Check out all the results from World Series Of Fighting’s New Years Eve event in New York City below.
In the main event of the evening, WSOF lightweight champion Justin Gaethje racked up another successful defense of his title by forcing a stoppage against Luiz Firmino after a hard-hitting war in the cage.
Both men showed a willingness to throw caution to the wind and slug it out on the feet, which they did for a full three rounds, and would likely have continued to do so in the fourth if a cage-side doctor hadn’t deemed that Firmino was unfit to continue in-between rounds due to a badly swollen right eye, leading to a TKO stoppage.
Meanwhile, in the co-main event battle of veterans, Jon Fitch retained his welterweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Jake Shields.
These two are notorious for their grinding, grappling styles and we saw plenty of that here, but while Fitch did good work there he was also able to use his wrestling to keep the fight standing at times too, where he enjoyed a clear advantage in terms of striking.
That helped Fitch to earn the ‘W’, but afterwards the 38 year-old indicated that he may be on the verge of retirement for health reasons, citing a potentially troubling MRI scan he received recently in addition to a bulging disc in his neck.
Earlier on the main card Yushin Okami just did enough to earn a split decision win over Paul Bradley, while long-time WSOF bantamweight champ Marlon Moraes made short work of Josenaldo Silva after his opponent tapped out due to a knee injury mid-way through the first round.
Meanwhile, in the prelims, middleweight champion David Branch left it late to find a rear-naked choke submission against Louis Taylor in the fifth round to successfully defend his belt.
Check out all the WSOF 34 results below.
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Main Card:
Justin Gaethje def. Luiz Firmino via TKO (doctor stoppage) at 5.00mins of Rd3
Jon Fitch def. Jake Shields via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)
Yushin Okami def. Paul Bradley via split decision (29-28 28-29, 29-28)
Marlon Moraes def. Josenaldo Silva via submission (tapout due to knee injury) at 2:30 of R1
Prelims:
David Branch def. Louis Taylor via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:00 of R5
Caio Alencar def. Jared Rosholt via KO (punches) at 1:17 of R1
Shane Krutchen def. Jeremy Mahon via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Smealinho Rama def. Jake Heun via second-round TKO (3:30)
Bruno Santos def. Vagab Vagabov via split decision (28-29, 29-29, 29-28)
Andre Harrison def. Bruce Boyington via submission (RNC) (R1, 1:54)
Tom Marcellino def. Matt Denning via submission (guillotine) (R1, 3:30)
