This Friday, Cage Warriors will be hosting their second event of the week in London, England. The event has scheduled eight bouts, including the lightweight title fight and the bantamweight title fight.
On Thursday, we will see the first event out of the trilogy Cage Warriors 120, with Jamie Richardson headlining the event against Kent Kauppinen. Saturday will be the third and final event with the featherweight title on the line as Frenchman Morgan Charriere defends his title against Jordan Vucenic.
Cage Warriors 121 Main Card Preview
Lightweight Title Main Event: Agy Sardari (13-2) vs Donovan Desmae (14-6)
In his last bout, Agy “The Wolverine” Sardari became the second Dutchman in Cage Warriors history to win a championship. The first was current Bellator Middleweight Champion Gegard Mousasi back when he fought only once in the promotion in 2006, knocking out Gregory Bouchelaghem inside the first round to win the belt.
At Cage Warriors 119, Sadari joined the promotion to fight Jack Grant for the vacant Lightweight Championship. This was after Mason Jones vacated his title when joining the UFC.
Sardari was on a six-fight win streak outside of Cage Warriors and he stepped in to face Englishman Grant. Grant, at that time, was desperate for the title after three years of competing in the organization. The Dutchman won the belt on his promotion debut after one of the closest contested titles fights, with Sardari being awarded the victory on a split decision.
Donovan “Vegas” Desmae has stepped into this title-fight on 10 days notice after Mehdi Ben Lakhdar pulled out due to an undisclosed injury. The Belgian has been with the promotion since Cage Warriors 85 back in 2017 when he lost his debut to Martin Stapleton by unanimous decision. Desmae has finished 10 of his opponents in his 14 victories.
He’s currently on a two-fight win-streak in the promotion when he knocked out Alexander Jacobsen and submitted Tim Barnett back in 2019. After two canceled bouts against Paddy Pimblett, it’s been a long 18 months out for Desmae.
Bantamweight Title Co-Main Event: Jack Cartwright (9-0) vs Sylwester Miller (9-3)
Jack Cartwright is looking to defend his title for a third time at Cage Warriors 121 after winning the title by knocking out Scott Malone and Marco Kovacevic in a four-man tournament for the title back in September 2019.
The Englishman was making his debut that night when Cage Warriors made the title up for grabs in a tournament format. This was because of Jack Shore vacating the title when he joined the UFC.
Cartwright’s first title defense was at Cage Warriors 112 against a tough opponent in Manuel Bilic. Cartwright came out on top though with the first decision win of his career. His second title defense came in his last bout against Gerardo Fanny. In the first round he submitted Fanny with an arm-triangle choke, and he kept hold of his belt.
Sylwester Miller will make his debut in the promotion on Friday night, as he looks to be the first man to take the bantamweight belt off Cartwright. Miller has fought in several organizations in his home country. He was signed up in Cage Warriors for the title-fight after impressing with seven wins in his last eight bouts.
He will look to continue his impressive submission record by attempting to be the first person to beat Cartwright, or even so, submit him. Miller has six submissions in his nine victories.
Middleweight: James Webb (8-2-1) vs Matthew Bonner (8-6-1)
Former Cage Warriors Middleweight Champion James Webb is looking to put his name back in the hat for a title-fight at Cage Warriors 121.
Webb became champion after submitting Thomas Robertsen at Cage Warriors 102 in March 2019. This gave Webb his sixth victory and finish of his career, after submitting five of his opponents and one knockout victory over Jason Radcliffe.
The Englishman had his first title defense against Nathias Frederick. The judges decided this fight would end in a draw, meaning Webb and Frederick would more than likely run it back. And they did, at Cage Warriors 111 they had a rematch. The difference this time, Webb lost his title. The referee intervened after Frederick was hammering Webb with punches and the fight was over with just one second left of the fourth round.
Webb has come back with two victories over Mick Stanton and Craig White in his last two fights. With a win over Bonner, he will surely put himself back in contention for another shot at the title.
Matthew “The Beast” Bonner has had a mixed career, after impressing in his last two bouts by beating George Smith and Matt Inman. Bonner lost his first two professional career fights, with his second bout being in Cage Warriors back in June 2017, losing to Bobby Pallett.
If things had gone his way, Bonner would’ve been fighting for the title in 2020, but at Cage Warriors 111, Bonner lost on a unanimous decision to Richardson, who then went on to fight for the title. A win over Webb will also put him in contention to face the champion, Frederick.
