A new CWFC bantamweight world champion will be crowned when Cage Warriors Fighting Championship makes its inaugural visit to Newport, Wales, on Saturday, September 13, 2014.
Cage Warriors 72, which is set to take place at the Newport Centre, will see Cory Tait and Toni Tauru collide for Europe’s leading promotion’s vacant 135lbs title.
The eleventh Cage Warriors event of 2014, Newport will become the third Welsh city to play host to CWFC, following a trio of shows in Cardiff from October 2012 to September 2013, in addition to a debut in Swansea earlier this year.
Tait (8-2-0), a 26-year-old Englishman who has taken all of his career wins inside the distance, is one of the UK’s top bantamweights and earns his shot at the CWFC gold on the back of a four-fight win-streak.
Following a number of impressive victories on the British domestic circuit, Tait was signed exclusively by Cage Warriors last year and announced his arrival on the international scene with a superb first-round submission of the hotly-favoured James Pennington in the main event at CWFC 64 in London back in February.
Despite hailing from a kickboxing background, Tait has as an equal number of (T)KO and submission wins – four each – with five of his victories coming in the very first round.
“I’m truly excited to be fighting for the Cage Warriors title,” said Tait, who holds other notable wins over fellow Cage Warriors veterans Spencer Hewitt, Dino Gambatesa and Nathan Beer.
“The fights keep on getting bigger and bigger for me. Winning this belt will prove that I’m the top bantamweight in the UK, and I’m looking forward to being recognised as just that.”
A 29-year-old Finn, Tauru (9-1-1) hasn’t tasted defeat since losing to former CWFC title challenger Mikael Silander in his second professional bout back in August 2011.
Since then, Tauru has embarked on a run of nine successive wins – the last six of which have come via submission – which has seen him climb to second place in the Nordic bantamweight rankings.
After submitting TUF 18 contestant Emil Hartsner via first-round gogoplata last November, Tauru was snapped up by Cage Warriors and picked up another first-round submission win over Martin Akhtar in his promotional debut at CWFC 66 in Copenhagen this past March.
Tauru said:
“I’m very confident coming into this fight. It’s going to be my tenth straight win and I’m going to be the Cage Warriors champion, so I’m excited and grateful for this opportunity.
“But I also believe I have earned this title shot and I’m looking forward to becoming Finland’s first MMA world champion.”
The CWFC bantamweight belt was last held by Brett Johns until this past April, when his failure to make weight ahead of his CWFC 67 title bout against James Brum saw him relinquish the strap, despite picking up a unanimous-decision win.
Officials have also confirmed several other bouts today for September 13’s CWFC 72 bill in Newport, including a welterweight clash between Lewis Long and Steve Dinsdale. Check out the updated fight card below, with many more bouts and ticket news to be announced shortly.
Cage Warriors 72 (more bouts to be announced)
Cory Tait vs. Toni Tauru – vacant CWFC bantamweight world title bout
Jack Marshman vs. Che Mills
Steve Dinsdale vs. Lewis Long
Jordan Desborough vs. Kris Edwards
Jamie Rogers vs. Mario Saeed
Nick Nembherd vs. Simas Norkus
Paulina Bonkowska vs. Kate Jackson
Source: CageWarriors
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