Worldwide MMA Preview – Cage Legacy and Fight Night Medicine Hat

The first action of the weekend comes from Drogheda, Ireland with the first card from nascent promotion Cage Legacy Fighting Championship, the first fight is at 6:30pm on Friday evening.

Headlining the card is a lightweight bout between Peter Queally and Decky Dalton. Queally put together an impressive record with fights all over the world including Poland, South Africa and Italy and he looked to be on the verge of earning a contract with the UFC before a shock defeat to Joe McColgan at BAMMA 26 in Dublin last month.

The quick turnaround suggests he is anxious to get in there and right the wrongs of that night and prove to people that he is ready for the step up to the big show. Dalton is also coming off a loss, having been beaten by Gary Morris at Clan Wars 24 in what was the first defeat of his career but he has wins over Andy Young and Mike Cutting to his name.

Size disparity could be a factor in this fight, Queally usually fights at welterweight, and he was defeated the last time he cut to lightweight, although it must be noted that that fight was in South Africa and the travelling can’t help with a big weight cut. Dalton has fought as low as bantamweight in the past so we could see quite a size difference once they step into the cage.

In the co-main event Frans Mlambo will attempt to bounce back from a defeat in Bahrain when he takes on Ben Davis. Mlambo, who won gold at the IMMAF World Championships in 2015 now has a 2-2 record as a pro, with victories over Darren O’Gorman and Luke Ord with both of his defeats coming half way across the world, the first in Japan and the aforementioned fight in Bahrain.

In that fight he took on the 8-2 Stephen Loman and he had a lot of success with his counter punching and hurt Loman but Loman was able to secure enough takedowns to take the decision in what was a close and exciting fight.

Ben Davis is returning to action after an absence of over three years. While Davis has a modest record of 5-5 he has been in there with some well known Irish fighters such as Norman Parke and Owen Roddy.

Later on Friday night (1am BST) from Alberta, Canada is the bizarrely named Fight Night Medicine Hat 2, the main event features a fight for the vacant bantamweight title between Johnny Bedford and Jesse Arnett. Arnett is the local attraction and he is currently on an eight fight winning streak which includes a victory over former UFC fighter Roland Delorme.

Bedford had a UFC stint himself but it was plagued by fight cancellations. Since leaving the UFC he has picked up three wins a row in Michigan based promotion WXC.

Two familiar names will meet in the co-main event, Cody McKenzie will take on Joe Riggs at a 180 pound catchweight. Alaskan native McKenzie rose to fame on season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter with his incredibly successful guillotine choke.

Since leaving the UFC he has become more known for outspoken comments and subpar performances but he picked up a win in Italy over the summer so this could be the start of an upturn in form. Joe Riggs is an MMA veteran with his first fight coming all the way back in 2001, this will be his 59th fight.

Riggs had two spells with the UFC, with a stint in Strikeforce in between. His second stint was marked by an odd incident whereby he had to withdraw from a fight due to accidentally shooting himself and in four fights the only victory he recorded was a DQ due to a foul.