Cage Warriors – Europe’s Leading MMA Organisation – has today confirmed details of the first title bout of its 2024 World Tour.
Newly minted bantamweight champion Liam ‘Nightmare’ Gittins will make the first defense of his 135lb crown against America’s surging contender Roberto ‘Green Light’ Hernandez.
The five-round bout will feature on the main card of CW 168 on Saturday, March 16th, at Manchester’s BEC Arena.
Southport, UK’s Gittins is currently riding a five fight winning streak in the famous yellow gloves, with three of those coming by way of a finish.
He most recently saw action in November, outpointing rising star Reece McEwan 49-46 on all three judges’ scorecards in a nail-biting affair to capture the big gold belt.
The Next Generation athlete has notched up an impressive fourteen professional bouts under the CW banner, including victories over the likes of Josh Reed, Adam Amarasinghe and Emrah Sonmez.
Challenger Hernandez also makes a quick turn around, having competed on Cage Warriors’ last card of 2023, earning a unanimous decision victory over UFC veteran Trevin ‘5 Star’ Jones at CW 165.
The career-best scalp netted the California man his ninth consecutive win, his seventh in Cage Warriors.
A student of UFC legend Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson, Hernandez has racked up other notable victories over John De Jesus, Moses Diaz and Toby Misech.
“2024 is set to be another huge year for Cage Warriors…” said CW Matchmaker Ian Dean, “…so we’re going to hit the ground running with a huge title fight in the bantamweight division.”
“Liam Gittins showed the world his potential last November, putting on the most composed performance of his career to capture the title.”
He’s got a huge challenge ahead of him for his first title defence in Roberto Hernandez, who’ll be looking to take the title back to the United States.”
“I’m expecting five rounds of fireworks when they lock horns on March 16th!”
Further bouts for CW 168 – which airs live on UFC Fight Pass and international broadcast partners – will be announced in due course. Tickets are available from CageWarriors.com.