The lineup for next week’s “World Series of Fighting 12: Palomino vs. Gonzalez” is now complete with the addition of a four-bout preliminary card.
World Series of Fighting 12 adds four undercard fights
The new additions to the event include lightweights Lucas Montoya (6-3) vs. Jimmy Spicuzza (4-0), welterweights Danny “Dee1” Davis Jr. (9-8-1) vs. Jorge “Lil’ Monster” Lopez (11-4), bantamweights Adam Acquaviva (1-1) vs. Cody Maltais (2-0) and featherweights Soslan Abanokov (4-1) vs. Bryson Gutches (2-0).
“World Series of Fighting 12: Palomino vs. Gonzalez” takes place Aug. 9 at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Featuring a key lightweight matchup between hard-hitting Peruvian veteran Luis Palomino (22-9) and undefeated Californian contender Lewis Gonzalez (9-0), the evening’s five-fight main card airs live on NBCSN at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT local time). The newly announced four-fight preliminary card streams live on NBCSports.com at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT local time).
Tickets for “World Series of Fighting 12: Palomino vs. Gonzalez” start at just $39 and are on sale now at AXS.com.
“Part of our job at World Series of Fighting is to seek out the best up-and-coming talent in mixed martial arts and put them in matchups that truly test their ability to perform at the highest level of the sport,” World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo said. “Seven of the eight fighters on this preliminary card live and train right here in our home base of Las Vegas, the ‘Fight Capital of the World.’
“This event will give them all a chance to shine and perhaps earn their way into a televised main-card matchup in the very near future.”
Lucas Montoya is a part of Utah’s Blackout MMA and makes his World Series of Fighting debut. Fighting professionally since 2007, Montoya started his career at just 1-2 but has since rebounded with an impressive stretch of five wins in his past six bouts, with all five of those wins coming by first-round stoppage. He now meets the Robert Drysdale product Jimmy Spicuzza, who already owns World Series of Fighting wins over Justin Jaynes and Gil Guardado. Both of those wins came earlier this year.
Danny Davis Jr. is a longtime veteran of the Las Vegas fight scene who boasts previous appearances for Strikeforce and King of the Cage, among others. While dealing with his share of losses throughout the years, Davis has been fine-tuning his game at Xtreme Couture and Robert Drysdale Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and currently owns a three-fight winning streak, including a World Series of Fighting 9 win over Phil Dace. Meanwhile, Jorge Lopez is a longtime Wanderlei Silve protege who is now training at Syndicate MMA. He’ll look for a much-needed win after dropping three heartbreaking fights in a row by decision, including two razor-thin split-decision results.
Just 22 years old, Syndicate MMA’s Adam Acquaviva made his World Series of Fighting debut in June, turning in a thrilling performance in a hard-fought loss to Timur Valiev. He now returns to action against undefeated Californian Cody Maltais, who now works under submission master Robert Drysdale.
Following a successful amateur career, Syndicate MMA fighters Bryson Gutches made his professional debut in December and has since earned a pair of victories. He now meets 25-year-old Soslan Abanokov, who fights for the first time this year after putting together a perfect 3-0 campaign in 2013.
The complete “World Series of Fighting 12: Palomino vs. Gonzalez” lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (NBCSN)
Luis Palomino vs. Lewis Gonzalez
Cully Butterfield vs. Ronny Markes
Elvis Mutapcic vs. Kelvin Tiller
Brandon Hempleman vs. Alexis Vila
Bryson Hansen vs. Matt Sayles
PRELIMINARY CARD (NBCSports.com)
Lucas Montoya vs. Jimmy Spicuzzai
Danny Davis Jr. vs. Jorge Lopez
Adam Acquaviva vs. Cody Maltais
Soslan Abanokov vs. Bryson Gutches
