With Tyrone Spong off card, Steve Carl vs. Tyson Steele set as new WSOF 3 co-headliner

Now that crossover kickboxing sensation Tyrone Spong is officially off the World Series of Fighting (WSOF) 3 fight card, the promotion needed a new co-main event for the June 14, 2013 fight card, and fortunately, they've found one.

According to a press release sent out by WSOF officials on Friday (May 3, 2013), a welterweight bout of Tyson Steele vs. Steve Carl is now one of the features contests for the event, which goes down from The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"We are excited to have the opportunity to replace the original co-main event with a matchup between two of MMA's fastest rising stars who are both on course to become future champions," WSOF president Ray Sefo stated in the release. "Losing Tyrone from this card is unfortunate, but our fighters need to prepare sufficiently to compete at this level, and we are certainly not going to take any shortcuts or try to rush a matchup if one or both fighters are not ready to compete. We will move forward and look forward to seeing Tyrone back in the World Series of Fighting cage very soon."

Steele (10-1) is a 26-year-old prospect based out of Canada who will bring a four-fight win-streak into the WSOF cage, including a (technical) knockout finish of Gregor Gracie at the rookie WSOF event in Nov. 2012.

Carl (19-3) has far more experience under his belt when compared to Steele, as he fought four times under the Bellator MMA banner in 2010-2011, going 2-2 in the promotion with wins over Brett Cooper and Tyler Stinson.

The fight could play out as a ground battle with both fighters possessing extremely savvy submission skills. Of a combined 29 mixed martial arts (MMA) victories, Steele and Carl have won 21 fights by submission.

For more news and notes on WSOF 3, be sure to hit up our complete event archive here.