Cage Warriors 82 takes place live from the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England, today, Saturday, April 1st.
In the main event, we see hometown favourite Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett defend his Cage Warriors Featherweight Championship against valiant challenger Nad Narimani. Also on the card, Nathaniel Wood competes in the biggest fight of his career as he meets UFC veteran Vaughan Lee.
As well as them two bouts, there are many more reasons to watch the show. Here are five reasons to watch Cage Warriors 82 tonight.
The biggest Cage Warriors show to date
Whether you like to admit it or not, Cage Warriors 78 is the biggest Cage Warriors show to date. With over 8000 tickets sold at 3pm yesterday, I’m sure there’ll be people ferociously hunting for tickets today. The promotion expect this to be a sell out, and they may well be right. Considering the last time they came to the Echo Arena for Cage Warriors 78, they only sold 3000 tickets all together, this show is going to be much bigger.
Most of the hype is around “The Baddy” who’s a local hero in Liverpool and has a growing fanbase across the world. Don’t be fooled, though, as that isn’t the only tasty fight on the card. Just looking at the main card, it’s stacked!
Names like Nathaniel Wood, Vaughan Lee, Molly McCann, and Dean Trueman may not stick out to the casual fan, but I can promise you, they’re people you do not want to miss. Molly, also from Liverpool, has a massive following herself, and has the support of Everton football club behind her. She faces American veteran Lacey Schuckman.
Wood and Lee square off in the nights co-main event, with Lee trying to get back on track following a dire stint in the UFC. He’s 0-1 since being release by the promotion, and needs a win to save his MMA career. This is undoubtedly Wood’s biggest fight to date, and he is confident ahead of it.
Dean Trueman will no doubt be looking to emulate his last performance, where he starched Arnold Quero in just 12 seconds at Cage Warriors 79.
As well as these fights, there is a huge amount of talent on both the professional and amateur preliminary card. It’s tuned up to be a massive show, and you do not want to miss it.
An array of amateur talent
All of the eyes are on the professional fighters, which is to be expected, but you have to make sure you catch these amateur fights. Unfortunately, if you haven’t got a ticket, you won’t be able to watch the amateur prelims, as they aren’t televised anywhere.
If I had to highlight three fighters from the amateur card, I would advise you to keep your eye on Francis Breen, Ashley Derbyshire, and Connor Wilson. Breen is a 16-year-old, but is often compared to Gennady Golovkin by team mates. His ultra slick, fast, and powerful hands are something to be aware of, and they earned him a stoppage in under one minute in his amateur debut last time out at Tanko FC 2.
Ashley Derbyshire is a fighter that has truly turned things around. From being on a wanted list and ending up in jail, to now holding an amateur record of 2-0, and being part of one of the most successful teams in England. Fighting out of Saul Rogers’ academy, Derbyshire has amassed two stoppages in two wins, both on ICE FC shows. This time around, the Englishman has dropped from welterweight to lightweight, but he didn’t look bad at weigh ins at all.
A team mate of Francis Breen at Next Generation in Liverpool, Connor Wilson has impressed fans massively in his first three amateur fights, and this time around in the echo arena, he’s looking for redemption. After a 20 second stoppage in his amateur debut at ICE FC 13, Connor fought at Cage Warriors 78 in the Echo Arena, and after winning the first two rounds of his bout against Abdul Chowdrey, he shot in for a takedown with twenty seconds remaining, and was choked unconscious. Rebounding from that, in his most recent outing, Wilson stopped Dave Jones in the first round of their bout at SHINOBI WAR 10.
A real 50/50 main event
Paddy Pimblett has a lot of pressure on his shoulders going into this one, but looking at him, you wouldn’t know it. Last time out, everything went wrong prior to his bout with Julian Erosa. He was rushed into the fight, had a tremendously tough weight cut, and didn’t take his diet seriously after making weight. This time out, he has a lot of doubters to prove wrong, but it will not be easy. Pimblett takes on UK MMA stud Nad Narimani, who has challenged once before for a Cage Warriors title.
The Bristol man’s first title challenge was against Alex Enlund, where the two men competed over five round with a incredible pace. Going to the judges, nobody knew who had won for sure, but it was Enlund who got the nod, edging Narimani to take the title home. Narimani is by far the toughest test of Pimblett’s young career. He has one punch knockout power, good striking, and a dangerous ground game.
“The Baddy” has been known to get dropped and hurt before, mainly because he has gotten too reckless. Looking in the best shape of his life, though, Paddy promises to do the business in front of his own.
The start of a new generation?
Forget about the main card for a second, let’s talk about the up and coming fighters on the preliminary card. On this show, we could see the start of a brand new era. One fight in particular that stands out to me is the welterweight one on the professional preliminary card between Ross Houston and Dylan Mcloughlin.
Both men are 3-0, and both have shown an excellent all around game in their first three bouts. Dylan comes from a gym infamous for grapplers, but has shown off his striking game more than his ground game. Last time out, he engaged in a back and forth war against Alexander Roumette, earning a TKO finish late in round one.
Houston is yet to engage in one of those fights. All three of his performances have been clean, clear wins. He’s extremely tall for welterweight, is in great shape, as I saw at the weigh ins yesterday, and had a solid frame for the weight. He uses his length extremely well, utilising his left hand from range very often.
Another fighter I have my eye on is Lloyd Manning. The high level judoka has neglected his roots in his first two bouts, and instead opted to show off his incredible power. Not only has he won both of his fights by stoppage, but he’s done it in under one minute, both times.
Is this Paddy’s last fight at this level?
It’s well known that Paddy Pimblett’s contract is up after this fight, and although he weren’t very impressive in his last bout, a win over Nad Narimani could really show how good he is. If he wins tonight, Paddy will have defended his title twice, and will be on a nine fight winning streak. With his contract up, this may be the perfect time for the UFC to pounce.
