Cage Warriors kick-off the European leg of their 2023 world tour tonight at London’s indigo at The O2, headlined by the return of former featherweight champion Jordan Vucenic, as he faces Italian prospect Tiziano Ferranti.
The ten-bout showcase also features a co-headliner pitting former title challengers Justin Burlinson and Jamie Richardson against each other in a bout dripping with ‘Fight of the Night’ potential.
‘The Epidemic’ Returns
In CW 150’s main event, one of the promotion’s most vaunted featherweights in recent years returns to mount a second run at 145lb gold.
Jordan Vucenic (9-2) will make his first appearance in the yellow gloves since dropping a spirited five-round decision to current title holder Paul Hughes in their unification bout at CW 145 last November.
Poignantly, the Corby man’s comeback will take place in the very same venue; a chance perhaps to exorcise some demons as he aims to return to title contention.
Looking to spoil the party is a promotional newcomer surrounded by a whole lot of hype; unbeaten wonderkind Tiziano Ferranti (5-0).
The Rome, Italy native is riding a twelve-fight winning streak across both amateur and professional competition, and has yet to see the judges’ scorecards, or even the third round.
With the stage set for a striking battle, this one will likely come down to the power of Ferranti vs the style of Vucenic.
Former Title Challengers Collide
In this evening’s co-main event, recent welterweight title challenger Justin Burlinson faces one-time middleweight title challenger Jamie ‘Young Gun’ Richardson.
A talented grappler with a penchant for crowd-pleasing slug-fests, Burlinson (7-2) wowed against Rhys McKee in his last outing; ultimately coming out on the wrong end of a blood-splattered brawl in Belfast.
He’ll jump straight back into the fire against another certified value-for-money fighter in Richardson (11-8), who enters the bout on the back of a razor-thin decision loss to top contender James Sheehan.
Prior to that, the 26-year-old veteran had notched-up back-to-back wins over Italians Alessandro Botti and Leonardo Damiani.
With both men known for their punching power as well as their grappling chops, this one has all the makings of a wildly unpredictable affair.
Elsewhere on the card, surging prospect Lone’er Kavanagh (4-0) looks to continue his stunning run of form against fellow up-and-comer Davide Scarano (4-0).
With only two bouts going the distance between them in the professional ranks, fans should expect fireworks when this pair of flyweight prospects collide.
In a late addition to the main card, french bantamweight Awa Sow (1-2) makes her sophomore appearance in the famous yellow gloves, as she faces a promotional newcomer in GB Top Team’s Kate Bacik (0-1).
A lightweight barn-burner opens the CW 150 main card, as Belgium’s ‘Q-Bomb’ Jan Quaehaegens looks to keep his 100% finishing streak alive against fellow scorecard-dodger Alberto Ciardo, who has only seen the final bell once in six pro contests.
In preliminary action, Mush Aslani (4-3) returns following his lightning-fast stoppage of Adam Darby at CW Unplugged last November. He’ll face Team KF’s Omran ‘The Lebanese Gorilla’ Chaaban, also coming off a highlight reel finish at Unplugged.
Things got fiery between the pair at Thursday morning’s weigh-ins; the bad blood will be settled in just 24 hours’ time.
In the featherweight division, the debuting Wesley Machado (3-2) meets returning prospect Nik Bagley (2-1), while a pair of bantamweight bouts see Jack Eglin (2-2) face Ille Meryacre (2-0) and veteran Bogdan Barbu (17-14) square off with the always exciting Weslley Maia (6-5).
Cage Warriors 150 airs live on UFC Fight Pass and international broadcast partners, with preliminary action from 19:00 and the evening’s main card at 21:00 local time.