With the PrizeFighter draw now complete, it’s time to profile the final bantamweight stepping up for their shot at a huge cash prize!

Tickets for CW 174 X PrizeFighter are available here!

The brainchild of CW President Graham Boylan, in association with Mola and Fairtex, PrizeFighter is a one-night tournament with a life-changing $50,000 prize and the promise of a shot at the World Title for the winner.

Cage Warriors resident Play-by-Play man and the guy who likes MMA tournaments more than he likes Hawk Tuah, Brad Wharton, is back with a look at enigmatic Brazilian Weslley Maia.

Who is he?: Great Britain Top Team’s Weslley Maia burst onto the Cage Warriors scene in the most unlikely of circumstances back in 2018, making his promotional debut on just 24 hours notice.

In Wales.

Against Jack Shore.

If that’s not a clear-cut case of brass you-know-whats, then I don’t know what is.

Ultra charismatic and a joy to watch, Maia has already taken the ‘0’ from two undefeated prospects in the last twelve months.

PrizeFighter could be his to lose.

How does he win?: At 28 years of age, we’re still seeing the evolution of Weslley Maia. Originally known as a pure Muay Thai specialist, his grappling has begun to shine through in his more recent performances.

So the question becomes, which Maia will we see? Chopping leg kicks and flying knees, or take-downs and ground ‘n’ pound?

The Brazilian’s ability to adapt to the field may well be his best weapon.

Who should he fight?: The PrizeFighter tournament is almost to the day a year removed from Maia’s defeat of Shirzad Qadrian.

It’s a tired old cliché, but you really can’t buy experience and the Brazilian simply out-savvy’d his man on the night.

But if you’re Maia, do you really want to roll those dice twice? On the one hand, he knows that he can beat Qadrian, on the other, this is ground he’s already walked.

Is the motivation the same?

Perhaps something fresh, like a tilt with Aidan Stephen, would make more sense. A nice clash of styles between two guys who are quite different in terms of skillset, but quite similar in terms of where they find themselves on the career path.

Why should you care?: I thought I’d take this one myself, as for me, Maia is a textbook example of a guy with everything to gain from PrizeFighter tournament.

The guy is fearless; a lot of people talk the talk, but Maia is the absolute epitome of “Anyone, anytime, anywhere”.

Anyone willing to walk into the lion’s den of a 4,000 seat arena in Cardiff and fight Jack fucking Shore on a day’s notice has exactly the kind of constitution that’s required to tackle two fights in one night.

That could be the clincher; a level of self-belief so strong, it carries him through choppy waters.

Which fight should you watch?: Maia has quite the back catalogue, both in the Famous Yellow Gloves and elsewhere, but what better way to get fired up for the PrizeFighter than checking out his 2023 win over fellow entrant Shirzad Qadrian from CW 157?

The 135lb PrizeFighter will air on UFC Fight Pass and International Broadcast Partners as part of CW 174: London.