A flood of Merseyside mixed martial arts fighters are set to showcase their talent on the Cage Warriors platform in the upcoming months.
The figurehead of that is Paddy Pimblett, who will make his long-awaited return on March 20th in London.
His opponent for the event will be Belgian Donovan Desmae. The pair have been scheduled to fight two times prior, with Cage Warriors 113 now the third.
Injuries to both have stopped the progression of the fight previously, but if all goes well, the fight will finally take place in London; a night before the UFC host an event at the O2 Arena.
The former Cage Warriors featherweight champion was expected to compete in December of last year, but his fight was pulled a day before fight night after his opponent Joe Giannetti missed the weight limit by eight pounds.
His prior fight saw him unsuccessful in his attempt to become a two-division champion, as he fell short to Soren Bak in September 2018.
Current lightweight champion Jai Herbert is expected to move on to the UFC in the near future, leaving the lightweight title potentially vacant. A win over Desmae should see ‘The Baddy’ contest for that next.
Similarly, his teammate Matthew Bonnar (6-5-1) will fight on the same card in a career-defining fight against Jamie Richardson.
Two weeks prior to that, on March 7th, several of Pimblett’s fellow Next Generation MMA teammates are scheduled to fight in Manchester at Cage Warriors 112.
The stand-out competitor for that is Adam Ventre, who will face Martin Stapleton on the main card.
Stapleton (19-7) is a veteran of the sport, with his appearance on The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs United Kingdom detailing way back to 2009.
Ventre (8-4) is coming off the back of a decision win over Antanas Jazbutis last September and a win over Stapleton at the BEC Arena will significantly help his progression up the lightweight rankings.
Fellow teammate Adam Wilson (4-0) is scheduled to compete on the preliminary card against former bantamweight title challenger Scott Malone (6-3).
Also, Ben Petches-Kelly (5-3) will contend for the amateur welterweight title in Manchester against the undefeated Mariusz Mikolajewski (3-0-1).
Outside of Next Generation MMA, undefeated Southport fighter Liam Gittins (5-0) will feature on the main card, with his opponent yet to be announced.
Similarly, ‘The Huyton Hammer’ Mick Stanton (6-3) will take on James Webb (6-2-1).
Liverpool and Next Generation MMA in particular have established themselves as a force in the European mixed martial arts scene and March provides is the perfect showcase for that.
(Picture by LAGUNA2003 under Creative Commons License)
