BREAKING: Joe McColgan vs Mason Jones To Fight For Vacant Cage Warriors 155lbs Title In London

It has been a whirlwind week not only for MMA but the world in general due to the COVID-19 virus. With much uncertainty surrounding which sporting events are taking place, Cage Warriors’ president Graham Boylan confirmed to MMA Junkie’s Simon Head that it’s “business as usual” for the promotion ahead of their CW113 event next Friday 20th March in London.

Boylan took to Twitter just minutes ago to announce that both Joe McColgan and Mason Jones’ opponents would not be competing at the event. McColgan’s opponent Rafal Macedo was forced to withdraw from their contest due to injury, while Jones’ opponent Yassine Belhadj is unable to be medically cleared in time.

This announcement left both McColgan and Jones, two of the lightweight division’s upper echelon fighters needing to be matched up. The natural move, of course, was to pair them off against each other. Fight cancellations are never positive news, but in this case Cage Warriors have capitalized on an unfortunate situation by adding a title fight to the card.

Northern Ireland’s Joe McColgan (6-2-1) will now face undefeated Welsh prospect Mason Jones (8-0) for all the marbles as the pair lock horns to dispute the next holder of the Cage Warriors’ coveted lightweight (155lbs) title, the same belt that Conor McGregor (and more recently Jai Herbert) won before signing to the UFC.

Looking at this from an Irish perspective, this is absolutely massive news. With Cage Warriors Belfast looming around the corner in May—an event that will see fellow Northern Irishman Rhys McKee fight for the welterweight title—a win for McColgan could result in the Fight Academy Ireland fighter potentially being one win away from a place on the recently announced UFC Dublin card in August.