Reece McEwan is looking to win the Cage Warriors bantamweight title in “true championship style” when he heads to Newcastle on Saturday.
Following Caolan Louhgran’s move to the UFC, McEwan will head to the Vertu Motors Arena to face Liam Gittins for the vacant 135 lb belt.
Gittins heads into the bout on hot form, winning four straight following a tough start to his Cage Warriors career. Meanwhile, McEwan is unbeaten since making the move to Europe’s leading MMA promotion, finishing three out of his four fights.
However, the Scotsman doesn’t want a quick finish when he faces the Next Gen prospect this weekend.
He said: “For a prediction, I’m not going to hold onto any rounds this time.
“I don’t think it’s fitting for this performance. I think what’s fitting for this performance is, it goes three ways – if I had a perfect, perfect way to finish. it will be a round four finish, a round five finish, or a five-round decision.
“And the reason why I said that is because I want to do it in true championship style. I want to go to the championship rounds because I want to look back and go and see if that was a three-round fight, that fight would’ve been over.
“I want to go and say ‘No, no, I won my first title in those championship rounds’ whether I lose the first three, I win the first three – I want it to be a finish in round four, five, or a decision win to say that I won the title in true championship fashion.”
Reece McEwan Discusses Spending Time at Shore MMA
In recent time, the 28-year-old has often travelled down from Scotland to South Wales to train at Shore MMA.
The Welsh gym has produced multiple UFC calibre talent such as Jack Shore and Brett Johns. Both of whom have won the same Cage Warriors bantamweight title that McEwan will be fighting for in Newcastle.
The Greenock-man credited the gym for helping his development in this time.
He said: “Yeah it’s been a huge addition to my training, my career. The coaches, the training partners, the environment – it’s been absolutely massive.
“The perfect way that I can describe the experience that they offer to me is, when I win this [bantamweight] title, I’ll be the first person in Scotland to ever do that, but you’re on the mats every day with Brett Johns who won it ten years ago, you’re on the mats with Jack Shore who won it four years ago, and when I sign to the UFC, I’ll be the first person from Scotland to do so.
“When you look at Jack and Brett collectively, they’ve had 17 fights in the UFC or Bellator – the two world-leading MMA promotions – in the bantamweight division. That’s the experience that they offer.
“But, obviously, Jack and Brett will be the big names that everybody points to, but they’ve got teammates and training partners and coaches like Carl and Shakey, they’re absolutely incredible and they contributed so much to me over the last year and a half and I’m really grateful that they’re taking me in as part of that team as well. It’s an incredible environment and world-class training.”
Reece McEwan Full Exclusive Interview
You can watch the full interview with Reece McEwan below:
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