Cage Warriors 51 recap and Graham Boylan interview

Cage Warriors 51 in The Helix on New Year’s Eve brought the curtain down on 2012 for Irish MMA. JOE spoke to Cage Warriors Fighting Championship CEO Graham Boylan about the event and more.

By Fergus Ryan

Since taking over the helm at Cage Warriors in 2010, Cork native Graham Boylan has taken the promotion from being a solid show in the UK to being the top promotion in Europe and the Middle East.

In 2012 alone Graham held events in Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Jordan, Bahrain, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. With Zuffa gobbling up competitors to the UFC in the US and nothing filling the black hole left by the demise of Pride FC in Japan, Cage Warriors has emerged not only as Europe’s largest MMA promotion but as a genuine global MMA power.

"It was undoubtedly one of the biggest years in the history of Cage Warriors,” Boylan told JOE recently.

Henry Fadipe (left) during his victory over Charlie Watts

“The promotion held 108 professional fights across 12 events in nine different countries; correct me if I’m wrong but there are only three organisations in the world that do 10-plus shows in a year: the UFC, Bellator and Cage Warriors."

It may be a little biased towards his home nation but the Irish dates seem to have been some of Graham’s favourites of 2012. Thankfully, it means Irish MMA fans can probably expect some more from Cage Warriors in 2013.

"Being an Irishman, the two events in Dublin were personal highlights for me,” he said.

“On both occasions the atmosphere was incredible but New Year's Eve was particularly special. Both shows really highlighted how strong MMA in Ireland has become and it's only going to keep getting better and better with the amount of talented fighters in the country.”

As Graham mentioned, the two events Cage Warriors held in Ireland in 2012 were significant and not just for his promotion. Cage Warriors has been a happy hunting ground for Irish fighters such as Aisling Daly, Neil Seery, Cathal Pendred, Paul Redmond and Chris Fields but one man has clearly risen to the top in flying the Irish MMA flag.

From left, Neil Seery, Paul Redmond (who defeated Ryan Roddy on the night), Andy Ryan and Niall Byrne

In June at Cage Warriors 47, also in The Helix, SBGi’s Conor McGregor captured the CWFC featherweight world title in a round and a half. In December he returned at Cage Warriors 51 to make history by capturing the Cage Warriors lightweight title as well. For my reckoning, this puts him with Dan Henderson as the second man to simultaneously hold an MMA world championship title in two weight divisions.

"Conor McGregor showed at Cage Warriors 51 that he's leading the way but there are many more following the same path," Boylan added.

"I'm looking forward to seeing a few more Irish stars of the future on Cage Warriors in 2013 because we'll be making another couple of visits to Dublin and we're also considering the possibility of a show in Belfast."

You may have already seen footage of Conor McGregor winning his second title on the site last week.

You should also check out the highlight package of CWFC 51 as a preview to the main card that will be screened on Sky Sports 3 on Wednesday, 9 January at 10pm.

Honourable mentions go out to Henry Fadipe of Lucan MMA whose stunning KO can be seen at 1.25 and Paul Redmond from Team Ryano who won via ankle lock that is a candidate for ‘sub of the year’.

Photo Credit: Dolly Clew