Cage Warriors 53 comes to us live from Glasgow, Scotland and will be broadcast on MMAjunkie.com and the Cage Warriors Facebook page on Saturday, April 13th. The event will crown a featherweight champion with the departure of Conor McGregor to the UFC, and has plenty of other fights worthy of the eyeballs of MMA fans across the globe. In the night’s main event, Joni Salovaara (12-5) looks to spoil the shot at the title which Jim Alers (9-1) has been working towards for some time, and these two have every reason to make this a hell of a fight. Cage Warriors is known for putting on memorable main events, so this should fit the bill nicely. Salovaara has won ten of his last eleven fights after losing four of his first six fights and has the propensity of being a grinder. Alers is a BJJ wiz who has seven subs and 2 TKOs in his nine wins, and is constantly looking for the finish. Will Alers finally get his belt after waiting for Conor McGregor only to be injured not once but twice? Oddsmakers and the public both think so, as Alers opened as a large -370 favorite (bet $370 to win $100) and has climbed to a -475 favorite at Several Bookmakers. Salovaara has moved from an opening line of +260 (bet $100 to win $260) up to +325. Next up, the great Joanne Calderwood (5-0) looks to bring her hard-hitting Muay Thai skills to Sally Krumdiack (9-6) with the ferocity she’s become known for. Calderwood is a few more highlights away from being recognized on the international stage, and frankly could be the next fruit plucked from the Cage Warriors tree by the UFC. Krumdiack isn’t a pushover, but this is Calderwood’s fight to win. She’s jumped into her MMA training with both feet, and although she can’t be considered a fantastic grappler, she can still win a fight in a myriad of ways. Of all the MMA fights taking place this weekend, Calderwood is by far the largest favorite. She opened at -420, and has been bet up all the way to -1050. On the other side, Krumdiack has moved from a +300 underdog to +550. A battle of grapplers is next, with Chris Scott (6-1) taking on Mats Nilsson (9-2-1). Both of these fighters have impressed of late, with Nilsson losing only to TUF 17’s Tor Troeng in his last half-dozen fights, while Chris Scott is riding a five-fight win streak. Between these two men there are eleven submission wins, so it may be a case of testing their stand up against each other, or we’ll find out who the best grappler is between these two middleweights. There hasn’t been much movement from the opening line of Nilsson -350 and Scott +250. Up next are the lightweights Jason Cooledge (7-3) and Jason Ball (19-11) in a stylistic matchup of striker vs. grappler. Expect Ball to go for the big punch while Cooledge will attempt to implement his better ground skills. That isn’t to say Ball has no ground skills, quite the opposite, but he relies on his strengths first and foremost. Ball has been a mainstay of the British MMA scene for many years, and has fought some of the biggest names to come out of the UK. He hasn’t had the best of success against those fighters, but the experienced he’s accrued is enough to make him a -185 favorite in this bout. Cooledge sits at +145. Flyweights take to the Cage with Neil Seery (11-9) attempting to edge into a possible flyweight tournament birth by defeating Paul Marin (5-2). Marin is off a fight of the night loss, and hopes to take advantage of the holes in Seery’s ground game. Although Seery is a well-rounded fighter offensively, he has most of his losses by submission. Marin is a solid striker and has good ground skills, so this will be a tough test for Seery, who is looking to string together two wins for the first time in over three years. Marin opened as a -160 favorite, with the comeback on Seery +120, and that’s where the line remains. Former Shock n’ Awe bantamweight champion, James Pennington (6-1) will take on local fighter James Doolan (17-8-2). Doolan has been submitted in the past, while submissions are Pennington’s strength, meaning this could be a short night for the veteran Doolan if he doesn’t play his cards right. Despite that stylistic interplay which could benefit Pennington, he opened and remains the slight underdog at +100 to the more experienced Doolan’s -140.
