchs. He worked in half huard, trying to trap an arm. Some rights from the UFC vet. Gooch wasn’t having much fun there and rolled over. Jordan worked from his opponent’s back, landing punching on Gooch against the cage. He flattened him out and punched him in the dome for a while. Gooch posted up, but got flattened out again. Jordan finally got the stoppage after a sustained beating.
Shawn Jordan defeated Ashley Gooch by TKO (strikes), 4:40 of round 1
Chris Gutierrez vs. Timur Valiev
Round 1 – They’re exchanging kicks. Valiev is controlling the center. He catches a kick and takes Gutierrez down. Valiev deftly passes to side. Gutierrez is trying some slick stuff to get back to full guard but Valiev is having nothing to do with it. And as I say that, he gets back to full guard. Gutierrez did a good job locking down Valiev, but he spent more than half the round on his back. 10-9 Valiev.
Round 2 – Gutierrez with a body kick 20 seconds in, and guess what? It got caught and he’s on his back now. Valiev took his back with one hook and landed a few punches to the dome. Gutierrez managed to get back to full guard. This is pretty much where it stayed for three minutes or so. Valiev was doing enough to maintain. Gutierrez managed to get to his feet, but was dragged right back down. Gutierrez was just stuck in a body lock. 10-9 Valiev again.
Round 3 – Valiev with a leg kick. Gutierrez circling, but not throwing anything. Valiev takedown a minute in. Gutierrez threatened with a triangle, and got back to his feet. Valiev clinched against the cage. The ref separates them. Body kick from Gutierrez. Valiev responds with a leg kick. They trade leg kicks. Valiev with a combo. Gutierrez looking for a flashy kick. Valiev ties him and they exchange knees. Two hard elbows from Valiev. 10-9 and 30-27 Valiev.
Prelims
Bekbulat Magomedov defeated Jesse Brock by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-28)
Abu Azaitar defeated Michael Arrant by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-29)
Magomed Magomedkerimov defeated Bobby Cooper by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
Bryce Mitchell vs. Brandon Phillips by submission (arm triangle choke), 3:14 of round 2)
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