Cage Warriors 95 Preview:

Cage Warriors 95 Preview:

By Jon Prentice

Cage Warriors 95 goes down next weekend (July 21st) from the Indigo at the O2 with an exciting welterweight title fight between Mehrdad Janzemini and Stefano Paterno headlining the card. Here is a look into the card and what fight fans can look forward to from the event.

In the main event, Janzemini and Paterno will do battle for the vacant welterweight title in a match up between two proven finishers.

Submission specialist Janzemini (9-2) enters the bout on the back of a five-fight win streak, all of which have been via finish. Despite being known as an extremely dangerous leglock maestro, Janzemini has won his last two via first round KO/TKO, the most recent of which being in his Cage Warriors debut over Brad Wheeler at Cage Warriors 92 back in March. Outspoken Janzemini will be hoping the hometown support will be in his corner when he takes on Italy’s Paterno as he aims for gold.

Stefano Paterno (11-2-1) is known as more of a knockout artist and come fight night will be looking for his 8th KO/TKO finish of his professional career. Undefeated since November 2015, Paterno has six finishes and one draw to his name since he last tasted defeat, however, he will be competing outside of his native Italy for the first time in his professional career. Predominantly fighting under the Venator banner, Paterno will be making his Cage Warriors debut when he fights for the belt. He most recently competed in May defeating Britain’s John Maguire via KO/TKO in the first round of the main event at Italian Fighting Championship 3, picking up the vacant welterweight belt in the process. This is a fight that could end in the blink of an eye and definitely not one to be missed!

The card also pits another two welterweight’s against one another as Nathan “Mr Bag and Tag” Jones goes head to head with Ross “The Hitman” Houston.

Jones (11-8) is a 19 fight veteran who made his pro debut in 2012. Currently riding a three-fight losing streak to tough opponents in Olli Santalahti, Adam Proctor and Alex Lohore, Jones will be another making his Cage Warriors debut on Saturday night. Ten of Jones’ eleven wins have come by the way of stoppage, with his most recent coming against Umer Kayani at Bellator 179 in May 2017 when he got the win via first-round submission.

Scotland’s Ross Houston (6-0) is currently undefeated in his professional career having won all six of his bouts. He is coming into the fight following back to back wins over Aaron Khalid at Cage Warriors 87 and Cage Warriors 91 with both victories coming via unanimous decision. He currently has two submissions and four decision wins to his name and come fight night he will be making his 5th Cage Warriors appearance in his career to date.

Next up is an exciting bantamweight match-up between Ed “King” Arthur and Mike “Airlines” Ekundayo in a battle between two of the best in Britain at the weight class.

Ed Arthur (8-3) is an 11 fight veteran making his return to action after over 18 months out of action. He has alternated wins and losses over his last six fights, with wins over Brent Crawley via submission, Cameron Else via KO/TKO and Alan Philpott via submission. All three of his losses have come via decision against top quality opposition in Shay Walsh, UFC newcomer Petr Yan and Tural Ragimov. Arthur, a BAMMA and ACB veteran, will be making his first appearance under the Cage Warriors banner when he provides Ekundayo’s toughest test to date on paper.

Ekundayo (6-0) is another exciting bantamweight prospect to come out of Team Titan in London. Training alongside the likes of Nathaniel Wood, Chris Miah and Dominique Wooding, and under the tutelage of Brad Pickett, Ekundayo has amassed an undefeated professional record to date with five of his six wins coming by the way of stoppage. Ekundayo, the current Rise of Champions bantamweight title holder, most recently competed at Bellator 200 in London where he defeated another up and comer in Tom Mearns. Ekundayo will be aiming to gain redemption for his team-mate Nathaniel Wood whom Arthur defeated via submission back in 2014.

The card will also feature unbeaten Welsh prospect Mason Jones (4-0) as he takes on short notice opponent Konmon Deh (9-4) in the lightweight division, as well as Brad Wheeler whose opponent is still to be confirmed.

Fightpost will be cageside for the event bringing live updates and post fight interviews so stay tuned next Saturday night for all the action as it happens.

The full line up for Cage Warriors 95 can found below (order TBC):

Main event
Cage Warriors Welterweight title-

Mehrdad Janzemini vs Stefano Paterno

Nathan Jones vs Ross Houston

Ed Arthur vs Mike Ekundayo

Mason Jones vs Konmon Deh

Brad Wheeler vs TBC

Pelu Adetola vs James Webb

Joshua Onwordi vs Gurd Shergill

Scott Malone vs Corey Tait

Phil Wells vs Konrad Iwanowski

Paull McBain vs Steve Aimable

Luca Iovine vs Kris Edwards

Adam Amarasinghe vs Aaron Laleye