Cage Warriors 174 has been hit with a huge change, as it has been announced Shaj Haque is out of his Flyweight title fight against Nicolas Leblond.
Haque, who claimed the title back in 2022 at Cage Warriors 148, before successfully defending it against Michele Martignoni at Cage Warriors 158.
Play-by-play commentator Brad Wharton announced the news via the promotion’s social media channels. He said:
“What's up, everybody Brad Wharton here for Cage Warriors live from Cage Warriors HQ. I’ve got a big update on Cage Warriors 174, scheduled to go down on Saturday, the 20th of July. Of course, that is the day of our huge $50,000 PrizeFighter, it was also the date that Shaj Haque was scheduled to make the latest defense of his Flyweight title.
“Unfortunately, the champion has picked up an injury in training, he’s out of the bout. We wish Shaj a full and speedy recovery and can't wait to see him back in the famous yellow gloves. But, do not despair. Cage Warriors officials have confirmed with me today that we will still have a Flyweight title fight on the card. Now, following his fight of the night performance last time out in London, Amir Malekpour will step in to face the French knockout machine, Nicloas Leblond. The winner will be crowned interim Cage Warriors Flyweight Champion and will challenge Shaj Haque at a later point on the calendar.
“Once again, we wish Shaj a speedy recovery. We’ve got a huge interim Flyweight title fight for London. We will see you on Saturday 20th of July cagewarriors.com for your tickets and of course it's live on UFC Fight Pass and all our international broadcast partners.”
Neither Haque, or Cage Warriors, have disclosed the injury at the time of writing.
The change to the card marks a huge opportunity for Malekpour in just his fourth bout in the yellow gloves. The Swedishman first signed with Cage Warriors in 2023, making his promotional debut at Cage Warriors 158 and stopped Florian Doskja in the second round of their contest. He then earned the biggest scalp of his career four months later when he got the submission over Dylan Hazan. He then had an incredible bout against Tom Creasey at Cage Warriors 169, when he took home a unanimous decision win.
