On Friday, Mar. 21 Cage Warriors hosted Cage Warriors 186: Hardwick vs. Garcia, live from Indigo at the O2 Arena in London, England. The event featured a CW Featherweight title match in the main event with champion Harry Hardwick fighting Javier Garcia.
The UK’s Hardwick had defended the title once since wresting it away from Orlando Wilson Prins, via TKO, in 2024. Garcia is an LFA veteran who won his Cage Warriors debut last year, beating Roberto Hernandez via split decision.
Cage Warriors’ Featherweight title is, historically, one of the promotion’s most prestigious titles. That belt has been held by Conor McGregor and Paddy Pimblett. It’s also been held by two men who will appear at this weekend’s UFC London card, Morgan Charriere and Jordan Vucenic. More recently the belt was held by recent Bellator title contender Paul Hughes.
And this night the belt stayed with Hardwick. Hardwick was beating Garcia in their fight, beating him to the punch and spending plenty of time on top of him. In the fourth round, though, there was a clash of heads (initiated mostly by Garcia, albeit accidentally). The action was paused and a doctor deemed Hardwick unable to continue. That seemed the right call since Hardwick appeared a little groggy. Because we were in the fourth round the fight went to the judges’ scorecards. Everyone had it for Hardwick.
Tonight’s co-main event was Nik Bagley vs. Keweny Lopes, also in the Featherweight division. Lopes unsuccessfully challenged Hardwick for the title in his last fight, at Cage Warriors 181. Bagley totally dominated the fight racking up multiple 10-8’s en route to a win that surely sets him up for a featherweight title fight.
Also on the main card Will Currie fought a grueling battle with Eli Aranov, earning the decision thanks to some brutal ground and pound. The main card also saw Yannick Bahatie starch Charles Joyner with the first punch he threw, earning a four-second knockout. The punch looked like just a feeler to test out range, but it was enough to drop Joyner and end the fight.
Tariq Pell vs. Ermil Xhaferi had an odd ending. Pell landed a ton of big shots Xhaferi towards the end of round one, before getting stuck in a guillotine. Xhaferi held the choke past the buzzer to earn a point deduction from Marc Goddard. After receiving that deduction Xhaferi’s face blew up like a balloon to prompt a doctor’s stoppage. This was the broken orbital bone and blown nose combo that we saw Eddie Alvarez endure many moons ago.
Ollie Sarwa and Yadwinder Singh opened the main card. Sarwa was able to trap Singh against the fence and unloaded with punches for the first round finish.
On the preliminary card, Samuel Silva dethroned George Hardwick for the Cage Warriors lightweight title, beating him by unanimous decision. Hardwick, brother of the victorious Harry Hadwick, had held that title since 2022 and defended it three times, twice by stoppage. Before that fight Jawany Scott got a standing TKO on Jonny Touma.
That wasn’t the only finish on the prelims. Mim Grubb survived a beating on the feet before taking Rhi Rhi Hudson down and securing a rear naked choke. And Joe Middleton escaped a deep guillotine from Craig Rawlins in the third round and less than a minute later scored an anaconda choke submission. He’s 3-0 having finished his two previous fights via D’arce choke. Israel’s Rafael Aronov scored a finish, too, he stopped Danny Blundell in a short lived, and rather sloppy, slug fest.
The event aired live on UFC Fight Pass starting at 1:30 p.m. ET. Check below for full results.
Harry Hardwick def. Javier Garcia by technical decision (40-37, 40-37. 40-37) – for the featherweight title
Nik Bagely def. Keweny Lopes by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-25)
Will curie def. Eli Aranov by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
Yannick Bahatie def. Charles Joyner by KO (punch). Round 1, 0:04
Tariq Pell def. Ermil Xhaferi by TKO (doctor stoppage). Round 1, 5:00
Ollie Sarwa def. Yadwinder Singh by TKO (punches). Round 1, 4:29
Samuel Silva def. George Hardwick by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) – for the lightweight title
Jawany Scott def. Jonny Touma by TKO (punches). Round 2, 1:56
Daniel Crooks-May def. Cameron Stewart by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Mim Grubb def. Rhi Rhi Hudson by submission (rear naked choke). Round 1, 4:13
Rafael Aronov def. Danny Blundell by TKO (punches). Round 1, 4:02
Kadeem Perkins def. Tommy Brunning by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Joe Middleton def. Craig Rawlins by submission (anaconda choke). Round 3, 3:00
Jan Masek def. Harry Shaw by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)