Cage Warriors, the promotion which cultivated the talent of MMA superstars such as Conor McGregor, Michael Bisping, Dan Hardy, Joanna Jędrzejczyk and countless others will return tomorrow night after a 17 month absence.
Cage Warriors’ 75th event goes down from London’s sold out Camden Centre on April 15.
The highly anticipated card will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between reigning CWFC champion Jack “The Joker” Hermansson (11-2 MMA, 6-0 CWFC) and Brazilian challenger, Alan “The Brazilian Viking” Carlos (12-8 MMA, 1-0 CWFC).
Hermansson, who rides a six fight win streak, has picked up two victories since defending his belt for the first time at Cage Warriors 71 in 2014. In his first fight after the Cage Warriors layoff the Norwegian submitted UFC veteran Karlos Vemola, he then went on to defeat Maciej Rozanski at Venator FC 2 late last year.
The challenger, Carlos, made his sole CWFC appearance in 2012 when he beat Mike Ling by majority decision. The 32-year-old has won three of his four fights since then, finishing each opponent in rounds one or two.
The Brazilian, who fights out of Sweden, has finished eight of his twelve professional victories by submission and will undoubtedly look to drag his opponent to the mat. Hermansson is a well rounded fighter but we can expect him to try and win this one on the feet.
Hermansson via decision.
In the co-main event we have a featherweight fight between Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett (9-1) and Ashleigh “Cruiser” Grimshaw (16-9-1-2).
Pimblett made his CWFC debut in 2013 at the age of 18 and the 21-year-old comes in to his sixth fight with the promotion looking for his fifth win. Since competing at CWFC 73 he has won two fights via submission.
Grimshaw has two wins and one loss under the Cage Warriors banner but will be returning to the promotion for the first time in five years tomorrow night. Each of the Londoner’s last eight fights have ended in the first round, with Grimshaw having his arm raised on six of those occasions.
The 34-year-old’s breakneck pace and vast experience might prove too much for his youthful opponent.
Grimshaw by KO/TKO
Next up Brad “The Crazy Kid” Wheeler (15-9-0) faces Scott Clist (7-2-0) in the lightweight division.
At the age of just 25 Wheeler is somewhat of a Cage Warriors veteran having accumulated a record of 7-4 with the promotion since making his debut in 2011 after a spell with UCMMA. The Romford lad is in the best form of his career and comes in to the event riding a six fight win streak.
Clist on the other hand has not competed in 18 months and has alternated wins and losses in his last four fights. Nor does the 37-year-old have any Cage Warriors experience, he will be making his promotional debut tomorrow night.
Wheeler has all the momentum heading in to this bout and has been turning heads with his dangerous ground game in recent times.
Wheeler by submission
We go back to the featherweight division now as Chris Fishgold (12-1-1) goes up against Jordan Miller (11-14).
Fishgold carries an undefeated CWFC record following three consecutive wins for the scouser in 2013. He suffered his first career loss last year but has bounced back with two wins in the last six months, most recently in February versus Alejandro Ferreira.
Miller, who incredibly lost eight fights on the bounce between 2006 and 2011, has fortunately found his form and comes in to the event on a three fight winning streak.
Both fighters are submission artists and we can expect the more decorated fighter, Fishgold, to finish Miller on this occasion.
Fishgold by submission
The evening’s first fight in the light heavyweight division sees Darren “The Dentist” Stewart (5-0) square off against James Hurrell (7-4).
Both of these men picked up victories at Cage Warriors last event in October 2014. While Hurrell has not competed since Stewart has continued his unbeaten run after recording three victories in 2015.
It’s tough to tell what will happen when two big men go to head-to-head but it would be understandable to see some ring-rust from Hurrell and Stewart is on a good run at the moment.
Stewart by decision
