Cage Warriors is back with an event in Italy. Cage Warriors 183 is the first of four events for the promotion in March, so keep an eye out for them. It seems as though they are getting some of their best guys ready for UFC calls or Contender Series opportunities. The card will be broadcast on UFC Fight Pass at 11:00 AM ET on Saturday 8th March.
LIAM GITTINS (13-4) vs. ALESSANDRO GIORDANO (9-3) – Bantamweight Championship
This is a good match up for Liam Gittins. Gittins was sneakily on the come up for a while and finally capitalized on that labour by winning the title recently. He is a solid muay thai striker who can grapple well, but typically isn't looking to shoot take downs. Giordano is similar. Giordano fights with a more pressure heavy boxing style. He has good take down defense but doesn't often shoot for his own take downs. He has proven to have good power with a few KO wins recently. His most recent fight did raised some concerns for me though as his opponent was able to overwhelm him in moments with more volume. Gittins should be able to control the striking and if he wants to grapple, I think he has the advantage here. I like this match up for Gittins and a big win here should finally get him a UFC contract as his last two wins have been over some solid competition.
Pick: Liam Gittins by KO/TKO or submission. Medium-high confidence.
DARIO BELLANDI (8-1) vs. NAGLIS KANISAUSKAS (8-3) 2 – Middleweight Championship
Dario Bellandi made himself known by putting an end to Mick Stanton's title reign. Bellandi can be fun to watch, as his fight against Robin Roos was a war. He comes forward with somewhat sloppy yet effective striking. He likes to wrestle a lot but recently he has looked to strike more. This is actually a rematch and in the first fight Bellandi made the fight quite boring by stalling against the cage and getting an occasional take down. Considering Naglis is 24 years old he actually is a pretty decent prospect for this division. He has technical striking and his grappling is pretty good as well. In the first fight he did slow down due to the pressure of Bellandi and I think this fight will be similar. Naglis could become something but this rematch is a bit much too soon for him again considering how the first fight went. Bellandi has proven to be able to push a pace over 5 rounds and I think he takes Naglis into deep waters here.
Pick: Dario Bellandi by decision or late finish. Medium confidence.
DYLAN HAZAN (10-2) vs. MICHELANGELO LUPOLI (8-4) – Flyweight
This fight should be fun as it is between two flyweight strikers. Both guys are fast but Hazan has much more finishing potential. Hazan is much more aggressive and hits harder. He shot a lazy take down against Amir Malekpour and was punished with a guillotine loss but he can wrestle if he wants to. I wasn't very impressed with Lupoli. His most recent fight was against someone with a losing record and he took him to a decision. he didn't show any finishing instinct at all. I expect this fight to mostly take place on the feet and it should be a good fight for Hazan to land his kicks from range and maybe get a finish.
Pick: Dylan Hazan by KO/TKO or decision. Medium-high confidence.
KONSTANTINOS NTELIS (9-3) vs. MICHAEL PAGANI (7-1) – Lightweight
Pagani is a great prospect to keep your eye on. He is a super fun striker with a large arsenal of strikes that he can land. He is coming off a loss to Mason Jones but made it a close fight, and Jones recently signed with the UFC again. It takes two to put on a scrap and I think Ntelis has the style to make it one. Ntelis is a kick boxer who likes to fight from range with fast kicks. Once he finds his range has can land with big power, and showed in his last fight he can sleep an opponent with one punch. His striking defense looks solid so he may present a challenge to Pagani who can get quite wild. Pagani is reckless so he may present some openings for Ntelis which is why I expect this fight to be a war. This fight will likely be more competitive than expected since a lot of fans are very high on Pagani, and they could be overlooking Ntelis' great striking. I do have to pick Pagani because he can look for the take down if needed and he should be the one throwing more volume. I look forward to this fight.
Pick: Michael Pagani by decision. Medium confidence.
MARIO MINGAJ (7-0) vs. ROBIN ROOS (7-5) – Middleweight
Mario Mingaj looks like he could also be a good middleweight prospect from Italy. He is a middleweight grappler with pretty decent take downs. He likes to use judo throws to get his opponents downa dn from there he looks for submissions. He is tall for the weight class so mostly throws jabs and kicks. He doesn't move his head much so there could be opportunities for Roos. Robin Roos is a very wekcome addition to Cage Warriors as he is super fun to watch. He is a brawler on the feet and can land with big power. He gave Bellandi some trouble in their title fight but eventually slowed down after a very high volume start to the fight. If he can defend the take downs he will have a huge striking advantage. The size difference could be quite large here though. Roos isn't a small middleweight by any means but he is listen at 5'11”, the same height as Mingaj's last two opponents. In those fights Mingaj looked like a giant. This fight could get interesting and despite Roos' unimpressive record he does present a genuine threat to Mingaj because of his power. I do have to pick Mingaj though as Roos has struggled against grapplers in the past and Mingaj's submission are very good for this weight class.
Pick: Mario Mingaj by submission. Low-medium confidence.
OTHER PRELIMS:
Giuseppe Matrogiacomo vs. Aiden Lee: Giuseppe Mastrogiacomo by KO/TKO. High confidence.
Orlando Wilson Prins vs. Giuseppe Ruggeri: Orlando Wilson Prins by decision. Low confidence.
Manuel Del Valle vs. Marco Doda: Manuel Del Valle by KO/TKO. Medium-high confidence.
Damiono Scogna vs. Gerasimos Soutis. Damiono Scogna by decision. High confidence.
Adam Shelley vs. Simone Patrizzi. Simone Patrizzo by KO/TKO. Medium confidence.
