This Saturday, Cage Warriors returns to the MMA scene as their 55th card takes place in Dublin, Ireland. The card is headlined by a Welterweight Title fight as Cathal Pendred takes on UFC veteran Che Mills with the backing of his hometown fans. There are also a couple of interesting undercard fights, as Neil Seery, who has looked very impressive in his run at Flyweight, takes on Finnish prospect Mikael Silander for the inaugural Cage Warriors Flyweight Title. Also, Middleweights Chris Fields and Norman Paraisy will square off in a bout that could have some title implications. Paraisy has only lost when he has come over to North America, and Fields has only dropped fights recently to the top two Middleweights in the Cage Warriors organization. Today, MMA Oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting lines for the main card fights at Several Bookmakers. Check those lines out here: ——————– Welterweight Title Che Mills -155 (c) Cathal Pendred +115 Flyweight Title Mikael Silander -245 Neil Seery +175 Norman Paraisy -210 Chris Fields +160 Paul Redmond -260 Marc Allen +180 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: The main event is one of the rare occasions where we see a defending champion as an underdog, but given that Che Mills is fresh off of a stint in the UFC, there is the perception that he is the more highly ranked fighter. I have to say that I disagree with the line here, but I’m going to hold off on a bet as I think the public will take Mills even higher because of his UFC notoriety. Pendred is very much a grinder, and those have been the type of fighters that Mills has struggled against, as evidenced in his last fight with Matt Riddle. The difference is that Pendred is a smarter fighter than Riddle, so there isn’t the same worry that he might brawl with a superior striker. Norman Paraisy also seems like a very likely winner, given that he has faced a higher level of competition in his career and fared relatively well against those fighters. For a fighter who has been labelled a quitter, his durability will be key here, as Fields has never seen a decision, win or lose, and cardio could play a factor late, not that Paraisy is exemplary in that area. One of my strategies for betting regional MMA is looking for small to moderate favorites who are still undervalued and parlaying them, so I might look to put Paraisy together with some fighters on either Legacy FC 20 or ONE FC 9 if I like the looks of those odds.
