We’re fast approaching the inaugural Samurai Fighting Championship event, set to go down in Ebbw Vale, South Wales on October 14th. The promotion’s recent rebrand is set to include higher stakes and greater rewards for its amateur, and now, professional fighters. Here’s what you can expect from Samurai’s exciting future.
The Rebrand
Cage Warriors Academy Wales was arguably the largest amateur promotion in all of Wales. It saw some of the biggest names in British MMA feature on its many events. In the 10th show back in June of this year, it was announced that the promotion would be rebranding. And just like that, Samurai Fighting Championship was born.
It’s understood that the reason for the change was down to the promotion’s desire to match professionals for their events, as well as amateurs. However, we are yet to get a full explanation from those in charge.
Fans can still expect to see the majority the names that they’re used to seeing from past events going forward. In fact, it would seem that the promotion will be carrying their amateur champions over to SFC. Ellis Clement and Dan Kitchen are both set to defend their titles on October 14th.
Samurai Fighting Championships Pro Fights
SFC’s first event is set to go down with over 20 bouts currently confirmed. Headlining the event will be Welsh powerhouse, Stephanie Evans, as she takes on Dutch competitor, Ruby Mesu. The fight will be one of the few professional MMA bouts to be headlined by two females in the UK.
It has been officially announced that the winner will receive a contract to fight on the PFL’s European roster. Dan Hardy himself is set to attend and present the contract to the winner in person. The former UFC title challenger will be keeping a close eye on the event’s future as he continues scouting for future PFL cards.
The other professional bout is set to feature Scott Pedersen taking on France’s Mika Daboville in a title eliminator. Pedersen returns after his CW 156 win in July, where he secured his third successive first round finish.
Going forward, we can expect to see plenty more professionals making appearances on these cards. Names such as Lewis Long, Josh Reed and several more expected to feature on the promotions November card.
Samurai Fighting Championships Amateur Fights
Despite the brand new inclusion of pro bouts, we can certainly still expect this to be a breeding ground for some of the UK’s great up-and-comers.
Amateurs such as Levi Batchelor and Roan Crocker, who are both looking at making the switch to pro fighting , could both feature going forward. Both men currently hold titles that they have carried over from CWAW, so it will be interesting to see if they get a chance to defend those titles before the end of the year.
October 14th will feature two amateur title fights as Ellis Clement takes on Befan Hall for bantamweight gold and Dan Kitchen faces Jarad Khan with the lightweight belt on the line. “The Future”, Ioan Thomas, will make his middleweight debut, hoping to improve upon his perfect start to amateur competition.
No matter what, it’s clear that, under the promotion’s new banners, the stakes are higher, the quality of competition is higher and your reason to be excited should be higher too.
We’ll be covering all the news ahead of the event right here. Stay tuned!
