'The Last Pirate' Morgan Charriere will return to the octagon on April 6th against 'Sting' Seungwoo Choi in Las Vegas.
At only 28-years old, Charriere has competed 29 times as a professional, having made his debut in 2014. Over that time, the Frenchman has built an incredible fan base who've followed the last Pirate all around Europe, on his way to the UFC.
Much of Charriere's recent career, prior to the UFC, has been fought on Cage Warriors. After losing to Soren Bak in his promotional debut, the star power of Charriere became instantly apparent with a decision win over Lewis Monarch and a highlight reel finish over Dean Trueman. The victories led to a bout against the ever dangerous Perry Goodwin for the vacant Cage Warriors Featherweight title.
Showing his superior level, Charriere dismantled Goodwin and stopped him in the third round with a vicious body shot. Fighting in one of the deepest and most competitive divisions in recent Cage Warriors memory, the next challenge was never far away for the new Featherweight champion and just three month later, he would look to make his first title defence against Jordan Vucenic at Cage Warriors 122.
It was widely believed that there would be little between the two when they met and how right those predictions proved to be. Over the 5 rounds, neither man managed to get a overriding advantage in the contest and this became further evident when the fight went to the judges score cards. One judge ruled the contest 49-46 in favour of the Frenchman but the other two saw it as a 48-47 win for Vucenic.
Knowing just how close the contest was, Charriere should have had the chance to try and reclaim the belt just three month later, when Cage Warriors looked to run it back between the two. Unfortunately for all involved, Vucenic was forced to withdraw from the fight with an injury sidelining him for a substantial amount of time.
Charriere was still undoubtedly in and around the top of the division and Cage Warriors needed an opponent that would be worthy of an interim title fight against 'The Last Pirate', up stepped Paul Hughes.
In one of the most enthralling contests in recent Cage Warriors memory, French and Irish fans alike packed out the iconic York Hall for Cage Warriors 128. Yet again, fans were treated to another back and forth affair but it was not to be, once again, for Charriere losing by way of a majority decision.
Subsequent to the loss, it would be 13 months before he would be back in the cage, with a split decision win over Daniel Bazant.
2023 was the year Charriere looked back to his former self. 2 stoppage wins against Pedro Souza and Diego Silva showed his the venomous striking and technical overall game was back in full force. The wins also eventually led to his maiden UFC contract.
Equal levels of anticipation and hype surrounded Charriere's UFC debut, feelings further added to due to the fact he would make the walk to the Octagon for the first time, in Paris, France.
And Charriere certainly delivered. With a barrage of brutal body kicks, he stopped Manolo Zecchini in the first round.
Up next for the Frenchman is Seungwoo Choi. Although having been with the UFC since 2019, 'Sting' has struggled to really make a go of it amassing a 4-5 record.
