By Jake Smith
Nine IMMAF Alumni will feature on the highly anticipated 4th Installment of Cage Warriors: The Trilogy, this week. The Trilogy of shows, made up of Cage Warriors 123, 124 and 125 will take place on Thursday 24th June, Friday 25th June & 26th June, respectively.
2017 World Championship Bronze medalist and 2019 European Open Silver medalist, Christian Leroy Duncan is one of five alumni featured on the first night of action. The middleweight faces Will Currie in a rematch, following a controversial ending to their first meeting at Cage Warriors 120. After a fun first round, Duncan opened the second with a flying knee which sent Currie bundling back towards the cage, while Currie was working to secure a takedown entry, Duncan was chipping away with shots and the referee had seen enough and waved the bout off, much to the dismay of Currie. Immediately after the bout, the two agreed to rematch. Duncan will no doubt want a solid victory, to prove the first result was no fluke, as he looks to climb closer to the upper echelon of the division.
The card will also see a trio of alumni make their professional debut. Abdul Choudhury will turn over to the professional game when he faces fellow debutant Bakhtyaar Oryakhail. Liam Shotbolt will also be making the walk to the cage for the first time as a professional, taking on fellow IMMAF alumni George McManus and Jack Tucker completes the trio, competing for the first time since his 2019 IMMAF European Championship quarter final. He faces 1-0-0 prospect Omeil Brown.
At Cage Warriors 125, Tobias ‘Bad Intention’ Harila will look to continue his pursuit towards Featherweight gold when he faces William Gomis. The Swede is coming into the bout on the back of a very successful Cage Warriors debut, delivering a devastating KO victory over Aidan Stephen at Cage Warriors 122. The fashion of the win instantly made Harila a perennial contender at 145lbs. If he can navigate past Gomis successfully, a bout with the likes of top contenders Paul Hughes, Morgan Charriere or champion Jordan Vucenic could well await Harila.
From one IMMAF gold medalist to another, Serdar Altas was set to make his promotional debut in an all IMMAF alumni affair, originally slated to face Adam ‘Apex’ Amarasinghe. Unfortunately, Apex was forced to withdraw from the contest due to catching Coronavirus, which led to Cage Warriors veteran Scott Malone stepping up on two week’s notice and will now face Altas at 130lbs. Although at a catchweight, a standout performance could well establish Altas as a force to be reckoned with at Flyweight & with current Champion Jake Hadley set to feature on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, there could very well be a vacant belt appearing at 125lbs.
Altas is one of Sweden’s most successful alumni. From 2015 through to 2017, Altas was a prominent figure in IMMAF tournaments.The Flyweight dominated many IMMAF competitions over a 14 month period, claiming gold at the 2017 IMMAF World Championships, 2016 European Open Championships and the 2016 IMMAF All Africa Championships.
Elsewhere on the card, Welshman Scott Pedersen will be looking for his victory as a professional, when he meets Marcus Lewis in a Lightweight contest. Although looking to compete at Featherweight throughout his professional career, Pedersen has taken the bout on one weeks notice therefore the bout will be competed at 155lbs. In his first professional bout, the 2019 IMMAF European Bronze Medalist was edged out in a unanimous decision loss to Matthew Elliott. Always ready and ever the professional, Pedersen felt ready to compete on such short notice and will be hoping his decision is to be rewarded with a win.
Ciaran Mulholland makes the move to Flyweight for the first time in his professional career to face 1-0-0 Connor Wilson. After two losses at Bantamweight, the Fight Academy Ireland athlete has made the decision to move to 125lbs in the hopes of reigniting his career.
Cage Warriors The Trilogy will be streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.
