James and Sheil to miss Cage Warriors 51

Dublin, Ireland (December 27, 2012) - INJURIES have forced some late changes to be made to the card for Cage Warriors 51, which takes place at The Helix in Dublin, Ireland this Monday, December 31.

John Michael Sheil has sustained a knee injury and has had to withdraw from his welterweight clash with Jack Mason. Sheil (8-1) is now expected to face a lengthy lay-off.

Mason (21-11) will instead take on Florent Betorangal (10-5), a highly-rated Frenchman who has taken eight of his 10 career victories by submission.

Meanwhile, the bantamweight bout between Liam James and Alan Philpott has been pulled from the card following an injury to James (6-4).

The 28-year-old Englishman also damaged his knee in training last week but a suitable replacement opponent for Philpott (7-3) could unfortunately not be found at such a late stage.

As a result, the lightweight bout between Paul Redmond (5-3) and Ryan Roddy (5-0) will be promoted to the main card.

Tickets for Cage Warriors 51 are on sale HERE. The main card will stream live on MMA Junkie at 9pm (GMT). 

Cage Warriors 51: Brum v Benkaci

London, England (December 14, 2012) - JAMES BRUM will aim for his fourth CWFC win of 2012 when he takes on Moktar Benkaci at Cage Warriors 51 on New Year’s Eve.

The pair will clash in a bantamweight bout on the December 31 card at The Helix in Dublin for Cage Warriors’ second visit to the Irish capital this year.

The event will be co-headlined by a pair of title bouts as Chris Fields defends his middleweight strap for the first time against Jesse Taylor, followed by the meeting of Conor McGregor and Ivan Buchinger for the vacant lightweight belt.

Brum (10-2), who trains alongside UFC flyweight Phil Harris at Portsmouth’s Gym 01, has made massive strides in the 135lbs division this year, rising to fourth in the European rankings courtesy of wins over Leandro Gontijo, Thomas Back and James Saville.

Benkaci (8-3), a highly-rated Frenchman with an impressive CV, moves down to bantamweight to face Brum having dropped a decision loss to top-ten European featherweight Joni Salovaara in October.

Tickets for Cage Warriors 51 are on sale HERE. With more bouts still to be announced, keep track of Cage Warriors on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and updates.

MAIN CARD

McGregor v Buchinger

Fields v Taylor

Daly v Kankaanpaa

Sheil v Mason

James v Philpott

PRELIMINARY CARD

Redmond v Roddy

Brum v Benkaci

Mulpeter v Quinn

Watts v Fadipe

Photo: James Brum (Dolly Clew/Cage Warriors)

- ENDS -

Cage Warriors 51: Fields v Taylor

London, England (December 11, 2012) - CHRIS FIELDS will make his first defence of the CWFC middleweight title in his hometown of Dublin on New Year's Eve.

Fields, who captured the vacant title courtesy of his win over Pavel Kusch in the final of this year's middleweight tournament, will put the belt on the line against Jesse Taylor at Cage Warriors 51 on December 31, as the organisation brings the curtain down on a hugely successful year with a 12th event.

Taylor (23-9), who fights out of Team Quest in California, is a UFC, Strikeforce and Dream veteran who holds notable victories over the likes of Tom Watson and Chris Camozzi.

The 28-year-old has returned to 185lbs since his welterweight loss to Gael Grimaud at CWFC Fight Night 6: Bahrain in May, embarking on a three-fight win streak to catapult himself into middleweight title contention.

Fields (10-4), dominated Kusch in September at CWFC Fight Night 7: Jordan, forcing a third-round referee stoppage to secure the title.

The 29-year-old Irishman also impressed back in February with a first-round TKO of Jack Mason at Cage Warriors 45 in London.

“Our middleweight tournament has made it a very busy year for the division and we’ve had to deal with a lot of injuries to our top contenders, but Jesse Taylor has put together some very impressive wins recently and will be a worthy challenger for the belt on New Year’s Eve,” said Cage Warriors CEO Graham Boylan.

Conor McGregor, a team-mate of Chris Fields at SBG Ireland and the reigning CWFC featherweight champion, will aim to make history in the co-main event at Cage Warriors 51 by also clinching the lightweight title at the expense of Ivan Buchinger.

Tickets for Cage Warriors 51 are on sale HERE. With more bouts still to be announced, keep track of Cage Warriors on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and updates.

MAIN CARD

McGregor v Buchinger

Fields v Taylor

Daly v Kankaanpaa

Sheil v Mason

James v Philpott

PRELIMINARY CARD

Redmond v Roddy

Mulpeter v Quinn

Watts v Fadipe

Photos: Chris Fields - Tommy Lakes; Jesse Taylor - Dolly Clew/Cage Warriors

Cage Warriors 51: McGregor v Buchinger

London, England (November 28, 2012) - A LIGHTWEIGHT title bout between Conor McGregor and Ivan Buchinger will bring the curtain down on a hectic 2012 for Cage Warriors.

The pair will clash in the main event at Cage Warriors 51 at The Helix in Dublin on New Year’s Eve, as the organisation makes its second visit to the Irish capital this year.

