News
CW 131 Preview and weigh-in results
Cage Warriors’ Double Trouble end of year bash gets underway tomorrow night with CW 131, emanating from the iconic York Hall in London.
The night sees two title fights, with an undercard filled to the brim with talent.
In the main event of CW 131, Matthew Bonner defends his middleweight title against the undefeated Djati Melan, while in the co-main event, a new lightweight champion will be crowned, as Mehdi Ben Lakhdhar and George Hardwick square off inside the cage following Joe McColgan’s decision to vacate the title. When asked about the Double Trouble events, Cage Warriors president, Graham Boylan said:
“Firstly, I want to thank all the CW staff, we had an issue with the government requisitioning our hotel earlier this week, and my team moved mountains to keep this event on while staying within Covid-19 guidelines. But, now we can focus on the fights, and we have some absolute corkers to end the year with.
“Matthew Bonner was a breakout star during our Trilogy series, so now it’s time to see if he can keep that momentum as we return to normality by defending his title against a very talented fighter in Djati Melan.
“The co-main is one you do not want to miss. George Hardwick and Mehdi Ben Lakhdhar are two of the most dangerous fighters in the lightweight division inside Europe, and they are fighting for a title with such an incredible lineage.
“I can’t wait to see all these guys in action and enjoy the fights with our fans.”
Djati Melan returns to Cage Warriors with a 7-0 record, with three knockouts to his name. In the co-main event, George Hardwick enters with an 8-1 record, and has finished his last two bouts.
The Middlesbrough Fight Academy fighter beat former featherweight champion Dean Trueman by KO with a devastating body shot, before submitting Jakub Dohnal at CW 129 in October with his favoured Guillotine Choke.
Mehdi Ben Lakhdhar holds an unbeaten record and is known for his dangerous striking ability. After a year out of the cage, his return sees him fight for the biggest title in European MMA.
Also on the main card of CW 131, Oban Elliott and Madars Fleminas face off in a welterweight contest, home town favourite Will Currie takes on Nikola Zaltev at middleweight, and in a 190lbs catchweight contest, Christian Duncan and Justin Moore go head to head.
Due to issues outside of Cage Warriors’ control, two bouts have been removed from the card: Ben Rees vs PK Zadeh, and Yassine Belhadj vs Danilo Belluardo.
Cage Warriors fans can tune into the action from 6:30pm GMT live on UFC Fight Pass and Cage Warriors’ global broadcasting partners before the main card kicks off at 9pm.
Main Card (9pm)
Matthew Bonner (c) 184.2 lbs vs. Djati Melan 184.7 lbs – middleweight title bout
Mehdi Ben Lakhdhar 154.4 lbs vs. George Hardwick 153.9 lbs – vacant lightweight title bout
Justin Moore 187.1 lbs vs. Christian Duncan 189.9 lbs – 190lbs catchweight bout
Will Currie 185.6 lbs vs. Nikola Zlatev 185.5 lbs – middleweight boutMadars Fleminas 170.1 lbs vs. Oban Elliott 170.2 lbs – welterweight bout
Prelims (6:30pm)
Kingsley Crawford 135.3 lbs vs. Liam Gittins 135.1 lbs
Jean N’Doye 145.2 lbs vs. Tom Mearns 145.7 lbs
Yuki Angdembe 135.7 lbs vs. Luke Riley 135.9 lbs
Samir Kadi 186 lbs vs. Michael Tchamou 183 lbs
Nik Bagley 145.6 lbs vs. Scott Pedersen 143.9 lbs
Mikail Bayram 154.6 lbs vs. Adam Cullen 155.5 lbs
News
SEAN O’MALLEY GETS THE ALL CLEAR TO BOX BY UFC
The whirlwind surrounding Ryan Garcia’s victory over Devin Haney last weekend is just beginning to settle down but it seems the controversial boxer is intent on staying in the headlines as he eyes UFC champion, Sean O’Malley.
The bizarre lead up to the fight with Haney was plagued with erratic behaviour on Garcia’s part, rumours of a mental breakdown, signs of alcohol and drug issues, and generally controversial behaviour. Garcia missed weight by 3.2lbs, and appeared to chug a beer on the scales during the weigh ins.
Entering the fight as an underdog, Garcia surprised everybody by dropping Haney three times and emerging victorious by majority decision. After the fight, Garcia insisted he drank and smoked every day in the build up to the fight and still picked up the win. This shocking turn of events has now opened up a variety of possible lucrative match ups for Garcia going forward, and it seems one MMA superstar wants a piece of that action.
