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Craig White
Craig White, Hakon Foss/ Credit Cage Warriors/Dolly Clew.

Craig “The Thundercat” White is making a name for himself in the Cage Warriors Welterweight division and is currently riding a two fight win streak. Daniel Clemenson managed to catch up with “The Thundercat” to discuss his upcoming main event fight against Matt Inman at CW87.

Q. Your next opponent is former title challenger, Matt Inman, how will you prepare specifically for him in this camp?

A. Well I don’t want to really give away too much but let’s just say I’m improving all aspects of my game to cover any eventuality. To take this fight lightly in any way wouldn’t be fair to anyone and I’m in camp already in anticipationPeople forget that we’re in the entertainment business as well as being professional athletes. So what you can expect from this fight is a fantastic display of martial arts but I’ll be getting my hand raised at the end.

Q. Your last outing was a pretty decisive first round submission victory (back at CW84 against Hakan Foss (pictured left)), do you see this fight playing out similarly?

A. It’s always great to have a dominant victory against a fighter of Hakon’s standard. It makes a statement. I pretty much followed the game plan me and my team had been working on so the result is what was expected. Dave, my coach, keeps telling me how powerful and accurate my strikes are and after my jab connected you could see just that. The thing to remember though is our sport has so many different factors that can impact the outcome of a fight and no fight is the same. To think any fight is going to be the same as the last or any other fight you’ve ever had just shows complacence. Matt’s said he’s going to put on a career best performance and I’m looking forward to that.

White
Craig White, Hakon Foss/ Credit Cage Warriors/Dolly Clew.

Q. If victorious, what’s next for you? Will you ask for a title shot?

A. I have a very tough fight in October and I’m not going to look past that, that’s my focus for now. Of course I’d like to challenge for the title, I have a lot of talented Welterweight’s to compete with in Cage Warriors and to be up there among them is humbling. Whether the fight is for the title is down to Cage Warriors but the thing to take into consideration is there’s the champion who hasn’t fought in almost six months. Someone who should definitely be challenging for the belt right now and there’s a deep pool of people wanting to have a crack at it. What’s next for me always has been and always will be just to keep fighting.

Q. Have Sherdog cleared up the issue with your professional MMA record yet (Sherdog give Craig’s pro-MMA record as 11-7 when it’s actually 12-7)?

A. This is still ongoing. Even with video proof and giving them what they’ve asked for it’s still not up to date. I’m not really sure what more can be done so it’s just a case of playing the waiting game I suppose. It’s only the one fight missing so it’s not the end of the word.

Q. UFC 214 occurred over the weekend. Did you have a chance to watch it? What do you make of Tyron Woodley? Is his fighting style boring or extremely tactical? How do you think you would fare against him?

A. I haven’t found the time to watch any of it yet but there’s only a few fights I’m interested in. I’ll probably watch Woodley vs. Maia when I’m struggling to get to sleep one night because from what I’ve heard it’s a bore fest. Me against Woodley I’m pretty sure would be an exciting and entertaining fight for the fans. As for the result, well, what type of fighter would I be if I bet against myself? I am the ‘ultimate underdog’ after all.

Cage Warriors 87 goes down 14th October at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales.