Scott Malone, Josh Reed, Marko Kovacevic, Jack Cartwright to contest Cage Warriors Unplugged 2 tourney

Scott Malone, Josh Reed, Marko Kovacevic and Jack Cartwright will fight it out to determine the next Cage Warriors bantamweight champion on Sept. 6 at the BT Sport Studios in London, England.

MMA Fighting can exclusively reveal the tournament breakdown for the night, which was confirmed by Cage Warriors on Tuesday morning.

Two semi-final bouts will take place, both of which are scheduled for two five-minute rounds, with a third overtime round to be contested in the event of a draw over the first ten minutes of each semi-final. When the two finalists have been determined, a final three-round fight will take place to determine the next bantamweight champion, an honor that has been achieved by current UFC fighters, Brett Johns, Nathaniel Wood and Jack Shore.

In the first semi-final of the night, former promotional bantamweight title challenger Marko Kovacevic (11-2-1) will take on another man who lost out to Nathaniel Wood during his title reign, Josh Reed (9-3-0).

The next semi-final will see commonwealth judoka and the last man to face Shore for the bantamweight crown, Scott Malone (6-2-0), take on previously undefeated Englishman Jack Cartwright, who is set for his promotional debut on the night.

An alternate bout between another of Shore’s former foes, Ayton De Paepe (9-3-0) and another promotional newcomer, undefeated Italian Tanio Pagliariccio (5-0-0) will also take place on the night. Should the winner of either semi-final bout be unable to compete in the final, the winner of the alternate bout will step in and fight in the final. If any fighter in the scheduled semi-finals fails to make weight, a coin toss will take place between the two fighters in the alternate bout, the winner of which will fulfil the vacancy for the semi-finalist who has missed weight.

The first Cage Warriors Unplugged event took place in Nov. 2016, with promotional front runner Paddy Pimblett taking a decision win over Julian Erosa in the main event.

Cage Warriors Unplugged 2 tournament breakdown:

Semi-final 1: Marko Kovacevic vs. Josh Reed

Semi-final 2: Scott Malone vs. Jack Cartwright

Alternate bout: Ayton de Paepe vs. Tanio Pagliariccio

Cage Warriors