It will be “The Beast” vs. “Lucky” in September.
Ohio native Isaiah Chapman (6-1) will make his World Series of Fighting debut in September, when he faces Timur Valiev (7-1) at WSOF 13, which is slated to take place in Philadelphia on Sept. 13. Valiev posted about the matchup on his Facebook page, and then it was confirmed with sources close to the fight by BluegrassMMA.
The Northeast Ohio product Chapman will come in riding a two-fight winning streak as he picked up victories at Driven MMA’s first two events earlier this year. In March he earned a unanimous decision over Charlie Stanford, and he followed that up in June with another unanimous decision over Andrew Whitney.
Chapman has long been lauded as one of the top prospects in the Buckeye State, dating back to his amateur days when he won back-to-back NAAFS amateur bantamweight titles in 2010 and 2011. He started off his professional career with four straight victories, inclding a highlight reel head kick knockout over Joe Wagner and a memorable come-from-behind submission victory over Dustin Kempf.
Valiev will make his second appearance for WSOF. In June, he earned a TKO via flying knee over Adam Acquaviva at WSOF 10. Valiev is part of a growing crop of fighters from Dagestan, Russia competing on the big stage, and he has won 7 fights in a row since losing his pro debut in 2010.
WSOF 13 will be headlined by a bantamweight title bout featuring champion Marlon Moraes defending his title against Josh Hill. It will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network.