Cage Warriors today announced current champion Nathaniel Wood faces Luca Iovine for the title, and Jack Shore comes up against Vaughan Lee in a thrilling number 1 contender bout on March 24th.
CW92: Super Saturday, a night which promises 4 World Titles across 2 main cards at the Indigo at the O2 in London, just got even bigger with the inclusion of two pivotal fights for the European MMA scene.
The Cage Warriors bantamweight division just got seriously interesting. Nathaniel Wood (12-3) will return to his home city on March 24th to defend his world title in front of thousands of fans, and will face perhaps his toughest opponent yet in one of Italy’s most dangerous rising stars, Luca “Duke” Iovine (12-1). Iovine, who is riding an eight-fight win streak, has finished his last three fights in the first round and has looked deadlier in each of his outings since he began his undefeated streak in 2015. With Wood also picking up a string of incredible finishes in the last few years, including his insane first-round win against Josh Reed at CW86 (a clash that was chosen as Cage Warriors’ 2017 fight of the year and reached over 20 million views online), this looks like it’ll be a fight to remember for London fight fans.
The second fight to be confirmed in this breaking announcement is another bantamweight clash between Jack ‘Tank’ Shore (7-0), arguably the hottest prospect in Europe, and UFC veteran Vaughan Lee (14-13). Jack Shore’s rise to the top of the Cage Warriors Bantamweight division has been unrivalled, with a 12-0 amateur run followed by an seven-fight undefeated streak as a pro. If he defeats Vaughan Lee in his first move to bantamweight, he will set himself as as firm number-one contender for Cage Warriors gold. Lee, who began his fighting career an entire decade before Shore, fought and beat some of the best bantamweights in the world during his UFC run between 2012-15 and will look to use his superior experience to hand ‘Tank’ the first defeat of his life.
“This just turned into an even bigger night for the future of European MMA,” says Cage Warriors President Graham Boylan. “Both Wood and Iovine have been laying waste to the best in the bantamweight division for years, so it’s finally time they meet. For Shore and Lee, this is the fight which proves who really deserves to be challenging for a world title later in the year.”
Another fight to be newly announced for CW92: Super Saturday is a featherweight match up between Aiden Lee and Tom Mearns. Lee picked up a streak of dominant submission wins in 2017 and looks to continue the trend, but Mearns’ unbeaten record and well-rounded style proves it’ll be no easy task. Already confirmed for CW92 is a heavyweight title bout between current champion Mauro Cerilli, who joins Luca Iovine as the second Italian fighting for world gold on the night, and light-heavyweight champion Karl Moore. Moore will look to become the first Cage Warriors two-weight champ since Conor McGregor, and Cerilli fights to prove he’s the true heavyweight king after winning the belt at CW89 in Belgium. Sam Creasey is also confirmed to fight for the World Flyweight Title after impressing Cage Warriors management with two incredible first-round finishes in 2017.
Tickets for CW92: Super Saturday are very limited, with all balcony seats having recently sold out and the remaining few tickets going fast from the Cage Warriors website here. As Cage Warriors President Graham Boylan announced last week, 70% of the venue is now SOLD OUT and there’s still bouts to be announced!
CAGE WARRIORS 92: CONFIRMED BOUTS (order TBC)
Nathaniel Wood vs Luca Iovine (Bantamweight Title)
Sam Creasey vs TBC (Flyweight Title)
Mauro Cerilli vs Karl Moore (Heavyweight Title)
Jack Shore vs Vaughan Lee (Bantamweight)
Aiden Lee vs Tom Mearns (Featherweight)
Corrin Eaton vs. Dean Trueman (Featherweight)
Mehrdad Janzemini vs. Brad Wheeler (Welterweight)
Salih Kulucan vs. Darren O’Gorman (Bantamweight)
Arvydas Juska vs James Webb (Middleweight)
Phil Mulpeter vs. Jamie Richardson (Weltweweight)
Pelu Adetola vs. Modestas Bukauskas (Light Heavyweight)