We’re just a week away from Cage Warriors double-header return to Manchester, with CW 177: Unplugged taking place on Friday, September 20th before CW 178 opens the doors to the BEC Arena for a second night of action in the Famous Yellow Gloves.
Manchester nights always seem to have that special something when CW comes to town; a combination of fascinating fights, a cool venue and the electric local crowd.
As fight week rapidly approaches, resident Play-by-Play Commentator Brad Wharton takes a look back at some of our biggest Manchester moments.
Luke Riley vs Alexander Loof
Where else could we start but here? Not just one of the best Manchester throwdowns in the history of Cage Warriors, but for our money, one of the best scraps in any promotion, in any city in Europe.
The unstoppable force that is Luke Riley vs the immovable object of Alexander Loof; it was always going to be combustible, but nobody knew to quite what extent.
For many it’s the fight that ‘made’ the Next Gen prodigy…and more still would argue the same for Loof.
There’s no argument when it comes to the quality, brutality and knife-edge drama the bout provided though; in those regards, it’s possibly without equal.
If you haven’t seen it…see it.
Liam Gittins vs Roberto Hernandez
To say that there was a little bad blood in the water prior to Liam Gittins’ first defence of his bantamweight title might have been understatement of the year.
‘Nightmare’ (or ‘Step-Daddy’, to use the moniker he adopted for the night) had already done five rounds – albeit over social media – with challenger Roberto ‘Green Light’ Hernandez, and it hadn’t been pretty.
Gittins quickly set his stall out to make the fight itself as ugly for the American as the pre-fight banter.
Despite a competitive first frame, the champion soon began to edge ahead, shutting his man down at every turn.
And just when it seemed like a comfortably-earned judges’ decision would be on the cards, Gittins lifted the roof off the BEC with a rare fifth round submission.
CLD vs Djati Milan
Christian Leroy Duncan forged a reputation as Cage Warriors’ resident human highlight reel during his short, but memorable, time with the promotion.
The Mark Wier prodigy racked up such a collection of memorable moments that it’s tough to believe that he spent just two years wearing the Famous Yellow Gloves.
Duncan’s amateur credentials, coupled with his flawless run through the CW middleweight division, saw him compete for the middleweight title in just sixth professional bout.
He didn’t look out of place for a second against the more experienced Djati Milan, overcoming his opponent’s suffocating grappling game to finish him with a brutal barrage of fists and knees in the third round.
Nathan Fletcher vs Daan Duijs
The best thing about Mixed Martial Arts is the ‘mixed’, right? Who can put the whole puzzle of striking, grappling, strength, stamina and will together most effectively.
Still, there’s something incredibly enjoyable about seeing two people who excel in once specific area put that particular skill up against the other.
That’s exactly what we got when grappling standouts Nathan Fletcher and Daan Duijs went mano-a-mano in Manchester back at CW 152 last year.
While fans salivated over three rounds of high-level submission fighting, Fletcher had other plans, catching the Dutchman in a slick triangle in the closing moments of the very first round.
The victory catapulted the Next Generation man on The Ultimate Fighter, and more recently the UFC proper.
Mason Jones vs Michael Pagani
Mason Jones has had more than a couple of epic nights in Manchester, so he was always going to make this list.
The only question was, which fight would it be?
The wild brawl with Joe McColgan that saw him capture the lightweight title on a week’s notice?
Or the epic David vs Goliath affair against Adam Proctor, where he added the welterweight strap to his collection?
As noteworthy as the above are, it’s tough to look past Mason’s last outing in Manny, when he took on surging Italian prospect Michael Pagani.
The pair knocked lumps out of each other for three blood, sweat and tear drenched rounds.
Experience won the day, and fans were left with the memory of one of the greatest fights they’d ever seen, seared into their mind’s eye.
Cage Warriors returns to the BEC Arena for what promises to be another action packed night of elite mixed martial arts on Saturday, September 21st!