Cage Warriors 64 set for promotion’s first show of 2014 on Feb. 15 in London

After a promotional record-breaking 2013 that saw it host 14 fight cards across seven countries, Cage Warriors Fighting Championship has set its first event of 2014 for next month.

Cage Warriors 64 will take place in familiar territory on Feb. 15 at The Forum in London. The promotion put on four cards at the same venue in 2013. The main card will stream live on MMAjunkie following prelims on Cage Warriors’ Facebook page.

Ahead of the card, Cage Warriors has announced the first four bouts for the event. James Pennington (9-1) will take on Cory Tait (7-2) in a bantamweight contenders bout; David Lee (12-9) takes on Nad Narimani (6-1) at featherweight; Spencer Hewitt (10-7) meets Scott Pooley (6-4-1) at flyweight; and recent debutants Laura Howarth (1-0) and Amanda Kelly (1-0) fight in a women’s bantamweight bout.

Precise placement on the card has not been announced for any of the fights.

Pennington was set for a bantamweight title shot this past September, but had to miss the fight with an injury suffered in the opening round of the one-night 135-pound tournament at Cage Warriors 59. He’ll go after his fourth straight win and is 2-0 under the Cage Warriors banner. Seven of his nine career wins have come by submission, including two armbar wins in 2013. Tait will fight for Cage Warriors for the first time since his pro debut, an armbar win over John Brightwell at Cage Warriors 38 in October 2010. This past April, he avenged a prior loss to Hewitt with a first-round knockout for Ultimate Challenge MMA, giving him three straight stoppage wins.

London’s Lee, a two-time UFC veteran at lightweight (he was stopped by Tyson Griffin and Junior Assuncao with rear-naked chokes at UFC 63 and UFC 70, respectively), will make his Cage Warriors debut looking for his fourth win in five fights. Since a rough stretch that saw him lose three of four, he has won three of four, all by first-round submission. Narimani in October picked up his first Cage Warriors win when he submitted Athinodoros Michailidis with a first-round rear-naked choke at Cage Warriors 60. That got him back on track after the first loss of his pro career, a split-decision setback against Graham Turner at Cage Warriors 56, his promotional debut.

Hewitt would like nothing better than to get 2014 off on the right foot after going 0-3 in 2013. He has four straight losses and five in his past six fights, and all four blemishes on his current skid have been first-round stoppages. In December, he tapped out to punches against Paul Marin at Cage Warriors 61. At Cage Warriors 60, he was submitted by Bryan Creighton. Pooley will be makin this promotional debut looking for a return to the win column, himself. In November, he was submitted by Steve McCombe at Shock n Awe 15 in England. That loss snapped a three-fight winning streak of first-round submissions for the Brit.

Howarth had a successful pro debut at Cage Warriors 62 a month ago, picking up a split-decision win over Emma Delaney. Kelly, from Scotland, also made her pro debut under the promotion’s banner, but did so more decisively. She stopped Hannah Stephens with a first-round knockout stemming from a knee at Cage Warriors 60 this past October.

More additions to Cage Warriors 64 are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. The current fight card includes:

• James Pennington vs. Cory Tait
• David Lee vs. Nad Narimani
• Spencer Hewitt vs. Scott Pooleyt
• Laura Howarth vs. Amanda Kelly

For the latest on Cage Warriors 64, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: James Pennington)