Voting is underway for the Cage Warriors Best of 2025 Awards, where you – the CW fans – get to have your say on the most deserving fights, fighters and moments from what has been a blockbuster 12 months for Europe’s Leading MMA Organisation!
Sometimes its not just wins and losses or strikes and submissions that have the biggest emotional impact. Sometimes its more about what those things represent than the actions themselves. Cage Warriors has played host to many incredible moments with emotional impact over the last twelve months, and we’ve managed to whittle them down to five…
The nominees are…
Samuel Silva upsets George Hardwick
Nobody saw this coming…and that’s the great thing about MMA. Brazil’s Samuel Silva burst onto the scene as a relative unknown, went to war with one of Cage Warriors most familiar faces and became a legend – and a world champion – over night.
Justin Burlinson wins the World Title/Bonus
Second time was the charm for Justin Burlinson. Things hadn’t gone his way when he’d previously fought an Irishman on Irish soil for the CW welterweight title, but Burlo was able to put all that behind him when he vanquished James Sheehan to bring home the big one. It capped off an incredible recovery from cancer treatment the previous year, and was made all the sweeter when ThatPrizeGuy handed over a massive £5,000 bonus cheque to sweeten the deal.
Jordan Vucenic’s epic indigo return
Connor in the Helix, Paddy in the Echo, Vucenic at The indigo. Some fighters have made a certain venue their fortress over the years, and that perhaps never been more true than with Jordan Vucenic. The former CW champ’s walkouts to Chase & Status in London are the stuff of legend, so when he returned to the promotion this year, there was only one place it could happen.
Nicolas Leblond pulls off the comeback of the century
Can Nicolas Leblond pull off the greatest comeback of all time? Question asked and answered. Down on all scorecards heading into the final minute of the final round of a mostly one-way bout, Leblond needed nothing short of a miracle to pull something out of the fire against Shaj Haque. He may not have had a miracle, but his dynamite left hand was close enough.
Luke Riley’s CW curtain call
We hate to see them leave, but we love to watch them go. Its always emotional when a CW staple makes the leap to the UFC, but in truth, we couldn’t have been happier for Luke Riley. And what a curtain call it was. Surviving Tariel Abasov’s wrestling onslaught in the first round, pulling off a classic Riley finish in the second, then leaping the cage to take the commentator’s mic in the aftermath and virtually demand an invite to the UFC. Magic.
Let us know who gets your vote for this and the rest of the Best of 2025 Awards here!