Three is a magic number, yes it is, it’s a magic number. That’s why this week, Cage Warriors are bringing you a triple-header of main event level fights as we kick off the biggest weekend of MMA in the UK this year with CW 186. The Ultimate Aperitif to UFC London takes place in the indigo this Friday night, with a pair of World Titles on the line and a featherweight barnstormer that just might give us the next challenger at 145lbs.
Cage Warriors Play-by-Play man Brad Wharton breaks down all the action ahead of one of the most unmissable CW fight nights in recent memory.
The Main Event
Top of the bill on Friday night is what you might call ‘The Matchmaker’s Dream’: A fight that made itself. When featherweight champion Harry Hardwick made the second successful defence of his title at the back end of 2024, CW’s social media team put a post up asking who was next for the Middlesborough man.
Javier Garcia was right there in the comments, and the rest is history.
In a fast moving sport where being in the right place at the right time can pay dividends, you can’t blame ‘El Mariachi’ for shooting his shot, or argue that he doesn’t deserve the opportunity. Unbeaten in his last five contest, Garcia proved his championship mettle last summer, taking a points victory from former CW title challenger Roberto Hernandez.
A third round submission of Mauricio Eguiluz outside of the organisation in October kept him busy, but since then the focus has been all on Hardwick and a chance to change his life with what some may consider an upset victory in London.
It’s a city that has been kind to Harry Hardwick over the years; emphatic wins over the likes of divisional mainstay Steve Steve aimable and an instant classic finish of Vitor Estevam at the indigo cemented his status as a top contender. His last two outings have taken place a little closer to home; championship bout in which he turned in championship performances and rightly received a champion’s reception.
Now it’s time to step back into the capital’s big spotlight and put those championship credentials to the test one more time.
As for how they stack up, we’re all aware that when it come to ‘Houdini’, output is the name of the game. His ability to set a relentless pace when it comes to dishing out punishment is second to none; when he gets into that offensive rhythm its historically meant bad news for the man in front of him.
Even for recent challenger Keweny Lopes – who perhaps have Hardwick his toughest round to date in the Famous Yellow Gloves – when the violence was dialled up the answers became harder and harder to find.
If Javier Garcia wants to take the title back across the Atlantic, he’s going to have to be the first man in some time to solve that puzzle. ‘El Mariachi’ is teak tough and fleet of hand and foot; you’ll rarely finding moving in the opposite direction if there’s a fight to be had. Is he willing to test that against the champion? Time will tell.
His biggest weapon in a fistfight though might actually be his ability to put a halt to it. Garcia has great takedowns and buttery smooth Jiu Jitsu; disrupting Hardwick’s momentum putting him in a spot where he can do less damage could be key to success over a five round contest.
Make no mistake about it, Garcia is dialled in and not here to make up the numbers. And for Hardwick, a win could be the jumping off point for what many feel will be his most successful year to date.
Still, the last time an American fought a Hardwick for a Cage Warriors title in London it went the way of the home team. Speaking of which…
The Other Main Event
Cage Warriors 141 was the biggest moment in George Hardwick’s career; the night he proved to the world what he’d known all along, that he was a World Champion calibre athlete.
Kyle Driscoll made him earn every second of it. The pair knocked lumps out of each other to the delight of a packed out indigo crowd; a sixteen-minute whirlwind of blood, sweat and adrenaline. The American fought a valiant fight but when all was said and done, the ‘Borough man had too much to give and Driscoll couldn’t take it.
Defences at Unplugged, Manchester and most recently Scotland followed, but on Friday night King George makes a return to the venue where he first lifted the lightweight crown.
Originally to compete last week, CW honoured it’s commitment to keeping athletes busy with an eleventh hour rescheduling after Hardwick’s seemingly ill-fated bout against Lucas Clay fell through for a second time. LFA mainstay Samuel Silva steps into the challenger’s corner, looking to usurp CW royalty on just a week’s notice.
The Brazilian brawler has only a single blemish on his record in the past eight years, and is undefeated in his last four contests. Like Hardwick he’s a finisher; judges’ scorecards account for just one of his twelve victories.
He’s versatile too. Will he be going hell-for-leather trying to snatch a single leg to initiate his calculated top game, or trapping you against the fence and unleashing brutally efficient kicks and punches? Odds are, both…especially if this one end up in the championship rounds.
And odds are that it will; both men are nothing if not full to the brim with grit and determination.
As is the case with brother Harry, many are talking about a UFC call-up being in George’s future this year, or at the very least an opportunity to erase the memories of his previous appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series. There’s also the small matter of entering the history books should he pull off a record fourth defence his lightweight title. If that’s not a reasonable to make yourself unstoppable, I don’t know what is.
The People’s Main Event
The ‘People’s Main Event’ is a bit of a cliché, but I’m convinced that I invented it so here we are. Regardless of what you want to call it, Friday’s co-feature bout is an absolute mouth-waterer.
Keweny Lopes is an individual with frankly disgusting power in his hands; looking back at many of his previous outings you get the impression that he should have been made to wear some kind of comically large boxing gloves just to make it a fair fight.
It’s the kind of otherworldly power that either stops you dead or does significant damage and as even featherweight champ Harry Hardwick found out last year, win or lose you’re not getting out without a few lumps and bumps.
Looking to break that cycle though is GB Top Team’s Nik Bagley, a man for whom getting out of fights unscathed is becoming quite the calling card. His current tally of early rear-naked choke victories in Cage Warriors alone is five, including four back-to-back.
He’s been considered a star on the rise for some time, but should he manage to blast through a legitimate championship contender like Lopes, he’ll be climbing far more than one rung on the 145lb ladder.
Cage Warriors 186 takes place on Friday, March 21st at the indigo at The O2, just 24 hour prior to UFC London. Tickets are availible here, with the event broadcast live on UFC Fight Pass and international broadcast partners.