The UFC hasn’t sanctioned a boxing crossover bout since Conor McGregor faced Floyd Mayweather back in 2017. ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley has long campaigned for the opportunity to test his striking skills against Garcia, and this week on his podcast The Timbo Sugar Show, he insisted that the UFC have already given him the green light to seek out some opportunities in the boxing ring:
“A boxing fight’s possible for sure. I’m not there yet. I’ve still got to become bigger. Two more f*cking sick performances, then we’re talking about being able to do it.
O’Malley continued: “They told me ‘You can do a boxing fight, 100 percent, if it makes us enough money’. The option is there, it just has to be able to make enough money. But Ryan being a f*cking freak like that, you need two A-sides to make a f*cking Floyd v Conor fight”.
Ryan Garcia tweeted an image of himself and O’Malley this week with the caption: “RAINBOW CACA BRAIN. WANTS TO BOX. BE PREPARED TO BLEED RAINBOW”
RAINBOW CACA BRAIN
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) April 22, 2024
WANTS TO BOX
BE PREPARED TO BLEED RAINBOW pic.twitter.com/GGrvV7ZSCH
Sean O’Malley became the UFC’s bantamweight champion when he knocked out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 last August. He then defended the belt and avenged the only loss on his record when he dominated Marlon Vera over five rounds at UFC 299 in March.
News
ALEX PEREIRA REJECTS FIGHT WITH MAGOMED ANKALAEV
The next step in the fascinating UFC journey of Alex Pereira remains to be seen. ‘Poatan’ pulled off a sensational knockout finish over Jamahal Hill in the first round of their main event bout at UFC 300 to defend his light heavyweight belt.
In his post-fight interview, the Brazilian called for the opportunity to compete at heavyweight at UFC 301 which takes place in Rio De Janeiro in just a couple of weeks. UFC president Dana White seemed unenthusiastic about that idea, however, and it seems now that the dust has settled after 300, Pereira is a little more willing to take his time before signing up for his next fight.
In an interview with MMA Fighting’s Trocacao Franca podcast, Pereira was asked if he’d rather defend his 205lb title again or test the waters in the heavyweight division. He responded:
“It’s hard to answer that. I haven’t thought too much about it yet. If it’s a longer period of time, I’d obviously rather defend my belt. If it takes too long and I fight at heavyweight and there are injuries, when am I going to defend my belt? I don’t want to hold up the division.
I was imagining the best-case scenario when I called for a heavyweight fight at UFC 301, but I have two broken toes. Both feet are f*cked. It’s complicated. I don’t want to hold up the light heavyweight division. A cool scenario would have been fighting at heavyweight at 301 and then giving the opportunity to someone to fight for the light heavyweight belt next. I think that would have been cool”.
205lb contender Magomed Ankalaev has called for a fight with Pereira on the UFC’s October pay-per-view card in Abu Dhabi, but ‘Poatan’ brushed that idea off instantly, saying:
“I don’t want to fight at the end of the year. I want to fight sooner, so maybe that shows he won’t be ready. I don’t know why he said that. This guy is complicated”.
If Pereira manages to get another win under his belt and is ready to go again before the end of the year, he said he would much rather compete on the Madison Square Garden event in November, which is closer to his current home in Danbury.
“It makes total sense” he said. “Wait one more month and I’m fighting at home? It’s so much better”.
Interviews
“This Is A Stage I Have To Challenge On” – Masaaki Noiri Signs With ONE Championship
ONE Championship’s striking roster has continued to flourish in 2024, and it got even stronger this week with the announcement of another elite kickboxer putting pen to paper in the world’s largest martial arts organization. Japanese megastar Masaaki Noiri has officially inked a deal with ONE, and he’s set to add further depth to the stand-up ranks.
Noiri is a former two-division K-1 World Champion and Grand Prix Champion, and he’s also a former WBC Japanese Muay Thai Champion.
Fighting in ONE will allow him to switch between the two sports whenever he wants, and this is an exciting prospect for the 30-year-old.
“As ONE officially announced, I have signed a contract with ONE Championship, the highest stage for striking. If I want to pursue being the strongest in the world that I believe in, this is a stage I have to challenge on,” Noiri said.
“I believe ONE is the ultimate stage for striking, so I wanted to challenge myself in that ring. I’m pursuing to be the strongest in the world through martial arts, so I chose this path to test if the current Masaaki Noiri can make it in ONE.”
It would be remiss of ONE’s hottest new signing not to have World Title ambitions as he embarks on his new journey.
However, along with gold, Noiri’s looking to show the world what strikers from his country can do, and he hopes a world-class compatriot can help him in that mission.
“[My plan is] to definitely win the ONE world title,” Noiri said.
“Not just me, but together with Takeru Segawa. And we’ll prove the strength of Japanese fighters to the world.”
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