SHARE

Brought to you by Gregg Mullen @MMAGregg 

Next month, on September 14th, the Cage Warriors featherweight title will be on the line as champion Jim ‘The Beast’ Alers (10-1) looks to defend against European ranked promotional newcomer Martin Svensson (12-3).

This will be Martin’s third fight this year but is obviously the biggest of his career so far. To get a shot at the belt in his first ever fight for the company is something that has really gotten to the challenger and has him psyched up to show the world what he can do.

“It feels great (to get a title shot in my first fight for Cage Warriors)! The fact that Cage Warriors believes in me and gives me this chance means a lot to me. It really makes me wanna put on a great show and show everybody how good I am.”

Jim Alers has been spoken of in MMA circles for quite some time as a bit of a prospect and has been on a tear winning his last six on the trot and never having gone the distance. Svensson knows all about the champion and knows that the American will pressure him. It’s all in a day for the Swede, that’s what he is looking forward to.

“Jim looks like a really though opponent. He never gives up and just keeps on coming forward. He has a fighting style I like to fight against. I like it when it’s a really tough and long fight, so it feels like you have been in a fight. A win for me would mean a lot. I will get some new bling bling and I love new belts, its the best accessories ever.”

A lot of fighters have been signed to long-term exclusive contracts for Cage Warriors recently and have been looking to firmly establish themselves as the top MMA promotion in UK and European MMA. Apparently the challenger is not one of those fighters lucky enough to be signed to a five-fight deal. When asked about his contract, Martin was somewhat elusive but did pretty much tell me that, so far, he only has the one fight. He believes that will change after September 14th.

“When I get the belt, I will be the champion… so then I will have more fights.”

While he is not yet signed to a multi-fight contract, he does believe that they are a good thing and that Cage Warriors are going in the right direction, even believing they are one of the elite organisations in the world.

” I think Cage Warriors is easily one of the top five biggest MMA organizations in the world and the biggest in Europe. I think it’s good for the fighters to have exclusive deals because Cage Warriors have so many shows, so it’s never a problem getting a fight. The problem with exclusive contracts is if the promotion doesn’t have too many shows, Cage Warriors has a lot of events so you will get fights.”

Sweden has been gaining more and more exposure in MMA terms recently with a flock of guys like Alex Gustafsson, Magnus Cedenblad, Illir Latifi, Tor Troeng, Reza Madadi and Akira Corassani recently flying the flag in the UFC. Why is this happening now?

“We, in Sweden, have always been good at MMA so it was just a question of time before we would get some recognition. In Sweden, for a couple of years back, it was forbidden with professional MMA but as soon as it was legal with MMA everything changed and the sport just exploded in popularity.”

I mentioned Gustafsson to Martin. Alex is set to take on possibly the greatest fighter on the planet at the minute in Jon Jones for the LHW title. I was interested to find out just how big that fight is in Sweden and who our man felt was going to walk out with the belt.

“Gustafsson is going to win, he is too fast for Jones. The fight is really big (in Sweden) and when Alexander wins it will mean extremely much to everybody in the sport in Sweden.”

Obviously every MMA fighter’s dream and goal is to be in the UFC. There have been a few former Cage Warriors fighters in the UFC recently. Most noticeably the former Featherweight champion Conor Mcgregor who has been gaining a lot of exposure. Despite the knowledge that the UFC brass do clearly pay some attention to the shows, Svensson is not looking past Alers and is very happy just to be a part of the CW brand.

“No, I’m really happy to be fighting for Cage Warriors, if I can be their champion I will be very proud with that. I would like to fight for them for as long as possible, they have a great organisation and a lot of great fighters.”

With the UFC coming to Britain and Sweden more and more often, officially scheduled to return to Manchester on October 26th with a headliner of Michael Bisping vs Mark Munoz (and I’m hearing rumblings of a battle of Britain between certain Scottish and English featherweights) alongside local prospects getting their chance on those shows, what does Svensson think of his chances of getting in to the UFC now compared to say, 5 years ago?

“A lot better, five years ago I couldn’t do an armbar. I would’ve got killed in the octagon (laughs).”

Cage Warriors 59 takes place September 14th from the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales and features Martin Svensson vs Jim Alers for the featherweight title as well as a one-night four man Bantamweight championship tournament. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/36004AD59576727E 

Gregg Mullen @MMAGregg