Cage Warriors bantamweight champion [autotag]Jack Cartwright[/autotag] will make the first defense of his title in his home town at Cage Warriors 112 when he faces off against [autotag]Manuel Bilic[/autotag].
Cartwright (7-0) tore through the promotion’s one-night bantamweight title tournament with a pair of huge knockouts against former title challengers Scott Malone and Marko Kovacevic to capture the vacant title at “Cage Warriors Unplugged 2” this past September. The SBG Manchester fighter’s perfect professional record also boasts a 100 percent finish rate with three KOs and four submissions to his name.
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Now the Manchester native will return home to put his Cage Warriors title on the line against Austria-based Croatian Bilic (15-6), who has lost just once in his past seven outings and has finished each of his most recent five victims. The fight was announced via the U.K. promotion’s official Twitter account on Tuesday.
Cartwright’s display in London, where he arrived in the tournament as a relative unknown but walked away with the title, highlighted his knockout power as he stunned two opponents on one night to claim the belt previously held by the likes of Jack Shore and Nathaniel Wood.
Back-to-back first round knockouts.
A Rocky story for the ages.
Check out how Jack Cartwright became the NEW bantamweight face of Cage Warriors! 🏆⬇️ pic.twitter.com/7A67XJAWAB
— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) September 7, 2019
Those two domestic stars went on to earn a shot at the big time with the UFC, and Cartwright will be hoping to make the first step towards following their lead with victory against Bilic in Manchester.
Also set for action in Manchester are former middleweight champion James Webb, welterweight Adam Proctor and former BAMMA lightweight champion Martin Stapleton, with news on their opponents expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Cage Warriors 112 takes place on March 7 at BEC Arena in Manchester. The card streams on UFC Fight Pass.