Light Heavyweight gold will be on the line at Cage Warriors 178, as Andy ‘The Vice’ Clamp looks to defend his belt against former Middleweight champion, James Webb.
The 205lbs clash will go down on September 21 at the BEC Arena,
Clamp will be looking to make his first title defence in the same venue he claimed the belt. At Cage Warriors 168, ‘The Vice’ faced Matthew Byfield in the main event of the evening, for the vacant Light Heavyweight title. The two were originally scheduled to meet at Cage Warriors 156 but Byfield was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury.
When the fight eventually rolled around, Clamp’s slick ground game proved to be too much for the Renegade man, as he meticulously ground down Byfield over the first two rounds before tying up a rear naked choke in the third round and getting the tap. The win saw the Blackledge MMA man claim his first major title after a decade of competing in the sport.
Webb will be hoping he can return to the form he started his Cage Warriors tenure in. After signing with the promotion in 2018, Webb found himself competing for the Middleweight title within the space of a year. After three stoppage wins, he faced Thomas Robertsen at Cage Warriors 102. The Team KF man was crowned Middleweight champion with a second round submission win.
After the first fight between the two was ruled a majority draw, Webb dropped the belt to Nathias Frederick at Cage Warriors 111. Two wins against Mick Stanton and Craig White shot him back towards title contention but Matthew Bonner and Leon Aliu had other ideas and handed Webb the first back to back losses of his career. A win against Paddy McCrorry then set up a rematch with Stanton, who was Middleweight champion at the time.
In what turned into a Cage Warriors classic, for as long as it lasted, Webb came flying out of the gates, had Stanton hurt. However, ‘The Huyton Hammer’ dug deep and pulled the fight out of the fire to stop Webb just moments later. Since then, Webb has fought once when he beat Adam Biegański at Cage Warriors 174.
If Webb is victorious on September 21, he will become one of only a few athletes to become a Cage Warriors two weight world champion. The company he would be joining would be the likes of Conor McGregor, Dan Hardy and Mason Jones.
Previewing the contest Cage Warriors president Graham Boylan said:
“We've got two big guys with big pedigrees going at it for the light heavyweight title at the BEC Arena. Andy Clamp has scaled the mountain of Cage Warriors, and he's going to have the home crowd behind him for his first defence in Manchester."
"He'll have an excellent challenger in James Webb, who's walking into enemy territory in pursuit of a second world title. We're going to have a real North versus South clash on our hands at CW 178!"
At the time of writing, no other bouts have been announced for Cage Warriors 178.
