Cage Warriors 98 Preview

Lee vs McBain is now the co-main due to Alan Carlos not being able to compete

Cage Warriors returns to Birmingham for the first time in eight years on Saturday, as the promotion gathers pace towards its biggest card ever, Cage Warriors 100, in December. The card sees title action, with Ross Houston versus Stefano Paterno for the Welterweight championship, as well as the kick off of the Featherweight tournament, where the winner will be crowned Featherweight champion at Cage Warriors 100.

The card is headlined by Ross “Hitman” Houston taking on Italian, Stefano Paterno, for the Welterweight title.

Paterno (12-2-1) will be aiming to make his first defence as champion, having won the belt at Cage Warriors 95 by first round KO against Mehrdad Janzemini, and is riding a seven fight win streak coming into this fight.

Houston also comes in on a seven fight win streak, winning his last fight at Cage Warriors 95 against Nathan Jones, with a RNC in the second round, and the man from Inverness hasn’t lost a fight yet.

Many, including myself, are sceptical about whether this is the right time for Houston to be fighting for such a big prize though, with two of his last three wins coming against Aaron Khalid, and his last opponent Jones, came into the fight on a three fight losing streak, but this is the time for the Scotsman to prove his doubters wrong.

The first fight of the Featherweight tournament sees Dean Trueman (8-4) taking on Lewis Monarch (10-3), with the winner taking on the winner of Lee vs McBain for the vacant Featherweight title in Decemeber.

Expect to see fireworks in this fight, with the pair sharing 10 TKO/KO’s between them as well as five submissions, this fight will likely finish within the three rounds.

Monarch is my pick for this fight, as the man from the north-east of England has never gone the distance in any of his wins, and he has never been finished either, though I’m sure Dean Trueman will be aiming to change that.

In the second featherweight tournament fight between Aiden Lee (6-2) and Paull McBain (5-0), Lee will be aiming to take the win in front of his home crowd, while “The Locomotive” will be aiming to get one step closer to taking Cage Warriors gold back to Spartan Fight Team. This fight was moved up to co-main event status due to a light heavyweight tilt between Yannick Bahati and Alan Carlos falling by the wayside after Carlos was pulled due to injury.

McBain last fought at Cage Warriors 95 on the prelims, where he took a decision win over Steve Aimable, and was very vocal about not getting a post fight interview inside the cage, telling various publications he wanted a chance at a title, and now he as it.

Meanwhile, Lee is making his first appearance since Cage Warriors 92: Super Saturday, which was back in March, where he took a decision win against Tom Mearns.

With so much on the line, I’m really looking forward to seeing both men go hell for leather in this one, and it should be a cracking fight.

Another highly anticipated fight is the promotional debut of Adam Proctor, who takes on Angelo Rubino in as welterweight contest.

Proctor (9-1) signed for Cage Warriors a few months ago, and many fans were very excited to see the SBG South Shields fighter, make his debut on the biggest stage in debut, with some experts even tipping him to be a top ranked UFC fighter in the future.

Rubino (8-3) will be looking to spoil the party though, and with seven stoppage victories, six coming via TKO, that could be likely.

If there is any weakness in Proctor’s game it is his stand up, evidenced by him having no KO victories, and this is something I’m sure Rubino will take full advantage of, and that’s why I’m tippin the Italian to win.

In the feature prelim fight, Sam “The Snake” Boult (11-3) returns to Cage Warriors following two fights away, as he takes on former BAMMA champion Alex “Da Killacam Kid” Lohore, who makes his debut for the promotion after jumping from BAMMA.

Both men come in tho this fight on a win, but I’m tipping Boult to take this one,.

The fighter from Chesterfield is coming back only a few weeks after a relatively easy fight at Risk Fight League, where he won in the first round, so he’s already in good shape and has the confidence behind him, plus the motivation of knowing that if he wins, there is a good chance he might get a much deserved rematch against Adam Proctor on a main card.

So, what fight are you looking forward to the most, let me know on Twitter by tweeting me @Cobleyreporting.