A Mixed Bag of Results for Next Generation Liverpool at CW 152

As with any Cage Warriors card up in the north of England, Liverpool’s Next Generation MMA had a huge footprint on CW 152.

With many of Next Generation hottest prospects featuring on the card, a huge narrative going into April 15th was several fighters all putting on big performances that could lead to title shots. Whilst all of the fights didn’t go their way, a lot of lessons were learned. 

Liam Gittins got the night off to a strong start for the gym and whilst there was plenty of Next Gen presence throughout the night, it was all about the three future stars in the promotion. Luke Riley was up first with his performance falling somewhere between the other two. 

Whilst he got the win, maintained his perfect 6-0 record and put on an absolute classic against late notice replacement Kallum Parker, Riley was critical of his own performance backstage with the media. The fight was undeniably the best of the night and one of the best that Cage Warriors has ever seen but that was helped by Luke fighting very aggressively. 

Both men stood and traded with each other, landing huge shots with the crowd wondering how both men were still in the fight firing back. After talking to the media for some time, he started to come round on the benefits of fighting the way he did. Whilst getting his hand raised, he learned some vital lessons that will no doubt make him a more composed fighter going forward which when paired with his finishing ability, makes him even more dangerous. 

Next up was Adam Cullen who suffered the first defeat of his career, being on the opposite end of a rough finish. After his opponent Dumitru Girelan was able to make it out the first round unlike all of Cullen’s previous pro opponents, the scouser still seemed to be in control throughout the second round. A devastating third round knockout caused the upset of the night and whilst he may not have got his hand-raised at the end like Riley did, there will be a lot of lessons that he can take away from this experience. 

Finally, in the co-main event, Nathan Fletcher ended the night on a high for the gym. Absolutely buzzing with himself after he stepped in on late notice to face a very tough competitor in Daan Duijs and submitted him with his own move, a triangle choke, Fletcher shared words with his teammate Paddy Pimblett backstage. It was a flawless victory for the bantamweight contender whose only professional loss was his title fight with Dom Wooding which he looked impressive in. 

With Caolan Loughran set to face off with Dylan Hazan in Rome for the vacant bantamweight title at the start of May, Fletcher will have his eyes on that one as well as mentioning a potential clash with Reece McEwan during his post-fight interviews. 

It may have not been the clean sweep they were hoping for but Cage Warriors 152 still showed the potential that is at Next Generation right now.