Cage Warriors Bantamweight Reece McEwan is looking forward to an exciting 2024, following a title challenge defeat at the back end of last year.
After signing with the promotion in 2022, McEwan compiled an impressive four fight win streak over the space of 15 months which culminated in a Bantamweight title fight against Liam ‘The Nightmare’ Gittins in November 2023.
After an extremely difficult first round, McEwan ate a lot of heavy strikes which left him bleeding profusely, the Scotsman couldn’t get his game going from there on in. Reflecting on the loss, he gave props to Gittins for the win but feels he knows where he could have improved. He said:
“The Gittins fight didn’t go my way; Liam came out on top as the champion that night and was the winner. I did lose a lot of blood in the first round, and I lost composure after that, thinking that I was losing control of the fight. I regrouped as the fight went on and then again, I lost composure.
“There’s a lot of good things in the fight that I done but at the end of the day, there were a lot of things that I could do better but that’s a fight. When I reflect on the fight, that’s 25 minutes of experience banked. I’ve learnt a lot from that fight. We are a couple months on, I have put that behind me, it is in the past and I am looking forward to the next bout and trying to be better than I was on November 25th.”
Severely compromised due to the damage received in the opening stanza, McEwan showed unbelievable grit to survive the next four rounds. The determination to stay in the contest was nothing short of admirable and an aspect of the bout McEwan views with considerable pride.
“One thing I am definitely proud of, when I reflect on the performance in the fight, is how much heart I displayed. At the end of round 2, when I knew I was two rounds down, I’d lost so much blood I felt ill.
“I just thought ‘I have to get a hold of him now’ because I didn’t know just how bad the cut was, I didn’t want the fight to get stopped and going into round three I just said to myself ‘You’re not going to give up. You’re not going to get finished tonight. But if you lose, you're going out on your shield and, you’re not getting finished.
“Stay in the fight, look for the finish, wherever you can and look for a path to victory however you can.' And that's exactly what I thought and when you’re in the trenches like that, it does show you how much you want it.”
The battle scars sustained throughout the contest will fade over time but McEwan admitted that they served as periodic recalls of that night, in the immediate aftermath; which made losing the contest that much more painful.
“I think what made this fight harder (to lose) was the state of my face. I had stitches on my face, my eye was bloodshot. So because physically I had injuries that people could see, everyone was constantly asking how my face was doing how my eye was doing.
“They were constant reminders. But I think for me, it’s just like every other performance and you break it down and I done things that were good and I'd done things that I could do better.
“After the fight I isolated myself away for about a week and just took some time to myself and with my fiance to regroup emotionally and once I regrouped emotionally, I was just excited for the next one.”
The promotion will arrive in Scotland on April 20th when they head to the Braehead Arena in Glasgow. Looking like the next time he will make the walk, McEwan is excited at the chance to get to return to his homeland and perform so close to his local area.
“I think Cage Warriors Scotland will be a special night in my career to be honest. I think it is testament to the support that has followed me since I signed to the promotion. The support has grown bigger every fight around the UK so now it is going to be amazing for the support to only have to travel 30-40 minutes and not four hours or spend weekends just to come and watch me fight.
“The Braehead Arena is closer to my house than it is to go to training so it’s genuinely very close to home. It is a huge arena and it’s going to be a special night in my career.”
With his sights set firmly on 2024, the Griphouse man is ready to make the most of the opportunities presented to him and continue to grow as a mixed martial artist.
“For me, it's about moving on, in my career. It's going to be my 10th professional fight (at the Braehead Arena) and I'm very much looking forward to it. Training is going very good at the moment and I feel I'm a much more matured, experienced fighter.
“In terms of 2024, I'm just very much looking forward to executing fine performances, staying active as I can, and continuing this amazing journey that I'm on.”
