UFC
WSOF 9 Results Recap: Palhares subs Carl with heel hook, Moraes captures title, Okami and Burkman win
Mar 29, 2014 - 11:50:53 PM WSOF 9 Results Recap: Palhares subs Carl with heel hook, Moraes captures title, Okami and Burkman win

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The World Series of Fighting crowned two new Champions on Saturday night, with Rousimar Palhares defeating Steve Carl for the Welterweight Championship and Marlon Moraes taking home the inaugural Title at 135 lbs.

In addition to those two fights, Josh Burkman got back on track in the welterweight division, and Yushin Okami made a successful debut in the organization on the NBC Sports Network main card.

The night ended with Palhares doing what he's done a number of times before, catching a fighter in a submission and needing a referee to pull him off. He caught Carl's leg early in the first round, and after the rolled a couple of times he locked on the heel hook. Carl tapped in pain, and it took the referee moving to break his hands apart to break the hold.

It wasn't as egregious as his held submission win over Mike Pierce last October, and for most fighters it wouldn't have been an issue. However, given Palhares' history of held submissions, and the UFC release that brought just five months ago, Saturday's submission still sat wrong for many observers.

Carl may be leaving Las Vegas with a leg injury after that hold, as will Bantamweight Title competitor Josh Rettinghouse, who proved simply too tough for his own good in the co-main event against Marlon Moraes. The Brazilian battered Rettinghouse with leg kicks, severely damaging the leg in the third round and seemingly hesitant to do too much further damage down the stretch. While he played things a bit safe, it seemed he was saving Rettinghouse from the worst he could have done. Rettinghouse's corner allowed him to continue on despite clearly having nothing more for Moraes, who swept the cards with a unanimous 10-8 in the third round for 50-44 scores across the board, making Moraes the first ever WSOF Bantamweight Champion.

Yushin Okami fought for the first time since his release from the UFC last year following a loss to Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. That release becomes more unfortunate given the way this fight played out, as Okami entirely out-classed Svetlozar Savov en route to a second round arm triangle choke win. It was entirely how the fight was expected, and Okami gets back in the win column against a massive step down in competition.

Finally, in the only other main card fight with significance, Burkman bounced back from a loss to Carl in the first-ever WSOF Welterweight Title bout last year, knocking out Tyler Stinson with an excellent right hand to the jaw. He caught Stinson with the strike in the center of the cage in the first round, and added another shot on the ground to finish things off.

It wasn't WSOF's best night overall, but it was certainly a newsworthy card to move forward in 2014.