European promotion Cage Warriors has forged a well-earned reputation as one of the key regional promotions for fighters looking to launch their careers to the world stage.
The London-based organization has seen 93 of its fighters graduate to the UFC over the years, including former UFC champions Conor McGregor, Michael Bisping and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and continues to produce UFC-ready talent, with former champions Jack Shore and Nathaniel Wood tipped for stardom on the big stage in the months and years ahead.
The promotion had a big year in 2019, holding 11 events in total, including an historic night at the iconic Hammersmith Apollo in London for “Cage Warriors 106: Night of Champions” and a return to the BT Sport studios for their “Cage Warriors: Unplugged 2” event that featured a one night tournament that crowned its new bantamweight champion, Jack Cartwright.
As well as bantamweight, the organization crowned new champions at flyweight, featherweight, lightweight, middleweight and light heavyweight, as Samir Faiddine, Mads Burnell, Jai Herbert, Nathias Frederick and Modestas Bukauskas all captured championship gold in their respective weight classes.
And Scotland’s undefeated welterweight champion Ross Houston held on to his 170-pound title after his epic back-and-forth war with interim champion Nicolas Dalby was ruled a no contest after the cage floor became flooded with blood from both men after one of the most punishing contests ever seen inside the Cage Warriors cage.
It all added up to a spectacular year for Cage Warriors, who have already announced a packed schedule of events for 2020, including a return to London’s Indigo at The O2 on Mar. 20, just one day before the UFC packs the main O2 Arena the following night for UFC London.
Relive the best of Cage Warriors in 2019 via the video above.
