When Cage Warriors announced plans to hold their 100th event before the end of the year, they promised to make it their biggest show to date. With just two months to go, they have announced that a number of their star names, including Paddy Pimblett, Jack Shore and Nicolas Dalby, will be fighting on the card and look set to make good on that promise.
Liverpool Echo Arena, Kings Dock St, Liverpool – Saturday 1st September 2018
CW96, Cage Warriors’ biggest Liverpool card of 2018, hits the Echo Arena on Saturday 1st September with two world titles at the top of a stacked card. In the main event, local hero and former Cage Warriors featherweight champion Paddy Pimblett will bid to become the organisation’s lightweight world champion when he takes on in-form Norwegian ‘The True Viking’ Søren Bak for the vacant 155lb title.
The four-fight main card also features the latest bout in the career of rising English lightweight Jack Grant, who will look to extend his winning streak to six with a victory over Aleksi Mäntykivi. And the main card will kick off with the return of former Cage Warriors welterweight champion Nicolas “Locomotivo” Dalby, who will take on undefeated Italian prospect Roberto ‘Minotauro’ Allegretti.
Results will be updated below and on the @MMAMotion Twitter page:
Main Card
Preliminary Card
Pimblett vs. Bak was made official this afternoon at the CW96 Iso-Sport weigh-ins. After one of the most eventful weigh-ins of the 2018 calendar, the talk is over… and all that’s left to do is fight. Continue reading “Weigh-in Results: Cage Warriors 96” →
CW96, Cage Warriors’ biggest Liverpool card of 2018, hits the Echo Arena on Saturday 1st September with two world titles at the top of a stacked card. Continue reading “Report: Cage Warriors 96 full fight card” →
Every so often a fighter comes along who embodies their city in a way that very few others do. Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett (14-2-0) is one of those fighters. Pimblett lives and breathes his city. He is Liverpool.
Pimblett has been synonymous with Cage Warriors for such a long period of time that it’s hard to believe that he’s just 23 years old. Since making his debut for the promotion as an 18-year-old bantamweight, he has gone on to perform under the Cage Warriors banner 11 times, capturing the featherweight title along the way, building an army of fans across the country and becoming, for many people, the face of Liverpool MMA.
It is a match up which is being billed by Cage Warriors as the biggest fight in European MMA and it’s easy to understand why.
In a little over three weeks time, local hero Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett (14-2-0) will make the familiar walk to the cage at Liverpool’s Echo Arena to meet Søren “The True Viking” Bak (11-1-0) with the winner being crowned the Cage Warriors lightweight champion.
Earlier today, Cage Warriors announced the addition of a huge fight to their CW96 event, set to take place on September 1st at Liverpool’s Echo Arena. Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett (14-2-0) returns home to face Søren ‘True Viking’ Bak (11-1-0) with the winner set to be crowned the new Cage Warriors lightweight champion.
Almost 2 years to the day since capturing the featherweight title in front of a packed out Echo Arena in Liverpool, Paddy Pimblett, will compete for the lightweight belt. Standing in his way is Denmark’s Søren Bak, who earned his shot at lightweight gold after submitting Alexander Jacobsen in devastating fashion at CW93.
The fight is being billed as the biggest fight in European MMA, and comes just months after 8 ex-Cage Warriors fighters made the walk to the cage at the Echo Arena for UFC Liverpool.
The animosity between Pimblett and Bak has already begun, with both contenders calling each other out at Cage Warriors events earlier this year and taking to social media to continue the rivalry. This is fast becoming the most talked-about fight on the European scene, and will see an army of fans from both Liverpool and Bak’s native town of Copenhagen, Denmark descend on the Echo Arena for Cage Warriors’ biggest event yet.
“The atmosphere when Pimblett has the headline spot at the Echo is insane and he looks the best we’ve ever seen him, but Bak has looked unstoppable recently,” says Cage Warriors President Graham Boylan. “This has the potential to be one of our craziest fights on record. What a way to build on what’s already the biggest year of MMA in Liverpool’s history.”
The Cage Warriors lightweight title has a storied history having previously been held by UFC superstar Conor McGregor and 8-fight UFC veteran Stevie Ray. Cage Warriors’ most recent lightweight champion, Pimblett’s Next Generation MMA teammate Chris Fishgold, recently signed with the UFC leaving the belt up for grabs.
Pimblett had this to say after Bak’s taunts last week.
“Now I know I’m finally fighting Søren it’s even better. He’s going to feel it when he walks out come September first. I told you pal, you’re getting slapped up even more for the cheek. Hope you’re ready to get your head jabbed off, because I’m going viking hunting.”
‘The Baddy’ is known for his spectacular fight style, and pulled off a highlight-reel flying triangle submission at CW90 in February – his 10th finish since his pro debut in 2012. Bak, who watched the fight from Denmark, confessed he was less than impressed with Pimblett’s performance, and that “he’s going to get smashed if he tries that against me.” .
Tickets for CW96 at the Echo Arena are on sale HERE, with 20% early bird savings ending in less than a week.
CW96 Fight Card
Paddy Pimblett vs Søren Bak (Lightweight Title Fight)
Lee Chadwick vs TBC (Middleweight Title Fight)
Cage warriors star and former Lightweight champion, Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett has just announced that he will not be fighting at UFC Fight Night 130 in his hometown of Liverpool, England.
Following the UFC’s announcement on Friday that they would be taking over the Echo arena in May, in which rising star Darren Till is set to headline, there has been talk of which Liverpudlians would join him on the highly demanded first card in Liverpool.
In my opinion, ‘The Baddy’ would not be far from the top of UK MMA fan wish lists of possible fighters on the historic debut card in Merseyside.
The Scouser, 23, announced on the 19th March edition of MMAFighting’s ‘MMA Hour’ that he would in fact not be in Liverpool at all on that night, but instead would be on holiday. “I’m on holiday on May 27th…I’m in Mexico.”
He later went to state that he was not that bothered about missing out on such an anticipated card, to the surprise of host Ariel Helwani.
“I’m not that arsed to be fair about the UFC in Liverpool. I’ve headlined the show twice before, d’ya know what i mean? I fought again there the other week”. He went on to state that he does believe the card “will be great for UK MMA” but believes he will not be missed as “The cards for Darren (Till)”
However, Pimblett doesn’t believe the card will be the same without him, citing Cage warriors 88 as an example of where an event was not as electric without him on the card.
“You’ve seen the Cage Warriors shows when I’m on there and you’ve seen the one when I wasn’t on there — When Fishy (Chris Fishgold) beat Alex Jacobsen — and it just wasn’t the same. And UFC Liverpool won’t be,” said Pimblett.
He believes that there are other fighters across the north west of England who can fill his spot, such as fellow scouser and Cage Warriors Fighter Molly McCann. When asked if the card can sell out without him, he replied by saying “Of course it can, we support our own. We’re Scousers, we support our own. That card will sell out no matter what, but it won’t be the same”
While many UK fans will be sad by this announcement, the fact that Liverpool is finally getting a card of its own will be more than enough for them. As we know however, in MMA anything can happen overnight so I wouldn’t put my house on Paddy ‘The Baddy’ not fighting on this card.
-Eamonn Scott
MMAMotion