Cage Warriors announces welterweight title tournament; semifinals set for March 19

A welterweight tournament will crown Cage Warriors’ new 170-pound champion, with the two semifinal bouts set to take place in London at Cage Warriors 121.

The event, which forms the second leg of the promotion’s latest “Trilogy” series in the English capital, will feature both title eliminator bouts on the main card. The event takes place Friday, March 19 at York Hall, Bethnal Green. The card streams live on UFC Fight Pass.

The first semifinal will see undefeated Irishman Ian Garry take on Swedish former UFC athlete Rostem Akman. Garry (5-0) impressed with back-to-back stoppage victories in 2020 as he scored a second-round knockout of George McManus at Cage Warriors 115, then followed up with a ground and pound TKO finish of Lawrence Tracey at Cage Warriors 119 last December.

He’ll take on Akman (6-2), who went 0-2 in the UFC after falling to unanimous decision losses to Sergey Khandozhko and Jake Matthews in 2019. He will make his Cage Warriors debut against Garry, knowing that a win over one of the promotion’s hottest rising prospects will catapult him straight into a title fight.

The second semifinal will pit two promotional veterans head to head, with England’s former two-time lightweight title challenger Jack Grant moving up to 170 pounds to take on Latvian Madars Fleminas.

Grant (16-6) has been a longtime contender in the promotion’s lightweight division, but his two attempts to capture championship gold at 155 pounds ended in defeat to Jai Herbert and Agy Sardari at Cage Warriors 106 and 119, respectively.

Now the 29-year-old will move up a weight class in search of a title, and will take on Fleminas (8-2), who is 2-2 under the Cage Warriors banner, with his most recent performance a unanimous decision victory over Mick Stanton at Cage Warriors 118.

The two winners will then move on to face off for the vacant 170-pound title at the promotion’s next “Trilogy” series in June.

With the additions, the Cage Warriors 121 lineup includes:

• Agy Sardari vs. Mehdi Ben Lakhdhar – for lightweight title
• Jack Cartwright vs. Sylwester Miller – for bantamweight title
• Matthew Bonner vs. James Webb
• Rostem Akman vs. Ian Garry – welterweight tournament semifinal
• Madars Fleminas vs. Jack Grant – welterweight tournament semifinal