Seven fighters turned down bout with Spong

World Series of Fighting vice president and matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz confirmed with MMAWeekly.com that seven different opponents were approached and offered the fight with Spong, and all seven turned down the opportunity until Bartlett was the one who finally said yes.
One name that was confirmed among the list was former UFC light heavyweight Houston Alexander, and Abdel-Aziz said several other recognizable names made up the list of fighters who didn’t want to be Spong’s first test inside the cage.