Cage Warriors 89 preview, betting tips, and odds
Europe’s leading and longest-running mixed martial arts promotion Cage Warriors is putting on the “biggest MMA event in Belgian history” this Saturday.
The main event is a much anticipated title fight between welterweight champion Karl Amoussou and UFC vet Dominique Steele who will be making his Cage Warriors debut.
The second title fight is Nills van Noord who will face Mauro Cerilli for the vacant heavyweight strap.
Prominent Belgian fighters Cindy Dandois, a UFC and Invicta veteran, and long-time MMA pro Tommy Depret are also on the main card to give the local fans something to cheer for.
Let’s take a closer look at the Cage Warriors 89 fight card going down at the Lotto Arena in Antwerp.
Cage Warriors 89 Pro Prelims
Mathias Lodahl (5-0-0, 1NC) vs Sameer Alekozai (5-1-0)
Dane Lodahl is undefeated and makes his much anticipated return to Cage Warriors. His last fight was a win by rear-naked choke. He has four submission victories and one TKO victory and comes into the bout as one of the biggest betting favorites on the card. Belgian Alekozai is on a three fight win streak and has won all of his bouts in his home country. His only loss was by decision in Germany last year. This is his Cage Warriors debut.
Chico Martinez (11-17-0) vs Ben Dandois (6-3-0)
This is Martinez’s Cage Warriors debut. He fought primarily in regional Netherlands events and will be a big underdog here. “El Toro” has been around fighting since 2001, but hasn’t won since 2009. He has a bout with prominent middleweight Gegard Mousasi, whom he lost to by submission. Ben Dandois is the brother of Cindy Dandois who is also on this card. He is on a two-fight win streak, both wins were by TKO. His last professionally MMA fight was in 2014, and before that it was in 2006 for the middleweight. Two inactive MMA fighters on the main card should make for some good entertainment, with the local fighter a big odds on favorite to win.
Leon Jansen (1-0-0) vs Jan Quaeyhaegens (4-3-0)
Jansen only has one professional fight so far where he won by arm bar. The Dutch fighter’s bout was in the World Fighting League promotion. He’s associated with Budo Academy Physical. Quaeyhaegens’ last fight was a TKO win in the World Fighting League promotion. Jan is another local fighter and has one fight in China on his record and a slight favorite to get the win.
Jefferson Sant’Anna (2-0-0) vs Artur Szczepaniak (3-0-0)
Sant’Anna is out of Malicia Training Center. He won both of his professional fights by submission with both bouts taking place in 2017. This is his Cage Warriors debut. Szczepaniak is also undefeated in professional fighting. The welterweight has one victory by KO, and the other two were by decision. The Belgian fighter is out of Team Mixfighter Genk.
Aiden Lee (5-1-0) vs Donovan Desmae (9-4-0)
Lee used to fight at featherweight. This will be his fifth fight with Cage Warriors. He is on a three fight win streak, all three of them were won by submission. Belgian fighter Desmae dropped his Cage Warriors debut by unanimous decision. He is on a two fight losing streak. before that, he was on an eight fight winning streak. He has four wins by KO/TKO, two wins by submission, and three wins by decision.
Cage Warriors 89 Main Card
Jack Shore (6-0-0) vs Ayton De Paepe (7-0-0)
The hype is growing for Jack Shore. Not only is Shore undefeated in his professional bouts, but he also went 12-0 in his amateur career and is being quickly tagged as a UFC hopeful. The Welsh fight has yet to go the distance in his professional bouts. He has five fights in Cage Warriors and will fight outside of his home country for the first time in this bout. A nice showdown with a local Belgian fighter as Shore takes on De Paepe who is also undefeated in his professional career. There must be some money going on DePaepe to keep the odds fairly close, so a good bout to get some action on here as Shore makes a quick return to the cage.
Tommy Depret (12-5-0) vs John Maguire (25-9-0)
Depret is 38 years old and turned pro back in 20017. Although he has been out of action since 2015, he is riding a two fight win streak. The Belgian fighter has fought in Brazil and the UFC in his long MMA journey, but this will be his Cage Warriors debut. Maguire is a 34 year old veteran that was once a more prominent European fighter in the UFC. “The One” has jumped around promotions, and has had several fights in the UFC and Cage Warriors in the past. He is coming off a submission victory over Shah Hussain. He is a submission specialist, with 15 wins via submission.
Cindy Dandois (8-3-0) vs Kerry Hughes (3-2-0)
Cindy Dandois finds herself in the Cage Warriors promotion after losing her UFC debut to Alexis Davis, which caused her to be released by the company. The Belgian judoka has also fought former Invicta bantamweight champion and UFC title challenger Tonya Evinger. Hughes usually fights at bantamweight, but this fight will take place at 140 lbs. The UK fighter won the BCMMA title since her two prior bouts with Cage Warriors over three years ago. Dandois is a big favorite.
Nills van Noord (17-8-2) vs Mauro Cerilli (10-2-0)
Dutchman Nills van Noord faces the Italian Mauro Cerilli in the first of two Cage Warriors title fights. Van Noord is a late replacement of Karl Moore who was going to attempt to add to his light heavweight strap with a the heavyweight one. Van Noord is the underdog here, but comes with a lot of experience and has seven wins by KO/TKO, five wins by submission, and five wins by decision. He is currently on a two-fight win streak with first-round stoppages which should give him some confidence coming into the bout. Nicknamed “the Hammer,” Cerilli is on a three fight win streak. He has three wins by KO/TKO, three wins by submission, and four wins by decision. This is the Cage Warriors debut for both of these big men and one fighter will be walking away with the strap.
Karl Amoussou (24-7-0) vs Dominique Steele (14-9-0)
Cage Warriors welterweight title holder Amoussou is on a seven fight win streak and is looking unstoppable. All of them have been by stoppage, with four submissions and three KO/TKOs over that span. The French-German fighter is a long-time MMA veteran that has been fighting professionally since 2006. At 31 years of age, he has hit his stride which was visible in his dominant TKO victory over Matt Inman that won him the vacant title. The M-1 and Bellator veteran is now looking to continue his run with a win over UFC veteran Dominique Steele. Steel was recently released by the UFC after losing three straight fights. He had five fights in total in the octagon, and went 1-4 overall in the promotion with a win over veteran Dong Hyun Kim. Still only 29 years of age, he’ll look to reinvent himself as the Cage Warriors welterweight champion. A quality strap here in the main event, and will be worth it to see if Steele has the game plan to upset the odds and steal the belt from the champ in Antwerp.
About Ryan O’Leary
Ryan O’Leary is a veteran mixed martial arts journalist and commentator. The Swedish-based writer is the founder and editor at MMAViking.com, which is the premier source for Nordic mixed martial arts news.
