Darren
Stewart has Cage Warriors gold in his crosshairs.

Stewart staked his claim to a middleweight title shot with a
unanimous decision triumph over Matthew
Bonner in the
Cage Warriors 156main event in Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday. It
was the promotion’s first event in Wales since 2019.

Stewart, a 14-time UFC veteran, relied heavily on his wrestling
skills and was relentless with his double-leg takedowns to move the
action to the canvas whenever he felt the necessity. Former Cage
Warriors titleholder Bonner looked to punish his adversary with
punches, but “The Dentist” was elusive throughout the clash. “The
Beast” heavily landed in the third frame and looked to have Stewart
in serious difficulty before his opponent shot for another
successful takedown, disrupting Bonner’s momentum. The fight
reached the distance with Stewart controlling the action. When the
dust settled, the cage announcer revealed 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27
scorecards in favor of Stewart, who earned his third straight
win.

The co-headliner featured a bantamweight clash between surging
contender Reece
McEwan and
Leonardo de Oliveira Barbosa. McEwan (7-1, 4-0 CW) put on a
dominant performance over Barbosa (8-6, 0-1 CW), leaving very
little room for maneuvering to his opponent, who didn’t have an
answer to McEwan’s grappling. The Scottish contestant landed a
well-timed takedown that took him to a dominant position on the
canvas, following up with ground-and-pound action until the end of
the opening stanza. McEwan followed the same strategy in the second
period, constantly improving his position after taking his foe down
until gaining the full mount. Once there, McEwan poured a storm of
punches and elbows until referee Simon Small
mercifully stopped the contest at 3:52 of Round 2. McEwan is now
riding a four-bout winning streak and eyeing a shot at the
divisional championship.

Elsewhere, 205-pounder and U.K. circuit veteran Andrew
Clamp (12-2, 1 NC, 1-1 CW) forced Ghassan
Abdenabi (4-1, 0-1 CW) to tap due to rear-naked choke at 3:44
of the first period; up-and-coming bantamweight Jack Eglin
(4-2, 2-2 CW) stopped Rory Evans
(5-5, 3-3 CW) with punches at 2:53 of Round 2;and MMA Fight Academy
graduate Jimmy Quinn
(1-0, 1-0 CW) scored the fastest knockout victory in promotional
history after smashing Dan Kneil
(1-3, 0-2 CW) with punches 10 seconds out of the gate in their
featherweight affair.

On the preliminary card, Scott
Pedersen (4-3-1, 2-2-1 CW) submitted Yohan
Salvador (3-5, 0-1 CW) with a rear-naked choke at the 2:15 mark
of the opening stanza in their 145-pound affair; Milad Ahady
(6-1, 3-0 CW) crushed Marcondes
Bastos (4-5, 0-1 CW), who missed weight by 0.5 pounds ahead of
their clash, with a punch to the body at 1:10 of Round 2 in their
147-pound catchweight bout; Stephanie
Paige Evans (1-1, 1-1 CW) overcame Malgorzata
Tkocz (0-1, 0-1 CW) via technical submission after her opponent
passed out due to rear-naked choke with only a second left in the
opening stanza of their 145-pound tilt and El Hadji
Ndiaye (5-2, 1-2 CW) upended Marin
Vetrila (2-1, 0-1 CW) on all scorecards (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
in their lightweight clash.





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Darren Stewart Outclasses Matthew Bonner in Cage Warriors 156 Headliner