Ivanov Wins Quickly, Harrison Dethrones

Three title bouts made up the main card of WSOF 35, which took place in Verona, New York, but only one that had a champion was able to successfully retain their title.

That honor goes to the WSOF heavyweight champion, Blagoy Ivanov. Ivanov defeated Shawn Jordan in quick fashion in the event’s headlining bout to remain the champ.

Jordan pushes Ivanov to the outside early on, but Ivanov got the action back to the center and landed a combination. Ivanov landed a hard left and continued to pound away on Jordan until the referee stopped the bout, giving Ivanov the win and a successful title defense.

In the co-main event, Andre Harrison became the new WSOF featherweight champion by defeating Lance Palmer. Harrison had a heavy kick-based offense throughout the first round, though Palmer seemed to be more in control throughout. Towards the end of the round, however, Harrison knocked Palmer down, but Palmer was able to pop back up. Palmer looked to fire away with his hands early on in the second, but switched to a kick-based offense himself. Harrison then took down Palmer and kept him on the ground for the rest of the round, firing shots and stopping any grapple and transition attempts by Palmer.

In the third, Palmer gets locked in a clinch and has to escape before getting hit with a hard knee. Palmer got Harrison to the cage, but Harrison escaped and fired back with kicks. Harrison stuffed a takedown attempt from Palmer, and both fighters simply swung away in the last 30 seconds. The fourth round saw little contact early on, but Harrison managed to score a takedown again. After stoppage due to a low blow, punches continued to fly towards the bell. Not much contact again from either fighter early on in the final round, that is until a right hand from Harrison rocks the defending champion and sends him into retreat. Palmer rolls through a single-leg takedown attempt, and he is bloodied, with the blood pouring out of him onto the canvas. Harrison followed up with hard shot after hard shot until the final bell.

The judges ruled in Harrison’s favor, 49-46, 48-47, 48-47, making him the new featherweight champion.

The main card opened with a bout for the vacant bantamweight championship between Donavon Frelow and Bekbulat Magomedov. An overhand right put Magomedov on a knee, but Frelow did not take advantage, and Magomedov eventually took his opponent down and controlled the rest of the round on the ground. There was not much action in the second round until Magomedov slammed Frelow down to the canvas with about a minute to go in the round. The same song and dance happened in the third.

Frelow attempted a guillotine when he was taken down in the fourth, but he wasn’t effective in doing so. Magomedov, meanwhile, was able to get Frelow’s back and lock in a body triangle. Magomedov was in control, scoring with punches to the head, but he couldn’t get in a choke by round’s end. Magomedov just executed another takedown in the fifth, and that’s all he needed to earn the decision and title.

WSOF 35 Official Results:
WSOF heavyweight title: (c) Blagoy Ivanov def. Shawn Jordan via TKO (Rd. 1, 1:43)
WSOF featherweight title: Andre Harrison def. (c) Lance Palmer via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
For the vacant WSOF bantamweight title: Bekbulat Magomedov def. Donovan Frelow via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)

WSOF 35 Undercard Results:
Abubakar Nurmagomedov def. Matt Secor via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Tom Marcellino def. Bill Jones via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Hakeem Dawodu def. Steven Siler via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 30-27)
Islam Mamedov def. Natan Schulte via submission (armbar) (Rd. 2, 4:56)
Steven Rodriguez def. Alexandre Almeida via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
Emmanuel Walo def. Andrews Nakahara via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)