Welterweight Title Semi-Final: Ian Garry (5-0) vs Rostem Akman (6-2)
Ian “The Future” Garry fought his last amateur fight at Cage Warriors 99, before signing a professional contract at the promotion in February 2019. Garry was successful in his first fight, defeating James Sheehan on a unanimous decision.
Since his first win, the Irishman hasn’t gone past the second round in his next four fights, finishing all four of his opponents. Garry’s unbeaten record is on the line this Friday.
Rostem Akman had a wonderful first two years in the Swedish promotion Superior Challenge, going six fights undefeated, and finishing all of them.
In 2019, the Swede was awarded a UFC contract. He fought Sergey Khandozhko at UFC Fight Night Stockholm. After three rounds, he lost the bout on a unanimous decision. His final bout in the promotion was against Jake Matthews at UFC 243. After another loss on a decision, Akman was released from the UFC. It’s been 17 months since Akman last fought.
Welterweight Title Semi-Final: Madars Fleminas (8-2) vs Jack Grant (16-6)
Madars “Latvian Express” Fleminas looks to push on with a two-fight win streak if he overcomes Grant on Friday. Fleminas won his last bout at Cage Warriors 118 against Stanton on a unanimous decision.
Fleminas was undefeated for just over two years when he started his professional career in 2017. He’s competed in the likes of Caged Steel and Cage Warriors all his career. After going seven fights undefeated, he lost at Cage Warriors 112 against Adam Procter on a unanimous decision. A further loss came in his next bout after he was choked out to Mateusz Figlak in round one at Cage Warriors 114.
Jack Grant was the man mentioned before when talking about current lightweight champion Sarardi. Grant lost his last bout for the lightweight belt on a split decision in which he seemed devastated after hearing the judges’ result.
The 29-year-old has been professional since 2012. He joined Cage Warriors in 2017 and lost his first chance at winning a title at Cage Warriors 106. He was knocked out in the third round to Jai Herbert.
With Jones vacating the welterweight title also, Cage Warriors has given Grant another shot at winning the title but in the division above. If Grant overcomes Fleminas he will have his third chance at fighting for a title against the winner of Garry and Akman.
Cage Warriors 121 Prelims Preview
Bantamweight: Bryan Creighton (10-8) vs Josh Reed (10-5)
Bryan “The Big Bad Wolf” Creighton has explored the MMA world, fighting in 11 different promotions, with only 18 fights to his name. His first fight for the promotion was at Cage Warriors 57 in July 2013, he was victorious with a submission win over Mark Connor.
Creighton hit an extremely rough patch in his career, from May 2014 to October 2017, he fought five times, losing all fights and taking his record from 5-1 to 5-6. He came back with a four-fight win-streak, but then lost to Bilic and Weslley Maia. His last bout came in Probellum, submitting Reece Street with a guillotine choke.
Josh “Crazy Horse” Reed is looking to bounce back from his last fight after he was submitted to Liam Gittins in the second round at Cage Warriors 118. Reed has fought 12 of his 15 bouts in Cage Warriors, making his debut in the promotion in his second professional fight in 2014.
The Welshman was undefeated in his first seven fights until he faced UFC prospect Nathaniel Wood at Cage Warriors 86. Reed was knocked out in the first round.
Welterweight: Joshua Onwordi (2-1-0, 1NC) vs Omeil Brown (0-0)
Joshua Onwordi’s first professional MMA bout came at Cage Warriors 95, which ended in a no-contest against Gurdeep Shergill, which was decided by referee Marc Goddard and explained in a statement on the Cage Warriors website.
Onwordi fought eight months later against James Hendin, this bout ended in a loss, as he was knocked out in the second round. Two wins over Harry Davies and Leon Hill put his career back on track.
Omeil Brown will be making his professional debut on Friday night. The Englishman has lost three of his four amateur fights, having not fought since October 2018.
Catchweight 177lbs: Mark Kinsella (2-2) vs Oban Elliott (3-1)
Mark “Kinny” Kinsella lost his first two bouts in his professional career against Stanton and Andreas Tricomitis at Cage Warriors 90.
Kinsella brought his career back to life, after knocking out Tom Briggs in Full Contact Contender. His last fight was at Cage Warriors 101 in February 2019, when he beat Tomasz Wojtyna on a unanimous decision.
Oban “Evil” Elliott was scheduled to fight George McManus before he pulled out, and Kinsella stepped in on short notice.
Elliott’s career was perfect up until September 2020, after he was knocked out in the third round to Michal Figlak. The Welshman had a 100 percent finish rate before his loss.
You can tune into the fights from 7:15PM (GMT) on UFC Fight Pass.
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Featured Image Credits to Embed from Getty Images
