The final card of the year is rapidly approaching, and it’s packed to the rafters with top Cage Warriors talent. Current and former champions, title hopefuls, veterans and newcomers, CW 199 is shaping up to contend for card of the year. As the countdown continues, what better time to take a look at some of the athletes finest hours in the Famous Yellow Gloves?
Tickets for CW 199 are availible here!
Daniel Konrad
Aside from having one of the coolest nicknames in all of MMA, ‘The Swiss Army Knife’ Daniel Konrad has a skillset that more than lives up to his nom de guerre.
On his debut in the Famous Yellow Gloves, we saw him brawl it out with James Sheehan in an explosion of organised violence. But when it came to tackling former CW title challenger Aiden Lee, Konrad’s approach was much more direct and considered…albeit no less lethal.
It was a performance than not only announced him as a threat to anyone in the division, but one that had fans (and peers) wondering what other tools the SAK had up his sleeve.
Sean Clancy Jr
They call him ‘The One’ and rightly so. Every time we see Sean Clancy Jr in action, it becomes more and more apparent that they broke the mould after they made the Paisley man.
Undefeated in the professional ranks and with the lion’s share of his bouts taking place against quality opposition in Cage Warriors, Clancy has developed from ‘can’t miss prospect’ to ‘legitimate contender’ in a short space of time.
In a week’s time he’ll have the opportunity to further improve his status, but until the arguably the biggest step in the journey was his clash with Brazilian powerhouse Andrey Augusto at CW 181.
With many times’ the Scot’s in-cage experience, Augusto controlled the pace of the early rounds. The third though, was an entirely different story…
Shaj Haque
Injury and extreme bad luck have kept Shaj Haque – consistently among the UKs top flyweights for over a decade – out of the cage for a depressing amount of his most recent CW run.
When he returned to edge past Jawany Scott in a closely contested thriller earlier this year, we were reminded of exactly what we’d been missing out on. ‘Superman’ fights have always been high-tempo, high-skill, high-tactical awareness affairs, but he also brings that unteachable heart and toughness to the cage.
Nowhere was it on display more than in his classic New Years’ Eve title bout against Sam Creasey, where the challenger had to pick himself up off the canvas multiple times before securing a career-best highlight reel knockout.
Nicolas Leblond
An exceptional talent from France who blends his high-level multi-sport background with a set of exceptional physical gifts, Nicolas Leblond has been a menace in the division for some time. After drawing former champion Sam Creasey for his promotional debut, it was clear – even in defeat – that his destiny lay at the top of the ladder.
Now a leading contender at 125lbs for seemingly over a year, fate has repeatedly interviewed in an expected showdown between the knockout artist and reigning champion Shaj Haque.
Until now.
If you ever needed a stark reminder of exactly what got the Frenchman to the dance, you need look no further than this devastating stoppage of Darren O’Gorman; a true demonstration of one-shot stopping power.
George Hardwick
Its tough to pick a Cage Warriors career highlight for George Hardwick, because all of them are pretty great. Big combos, brutal body shots, systematically deconstructing his peers in wildly entertaining ways has kind of been his thing.
After a commendable run through the division, he was matched against American Kyle Driscoll for the then-vacant lightweight title in a bout that had carnage written all over it. Fans packed into London’s indigo at the O2 for the bout and were at fever pitch following the evenings previous action.
What followed was a bloody, brutal rollercoaster ride of a bout, one that elicited cheers, gasps and rounds of applause in equal measure.
In the words of Uptown Funksters Bruno Mars and Marc Ronson…”Don’t believe me? Just watch…”
Join us on Saturday, December 6th as the stars of CW 199 put on more show stopping performances. Tickets are availible here, while the card airs live on UFC Fight Pass and international broadcast partners.