With Marshman called to UFC, Scott Clist vs. Martin Svensson now headlines Cage Warriors 79

With its home country headliner gone from the lineup, next week’s Cage Warriors card in Wales has done some late shuffling and has a new headliner.

185-pound champion Jack Marshman (20-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has gotten the call from the big show and will fight Magnus Cedenblad (14-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC) next month at UFC Fight Night 99 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. That means the Welshman is out of the Cage Warriors 79 middleweight title main event in Wales against Andreas Michailidis (7-2).

A lightweight fight between Scott Clist (11-2) and one-fight UFC and “Ultimate Fighter” veteran Martin Svensson (14-6) has been elevated to the new main event, the promotion today announced. There was no immediate word on whether Michailidis will remain on the card against a new opponent, or what the status will be of Cage Warriors’ now-vacant middleweight belt.

Cage Warriors 79 takes place Oct. 15 at Newport Centre in Newport, Wales. The card will stream on UFC Fight Pass and is expected to be finalized later this week.

Clist, from England, comes into the fight with three straight wins, including his first two during his Cage Warriors tenure. After 18 months on the sidelines following a win over Jamie Rogers nearly two years ago, he returned in April and got a TKO win over Brad Wheeler at Cage Warriors 75. And in July, he knocked out Tim Wilde in the second round at Cage Warriors 77.

Svensson, from Sweden, fought Jim Alers for the featherweight title at Cage Warriors 59 in September 2013, but dropped a unanimous decision. Alers went on to sign with the UFC. After a loss to future UFC signee Artem Lobov, Svensson returned to Cage Warriors for a decision win over Robbie Olivier, then outpointed Dave Hill at Cage Warriors 71 in August 2014.

He earned a spot in the house on Season 22 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and fought under coach Conor McGregor. In the elimination round, he submitted Thanh Le – and was slated to fight Lobov in a rematch from their fight in Sweden in December 2013. But he suffered a broken elbow in the win and had to withdraw from the competition.

Svensson did get a shot in the UFC, anyway. But at UFC Fight Night 84 in February, he was stopped with a second-round TKO by fellow “TUF 22” cast member David Teymur. He re-signed with Cage Warriors and now will fight under the banner for the first time in more than two years.

Michailidis, from Greece, has back-to-back wins over Arbi-Madaev in October 2015 and Ion Pascu earlier this year. Pascu holds a 2013 win over Marshman and also went the distance with former Cage Warriors middleweight champion Jack Hermansson, who now is in the UFC, in 2014 – making that win the biggest of Michailidis’ career. Michailidis also has a fight under the Bellator banner on his resume. But now he will wait to see if he’ll get a new opponent in Wales – and if he’ll remain in line to have a crack at the Cage Warriors middleweight strap.

The Cage Warriors 79 card now includes:

• Scott Clist vs. Martin Svensson
• Lewis Long vs. Che Mills
• Andreas Michailidis vs. TBA
• Eddi Pobivanez vs. Jack Shore
• Nad Narimani vs. Arnold Quero
• Josh Reed vs. Martin Sheridan

For more on Cage Warriors 79, check out the MMA Rumors section of the card.