A Middleweight war has been added to Cage Warriors 172, with Joe Ambler set to meet Michael Tchamou.
The bout is the fourth to be added to the promotion's return to Tyneside, following an extremely successful event in November 2023.
After a nine bout amateur run, Ambler joined the professional ranks in 2023 and has since went 1-1.
His amateur career, in which he picked up several domestic titles, spanned over four years and in an extremely active 2022, Ambler made the walk 5 times in the calendar year, and also faced Cage Warriors Welterweight Sean Clancy Jr.
In his first professional bout, Ambler faced the fellow debuting Jordan O'Neil. It wasn't to be for Submission MMA man as he lost by way of a first round guillotine.
After 10 month away from competition, Ambler returned in the cage in March 2024 and picked up his first win, submitting Rhino Daley in the first round of their bout.
The Tchamou bout certainly marks a step up in competition for Ambler, on what will be his first bout on a major promotion.
Tchamou amassed a 3-0 amateur record before joining the professional ranks in 2021. A brutal first round knock out in his professional debut caught the eye of Cage Warriors who signed the heavy hitter, who was struggling to find a matchup on the domestic scene.
In his promotional debut, ‘Jaguar’ was handed his first professional loss at the hands of Samir Kadi. Kadi's grappling game proved to be too much for the debuting Tchamou, who was stopped in the third round of their contset.
Tchamou returned at Cage Warriors 136 against Piotr Chmielecki. After a frantic start, Chmielecki made the costly mistake of trying to pull ‘Jaguar’ into his guard but the lateral drop didn’t work out and the Polishman instantly starting eating huge strikes and after just 95 seconds of the first round, referee Marc Goddard waved the contest off. Post fight, commentator Daniel Strauss said that it was some of the nastiest ground and pound he had ever seen.
Now showing how dangerous he could be with his strikes, the Cameroon native was keen for a quick turnaround and was back in action just two months later at Cage Warriors 140. In what was undoubtedly the best performance of his career so far, Tchamou landed a devastating right hook sent Irvine's mouth piece flying and rendered the Northern Irishman unconscious, immediately.
Since then, 'Jaguar' has had a dip in form, losing his last three contests to Will Currie, Naglis Kanisauskas and Carlos Graca.
Cage Warriors 172 will be headlined by Middlesbrough man Harry Hardwick, as he looks to join his brother, George, in becoming a Cage Warriors world champion. Hardwick will face Zafar Mohsen for the vacant Featherweight title.
Elsewhere on the card, Milad Ahady will face Orlando Wilson Prins in a Featherweight bout as Josh Abraham and Chris Price will square off at Lightweight.
