Cage Warriors 96 Preview

Cage Warriors 96 set for Saturday beginning at 1:30 pm ET on UFC Fight Pass (Via: Echo Arena)

Arguably the biggest card coming up this weekend, Cage Warriors 96 is coming up on Saturday from the Echo Arena in Liverpool. Hometown star and former featherweight champ (14-2) Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett will be taking on (10-1) Søren “The True Viking” Bak for the Cage Warriors lightweight title which was vacated this spring by Chris Fishgold. 23-year-old Pimblett, who began fighting as a pro at the age of 17, possesses 10 finishes including seven submissions. He comes into this fight following a highlight reel flying triangle, turned armbar win over (16-8-1) Alexis Savvidis at Cage Warriors 90. Bak owns eight finishes, including six submissions, and riding a three fight win streak coming into this title fight.

In the co-main event, middleweight champ (24-13-1) Lee “The Butcher” Chadwick is set to make his first title defense against Bellator and ACB vet (19-5-1) Jonas Billstein. Chadwick, 19/24 total wins by finish, captured the belt last fall at Cage Warriors 88 by decision against Victor Cheng. Billstein is coming over after two submission wins in ACB in 2017.

Middleweight champion Lee Chadwick set to defend his belt against German Jonas Billstein (Via: Cage Warriors)

The main card also features a lightweight bout between (14-4) Jack Grant who’s riding a five fight win streak, and (11-4) Aleksi Mäntykivi who’s fought and won twice in the last two years, including a first round finish of Søren Bak and second round finish of Bashir Gaglev at M-1 Challenge 86. We will also get to see UFC vet, the only fighter who hasn’t lost to Darren Till in Till’s MMA career, (14-3-1) Nicolas “Sharpshooter” Dalby taking on undefeated Italian (6-0) Roberto “Minotauro” Allegretti. Dalby’s looking to end a three fight skid, with losses in the UFC against Zak Cummings and Peter Sobotta. After an almost year and a half off, Dalby lost a very close split decision to UFC signee Carlo Pedersoli in April at Cage Warriors 93. 38-year-old Allegretti is making his promotional debut, with fights on the Italian regional circuit, including five finishes.

This card also features a six fight preliminary card which will be streamed on the SPORTBible Facebook page and includes fighters such as former flyweight title challenger (9-2) Sam “The Hobbit” Creasey, and former BAMMA lightweight champ (5-1) Tim Barnett.