Five for Fighting: Cage Warriors – The Trilogy

After a six month hiatus Cage Warriors returns this with not one, not two but three huge shows. Twenty-six fights over three nights with five title belts up for grabs. For this edition of I’ve chosen to take a look at the title fights on all three cards that are taking place this Thursday 24th, Friday 25th & Saturday 26th of September. Cage Warriors “The Trilogy” will be held behind closed doors in the BEC Arena in Manchester.

Samir Faiddine (11-6) vs. Luke Shanks (6-1)

Samir Faiddine defends his flyweight at Cage Warriors 114. The Frenchman looks to defend his title for the first time against Luke Shanks. Shanks, who fights out of Edinburgh, Scotland looks is on a three fight wins streak. He picked up wins over Jason Jenkins and a very impressive KO win in his last bout vs. Pietro Menga at Cage Warriors 107.

Across the cage from Shanks on Thursday night will be current flyweight champion Samir Faiddine. Faiddine picked up the flyweight title on his promotional debut defeating Sam Creasey at CW 106. The heavy hitting Frenchman will be looking put another feather in his cap by defending his title against Shanks at 125 pounds.

Both of these fighters like to grit their teeth and throw heavy leather and I expect that we see some wild exchanges. It could be a case of who gets hit first here. Shanks picked up his first KO win of his career last time out. Faiddine himself will be confident coming off his first KO victory since 2015.

Fast paced, quick punches and kicks, lighting takedowns and scrambles. Everything you would want to see in a fight. It’s certainly what you’ll get here too in this flyweight encounter. Long live the flyweight division!

Quick Pick: Luke Shanks

Jack Cartwright (8-0) vs. Geraldo Fanny (9-1)

Undefeated Jack Cartwright burst onto the scene when in knocked out Scott Malone and Marko Kovacevic in one night. That was the night he picked up the bantamweight title he now processes in the one night title tournament that Cage Warriors put on last year. He carries fight ending power and has only left the first round once in his professional career.

That was in Cartwright’s last fight against Manuel Bilić who managed to go all three rounds with the SBG Manchester star. It wasn’t enough for him to pick up the victory with Cartwright winning pretty convincingly in a unanimous decision. His opponent, Geraldo Fanny will have it all to do this coming Friday.

Geraldo Fanny comes into this fight with pound-for-pound the best name in Mixed Martial Arts right now. That won’t get him far when he steps in against the champ at Cage Warriors 115. The Dutch fighter will look towards his we rounded set of skills in order to get the job done here. He has four wins by KO and three wins by way of submission. Fanny makes his debut in what will be a baptism of fire once the cage door closes on Friday night.

Jack Cartwright is well on the way to UFC stardom. Another win here will cement that status. Fanny will need to be on his toes and look to mix his grappling and striking to get the champ off his rhythm. For Cartwright all he will be looking to do is stand and bang. There ain’t many out there that can handle his power if he lands flush. Cartwright will be on the hun for a finish here and it will be exciting to see if he can pull it off.

Quick Pick: Jack Cartwright

Nathias Frederick (8-2-1) vs. Jamie Richardson (9-5)

These two middleweight warriors will throw down at Cage Warriors 115 on Friday night. Nathias Frederick defends his title for the first time against Jamie Richardson. Frederick is coming off two fierce wars with Team KF man James Webb. The first of those bouts was a draw, the first time Frederick had been to a decision. The Team Renegade man got the job done the second time around finishing Webb in the fourth round.

Standing across the way from the champion will be Jamie Richardson. Richardson has had somewhat of a topsy turvy MMA career. He has earned himself a well deserved title shot by picking up wins in his last three fights. He got two KO wins over Phill Wells before picking up solid win on the judges scorecards in his last fight against Matthew Bonner.

It’s hard to look past Nathias Frederick coming into this fight. He is a ferocious fighter and will be out to finish this fight early. He will need to tread carefully with Richardson, that being said. With eight knockout wins on his record he does possess the skills to put your lights out. I expect heavy shots in this fight. Both of these guys will want to slug it out in what could turn out to be a good ole fashioned slobberknocker!

Quick Pick: Nathias Frederick

Mason Jones (9-0) vs. Adam Proctor (12-1)

This is a cracking fight that goes down at Cage Warriors 116. Jones is fresh off his lightweight title win over Joe McColgan at Cage Warriors 113. He moves up in weight to compete for the vacant welterweight title against Joe Proctor.

Proctor comes into this bout on a seven fight win streak. He has impressive wins over Angelo Rubino, Olli Santalahti and Madars Fleminas in his last outing at Cage Warriors 112. The SBG South Shields athlete will fancy his chances here being the more established welterweight. He’ll be looking to use his grappling to neutralize the explosiveness of Jones’ striking.

Mason Jones, is coming up in weight but I feel he will carry himself quite well a welterweight. The Welshman is also very well rounded with great striking and submissions in his arsenal. He had a steady progression through the lightweight ranks with good wins over Donovan Desmae and Aleksi Mäntykivi. That was before he took the vacant lightweight crown in impressive fashion against Joe McColgan last time out.

Jones will be confident stepping in here to fight Proctor. You would expect Proctor to try and use his size advantage. He could look to wear out Jones with some clinch work and possibly look for the takedown. Jones needs to stick and move and keep his back against the cage. I would give him a slight advantage on the feet over Proctor. This fight will be all action, a new champion will be crowned and Jones has the chance to label himself the “Champ, Champ”. This is fantastic fight.

Quick Pick: Adam Proctor

Morgan Charriere (15-7-1) vs. Max Coga (22-6-1)

The vacant featherweight strap is on the line with Max Coga and Morgan Charriere face off at Cage Warriors 116 this coming Saturday. Carrieer is pretty much leading the charge of French Mixed Martial Arts fighters right now in the sport. He has the backing of a nation as he looks to bring home the gold but standing in his way is the experienced Max Coga.

Coga, who fights out out Germany comes into this fight off the back of two impressive submission wins over Anthinodoros Michailidis and Roman Avadyan. Cogs has had some experience Stateside with a brief stint in the PFL going 1-2. He faced off against double tournament winner Lance Palmer with Palmer getting the nod on the judges scorecards that night. That experience will pay dividends to Coga coming into this title fight.

Charriere himself comes into this scrap on a two fight win streak. Since his defeat to Soren Bak he has picked up wins over Lewis Monarch and a KO victory over Dean Trueman last time out. The Frenchman is primary a stand up fight but does have four submission wins under his belt. I feel that he’ll want to be keep this fight with Coga on the feet mostly and I do give a Charriere the advantage on the feet here.

Cogs is a very well rounded fighter and has the ability to win the fight anywhere. With most of Coga’s victories coming by way of submission, his clearest path to victory here will be the use of his grappling skills. This is a high level fight and both of these guys will be hungry for the win. With the featherweight title on the line and the possibility of a UFC call up these guys have everything to fight for this coming Saturday. Cracking fight!

Quick Pick: Morgan Charriere

In addition to these great title fight we also have a ton of Irish MMA prospects on show. Check out Andy Stevenson’s Weekend Warriors for full details of all Irish fighter that are set to thrown down over the three events.

Cage Warriors 114 takes place on Thursday 24th, 25th & 26th of September. The prelims begins at 19:30 on Fight Pass and cagewarriors.com and the main card begins at 21:00 GMT exclusively on Fight Pass.