Sean Clancy Jr. has a new opponent for Cage Warriors 178, in the form of Rafael Aronov.
The young Scotsman was originally set to face unbeaten American Jakob Scheffel but ‘Bubba’ was forced to withdrawn from the bout due to an injury.
‘The One’ will now take on Aronov on September 7, in the reserve bout of the Cage Warriors Welterweight PrizeFighter Tournament. The
The Higher Level athlete signed with Cage Warriors in 2023, after picking up two first round stoppage wins on the domestic scene. He made his first outing in the famous yellow gloves at Cage Warriors 161 when he continued his run of opening round wins with a Rear Naked Choke victory against Milton Afonso Cabral. Then, for the first time in his professional career, Clancy Jr. fought in front of a home crowd when he faced Lucas Rodrigues. In another first, Clancy Jr. was taken into the second round but brutally finished the contest with heavy ground and pound.
Aronov is no stranger to derailing the hype surrounding up and coming prospects. In his promotional debut 'The Cop' beat Ben Petches-Kelly with a first round submission at Cage Warriors 160. In his first bout of 2024, the 30-year-old fought Omiel Brown in a barn burner and although the result did not go his way, Aronov picked up a lot of fans in the process.
In his most recent bout, the Israel native beat gritty UK Welterweight Jamie Richardson by way of second round submission.
Clancy Jr. himself admitted that being in the reserve bout was not the outcome he was hoping for but the top prospect did not let it affect him and is fully focussed on the task in hand, and ready to step in should any of the four athletes in the semi-final brackets pick up an injury pre fight, miss weight, or can’t proceed in the tournament after the first round. On one side of the bracket, former Welterweight championship contender Omiel Brown will take on promotional newcomer Henri Lintula, while Bourama Camara and Marko Kisic.
Both Clancy Jr and Aronov still have the chance to win the Bounty Bonus, which will see them add $10,000 to their purse if they can correctly predict the method of victory and in which round it will come.
