Liam Gittins will look to defend his Cage Warriors Bantamweight title against American, Roberto Hernandez on March 16th at Cage Warriors 168 -which will take place at the BEC Arena, Manchester.
The two will meet as Cage Warriors . When the promotion have previously brought US contenders to British shores, it has always delivered with the likes of O'Drisscol vs Hardwick and Clamp vs
Champion, Gittins will be eager to keep a hold of the title, having taking the hard road to Cage Warriors gold.
After a successful start to life as a professional and racking up five wins in the space of a year an a half, Gittins had a turbulent 21 months. Over a 6-fight run during that period, Gittins really struggled to make a go of things, went 2-4 across those six bouts and found himself a far cry away from the top of the division.
‘The Nightmare’ managed to turn his career trajectory on its head, starting with a unanimous decision victory over Edward Walls at Cage Warriors 135. Gittins' striking has always been an issue for his opponents and he really seemed to have found his feet again when he dispatched of Faisal Malik and Rory Evans in emphatic style. Now, building momentum, Gittins re-entered the cage just 3 months after
Gittins had a career defining performance against Reece McEwan at Cage Warriors 164 on November 25th at the Vertu Motors Arena, Newcastle. A thoroughly dominant first round swayed the momentum entirely to Gittins. 'The Nightmare' was then relentless throughout, took a unanimous decision victory and the Bantamweight belt.
Gittins finds himself as one of a surging ensemble making waves in Cage Warriors representing Next Generation MMA. Following Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett and ‘Meatball’ Molly McCann meteoric rise to the UFC, the Liverpool based gym have continued to deliver with the likes of Luke Riley, Adam Cullen and Nathan Fletcher
Entering enemy territory, Hernandez gets his first shot at a major title. At 2-1, 'Green Light' joined the Cage Warriors ranks in 2022 and seriously impressed at 145lbs. On a six fight win streak in the Cage Warriors Featherweight division, Hernadez made the decision to drop to 135lbs and faced Trevin Jones in the main event of Cage Warriors 165.
Looking ahead to the busy schedule Matchmaker Ian Dean said:
“2024 is set to be another huge year for Cage Warriors so we’re going to hit the ground running with a huge title fight in the bantamweight division.”
“Liam Gittins showed the world his potential last November, putting on the most composed performance of his career to capture the title.
"He’s got a huge challenge ahead of him for his first title defence in Roberto Hernandez, who’ll be looking to take the title back to the United States.
“I’m expecting five rounds of fireworks when they lock horns on March 16th!”
Cage Warriors confirmed two other bouts for the Manchester card with Sam Kelly facing Alessandro Giordano and new signings Tom Nicholls Burton & Craig Rawlings meeting in a Middleweight clash.
Cage Warriors 168 marks one of a of shows the promotion are set to have during the first 5 months of the year.
