Cage Warriors 193: George Hardwick gets new opponent as full fight card confirmed for Newcastle

The Cage Warriors cage returns to Newcastle this weekend for Cage Warriors 193, where a stacked lineup of fight will play out in front of a packed crowd at the Vertu Arena.

The event will be headlined by a matchup between former Cage Warriors lightweight champion George Hardwick, who returns to action against Brazilian grappling ace Nonato Junior, who has stepped in on short notice to replace Belgian lightweight contender Jan Quaeyhaegens at the top of the card.

Hardwick makes the short trip from Middlesbrough to Newcastle looking to get back on track after losing his Cage Warriors lightweight title to Brazil’s Samuel Silva at Cage Warriors 186.

The Englishman was in his brother Harry’s corner at UFC Paris last weekend as he saw his former featherweight champion sibling lose his short-notice Octagon debut. Now it’s his turn to step into the cage, and he’ll be determined to get back into the win column in a bid to eventually join his little brother in the UFC.

Junior, meanwhile, arrives on short notice looking to claim the biggest win of his career. The Brazilian has claimed 12 of his 14 career wins by submission, with none of his wins coming by KO or TKO. It means there’s no secret where he’ll be looking to take the fight. But in Hardwick, he faces a seasoned former champion with nasty striking skills who will look to punish him on the way in.

In the co-main event, Scottish lightweight veteran Chris Bungard takes on Italy’s Simone Patrizi. Bungard is in red-hot form, having finished his last two opponents by submission, with his most recent win, a second-round rear-naked choke finish of Arturs Leisans, coming at Cage Warriors 187 in April.

Now “The Bad Guy” heads to Newcastle looking to make it three in a row as he faces Patrizi, who is looking to rediscover his promising early form. “The White Shark” arrived in Cage Warriors as a 5-1 prospect and claimed a third-round TKO victory on his promotional debut at Cage Warriors 154 back in May 2023.

Since then, though, he’s struggled to maintain that form, and has lost three of his last four, with losses to Dumitru Girlean, Konstantinos Ntelis and Adam Shelly offset by a lone win over Diego Dickson. He’ll be looking to get back to winning ways with victory over one of the most respected names in Scottish MMA.

Also set for action in Newcastle is rising lightweight star George Staines. The undefeated Englishman impressed in a six-fight run for European promotion OKTAGON MMA. Now he’s joined Cage Warriors, where he’ll be looking to build on his 6-0 record to put himself in position to eventually make the leap to the world stage.

He’s taking on Brazil’s Willian Batista, who has three times the experience of Staines, and heads into the bout on a four-fight win streak. The 26-year-old will make his Cage Warriors debut looking to make an instant impact by ending Staines’ unbeaten record and announcing himself as a 155-pounder to watch in the coming months.

Cage Warriors 193 streams live internationally on UFC Fight Pass.