One To Watch: Ollie Sarwa

UK & Irish MMA is undeniably in it’s golden age. With athletes such as Leon Edwards and Arnold Allen looking to be future UFC title contenders and freshly signed prospects like Jake Hadley and Paddy Pimblett, the meteoric rise of the sport here continues and shows no signs of slowing down.

In our latest monthly series, we’ll be taking a look at the home nations athletes you need to keep an eye on! Starting off with our first ‘One To Watch’, BKK Fighters Ollie Sarwa.

Ollie Sarwa is one of the hottest prospects doing the rounds on the UK regional scene. Competing in the forever stacked bantamweight division, he boasts an amateur record of 10 wins and 4 losses with 7 of his victories coming by way of stoppage (2 submission, 5 KO/TKO). Boasting a versatile skill-set and high fight IQ, a fight with “The Prodigy” is not a task for the feint hearted with him sitting comfortably ranked #11 in the UK Bantamweight rankings.

In his most recent bout, Sarwa fought Gabriel Gomez on CWSE 26 in an all out war! Sarwa’s displayed a work rate not often seen among the amateur ranks. During the bout we see “The Prodigy” live up to his name, consistently letting his hands fly on the counter attack and chopping away at his opponents base. Both athletes showed immense heart, but Sarwa proved to tough for Gomez and took the decision victory, winning the Cage Warriors Academy: South-East Bantamweight title! You can watch the fight in its entirety here.

With no fight currently booked for the remainder of the year, it’s safe to assume we’ll next bee seeing Ollie Sarwa at some point in 2022. However, with the title now strapped round his waist and a strong amateur record over good opposition, the question that begs to be asked is will Sarwa defend his newly acquired title? Or does he take a different path and make the move into the professional ranks?

Whilst defending his title is understandable, Sarwa has proven his worth amongst the amateur ranks and has numerous exciting challenges he could approach as a professional. It wouldn’t be surprising if we saw “The Prodigy” in the famous yellow gloves sometime in 2022.