As we've learned time and time again, one-night tournaments often lead to wild and unforeseen match-up shifts at the last second. And for World Series of Fighting, that madness is starting early, as WSOF 25's eight-man lightweight bracket underwent a significant reshuffling after a pair of tournament competitors withdrew on Thursday.
Just a day before fight night, WSOF executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz confirmed to MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani that tourney entrant Brian Cobb and tourney reserve fighter Benny Madrid are late scratches for the Nov. 20 event.
Cobb, a UFC veteran who arrived in Phoenix on Wednesday, was scheduled to meet fellow ex-UFC fighter Mike Ricci (10-4) in the opening round of the eight-man bracket, but instead has withdrawn from the competition for undisclosed reasons.