McGregor, the reigning CWFC featherweight champion, had been due to defend the 145lbs belt for the first time against Jim Alers on the December 31 card.

However, a hand injury has now forced Alers out of the fight. It marks the second occasion the meeting of McGregor and Alers has had to be postponed. The pair were originally scheduled to clash at CWFC Fight Night 7 in Jordan back in September, but McGregor sustained a facial injury.

However, the Dublin native remains on course for a title bout in front of his hometown crowd, with the 24-year-old set to take on Buchinger for the CWFC lightweight strap.

The belt is up for grabs once again following a mutual agreement between Cage Warriors officials and previous champion Ivan Musardo, who clinched the title with a victory against Joseph Duffy over 12 months ago.

Buchinger (21-3), who’s signed exclusively to Cage Warriors, had an impressive second-round TKO victory over Diego Gonzalez at May’s CWFC Fight Night 6 in Bahrain.

Currently ranked as one of Europe’s top ten lightweights, the 26-year-old Slovak has secured 19 of his 21 wins by stoppage, with two of his three losses coming via decision against UFC duo Anton Kuivanen and Akira Corassani.

McGregor (11-2), who fights out of SBG Ireland, was crowned CWFC featherweight champion at June’s Cage Warriors 47 in Dublin when he submitted Dave Hill in the second round of their clash for the vacant title.

The Irishman is ranked as one of Europe’s top ten featherweights but also fights regularly at lightweight. Two of McGregor’s four bouts under the Cage Warriors banner have been at 155lbs.

Victory over Buchinger on New Year’s Eve would see McGregor become the first fighter to simultaneously hold Cage Warriors titles in two unified weight classes.

Tickets for Cage Warriors 51 will go on sale on Thursday, December 6, with more bouts still to be announced. Keep track of Cage Warriors on Facebookand Twitter for the latest news and updates.

MAIN CARD

Conor McGregor v Ivan Buchinger

Aisling Daly v Katja Kankaanpaa

Liam James v Alan Philpott

PRELIMINARY CARD

Philip Mulpeter v Tommy Quinn

Charlie Watts v Henry Fadipe

Cage Warriors 51: Daly v Kankaanpaa, James v Philpott

London, England (November 20, 2012) - THE card for Cage Warriors 51 in Dublin on New Year’s Eve is beginning to take shape with today’s addition of two exciting bouts to the end-of-year extravaganza in the Irish capital.

Cage Warriors 51, which will take place at The Helix on Monday, December 31, is set to be headlined by a highly-anticipated featherweight title bout between Jim Alers and defending champion Conor McGregor.

That clash will be joined on the main card by a women’s 120lbs catchweight bout, with McGregor’s SBGi team-mate Aisling Daly returning to Cage Warriors action against CWFC debutant Katja Kankaanpaa.

On the preliminary card, Liam James will collide with top Northern Irish bantamweight Alan Philpott.

Daly (13-4), who’s currently eighth in the world in the women’s flyweight rankings, will be fighting under the Cage Warriors banner for the fifth time in her decorated career.

The 24-year-old Dubliner will be keen to secure a victory in front of her hometown crowd after suffering a decision loss to Rosi Sexton at June’s Cage Warriors 47 in Dublin.

Daly, who has also fought for the likes of Bellator and Invicta, defeated fourth-ranked women’s flyweight Jessica Eye to capture the NAAFS title last year.

Kankaanpaa (6-0-1) has yet to taste defeat since making her professional debut in March 2010.

A native of Finland, Kankaanpaa’s last outing was against Simona Soukupova in the main event at Botnia Punishment 12, which ended in a draw.

Sixth in the women’s world strawweight rankings, Kankaanpaa will be making her first appearance on a Cage Warriors card in Ireland next month.

Meanwhile, the meeting of James and Philpott on the Cage Warriors 51 prelims is a significant bout in the organisation’s bantamweight division.

Philpott (7-3) had a stunning victory over highly-ranked Welshman Kris Edwards at Cage Warriors 49 in Cardiff last month.

The 21-year-old, who hails from Ballymena in Northern Ireland, submitted Edwards in the first round despite taking the fight on less than a week’s notice following the withdrawal of Mark Platts due to injury.

That victory catapulted Philpott into 14th place in the UK’s bantamweight rankings.

James (6-4), who’s 18th in the rankings, will be fighting on a Cage Warriors event for the third time in 2012.

Hailing from Newcastle in England, the 28-year-old earned a Fight of the Night bonus and an exclusive Cage Warriors contract following his dramatic featherweight win over Jean N’Doye at CWFC Fight Night 5 back in April.

James then dropped to 135lbs for his clash with French veteran Olivier Pastor at September’s CWFC Fight Night 7 but suffered a second-round submission defeat.

Tickets for Cage Warriors 51 will go on sale later this month, with more bouts to be announced shortly. Keep track of Cage Warriors on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and updates.

Photos: (Aisling Daly, Alan Philpott, Liam James - Dolly Clew/Cage Warriors; Katja Kankaanpaa - Marko Tuominiemi)