Alers vs Turner set for Cage Warriors 63 on New Year’s Eve in Dublin

Jim Alers will put his featherweight belt up for grabs on New Year’s Eve in Dublin, Ireland.

In his second defence of the gold, the CWFC champion will take on Graham Turner when the promotion returns to The Helix on Tuesday, December 31, for Cage Warriors 63.

Alers (11-1), who’ll be searching for his seventh consecutive Cage Warriors victory, was crowned CWFC featherweight kingpin back in April when he submitted Joni Salovaara in the fourth round of the Cage Warriors 53 main event in Glasgow to clinch a title that had been vacated by Conor McGregor.

A 26-year-old native of Florida, Alers impressively overcame Martin Svensson by unanimous decision in his debut title defence at Cage Warriors 59 in Cardiff earlier this month.

Having taken all 10 of his previous victories inside the distance – eight via submission – Alers also holds notable wins over Matteus Lahdesmaki, Marcio Cesar and Freddy Assuncao.

“I’m excited go give the Cage Warriors fans the match-up they wanted to see,” said Alers. “I want to fight the best fighters in my division and I feel Graham Turner is the top guy at the moment.

“Turner is a great guy, I like him a lot, but I’m not going to let that get in the way of me beating him up a bit and keeping my belt wrapped around my waist.”

Turner (23-7), a 25-year-old Scotsman with a kickboxing background, holds a 5-1 record under the Cage Warriors banner and – with the exception of Alers – currently holds more CWFC wins than any other featherweight.

A member of Scotland’s renowned Dinky Ninjas camp, Turner has dropped just two losses in his last 17 outings – to the UFC’s Akira Corassani and top CWFC featherweight Matteus Lahdesmaki.

Since the defeat to Lahdesmaki in February 2012, Turner has rebounded in emphatic fashion, with five straight wins, the most recent of which came at the expense of the previously unbeaten Nad Narimani at Cage Warriors 56 in London this past July.

Turner counts 16 stoppage wins on his record – 14 via (T)KO – and has seen off the likes of Ashleigh Grimshaw, Olivier Pastor and Nathan Beer since making his professional debut in 2005.

He said: “This is going to be a very tough fight; I’m pretty sure it’ll be my hardest to date. I’m excited about the challenge and I feel very honoured to be given this opportunity by Cage Warriors.

“I’d love to get my hands on the Cage Warriors world title. I have the utmost respect for Jim as a fighter and I can’t wait for this challenge. I’m also really looking forward to my first visit to Ireland.”

Keep track of Cage Warriors on Facebook and Twitter for ticket details and more updates on Cage Warriors 63, for which more exciting bouts will be announced in the coming weeks.

Photo: Cage Warriors/Dolly Clew