Cage Warriors 147: Fight card set for ‘Unplugged’ event

Cage Warriors’ third “Unplugged” show will see the promotion return to the BT Sport studios in Stratford, London, on Sunday, November 20.

The special invitation-only event streams live on UFC Fight Pass, and features a lightweight title fight in the main event, as newly-crowned 155-pound champ George Hardwick puts the belt on the line in his first defence as he takes on Scottish veteran Chris Bungard.

Bungard made a winning start to his Cage Warriors career with a split-decision win over Brazil’s Erick da Silva at Cage Warriors at Cage Warriors 142, and the 33-year-old, who has competed for Bellator, ACB and BAMMA during his 10-year MMA career, now has his sights set on Cage Warriors gold.

But in Hardwick, he’s facing a man who is in stellar form, and at the peak of his powers after finishing American Kyle Driscoll via fourth-round body-shot TKO at Cage Warriors 141 in July.

Since his decision loss to Madars Fleminas in his promotional debut back in 2019, Hardwick has been perfect inside the Cage Warriors cage, reeling off six consecutive wins to reach the promotion’s lightweight summit.

Having won the 155-pound title, his job now is to retain it, and he’ll be hoping to close the show in style.

Also set for action is French star Morgan Charriere, who makes his long-awaited return to the cage against Croatian contender Daniel Bazant in a big fight for the featherweight division.

Former featherweight champion Charriere won the vacant 145-pound title with a body-shot knockout of Perry Goodwin at Cage Warriors 119 in December 2020, but lost the belt to Jordan Vucenic via a razor-thin split decision the following March at Cage Warriors 122. Charriere then faced Paul Hughes and lost another very close bout, this time via majority decision, at Cage Warriors 128 in October 2021.

His planned return against Alberth Dias at Cage Warriors 144 was nixed when the Brazilian failed to make weight for the bout, and now he’s set to return in London against Bazant.

The Croatian arrives in Cage Warriors looking to make an instant impact. The 31-year-old is riding a three-fight win streak, with his last two victories coming against former UFC fighters Rony Jason and Iuri Alcantara, the latter coming via first-round TKO.

The event did take a hit with the news that flyweight champion Sam Creasey’s bout with top contender Shaj Haque has been pulled from the card due to illness to the champion. The matchup will be rebooked for a future date.