Cage Warriors makes its long-anticipated return to San Diego, Calif. on Friday, June 10 with a lightweight headliner between Jordan Bailey and Alex Trinidad on tap for the fans in Southern California.
Fight fans can catch full coverage of Cage Warriors 139 on UFC Fight Pass, beginning with the preliminary bouts at 8:45 p.m. ET/5:45 p.m. PT. The main card will get underway from from Humphrey’s by the Bay in San Diego at approximately 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
⏰ 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 on @UFCFightPass, all the action from #CW139 in San Diego will kick off at 𝟓.𝟒𝟓𝐩𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 (𝐏𝐃𝐓) this Friday!
🇺🇸 𝐄𝐃𝐓: 8.45pm
🇬🇧 🇮🇪 𝐔𝐊 & 𝐈𝐫𝐥: 1.45am
🇪🇺 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞: 2.45amhttps://t.co/H6qSHYpU2L pic.twitter.com/dCPDfDZF8W— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) June 8, 2022
Cage Warriors 139 Preview
Cage Warriors 139 was originally set to feature a lightweight main event between one-time UFC veteran and former North Carolina State University wrestler Max Rohskopf and Erick Sanchez, but a mid-week withdrawal on the Sanchez end nixed the fight altogether. Rohskopf was looking to win his third consecutive fight since being released from the UFC and is hoping to be rebooked again as soon as possible.
Instead, fans will be treated to a scrap between Bailey (6-5) and Trinidad (5-3). Bailey himself is coming off a defeat to Rohskopf his last time in the cage at Cage Warriors 130 and will be looking to right the ship against Trinidad, who is also coming off a loss. The Tale of the Tape is virtually even for both fighters, but Bailey will enter Friday evening’s main event three years younger than the man standing across the cage from him.
Bailey opened his career with stoppage wins in five of his first six fights, but has gone on to hit a bit of a wall having dropped four of his last five. The defeat to Rohskopf also erased a three-plus-year layoff for Bailey, and Friday will mark his first fight in eight months. Trinidad, meanwhile, will be fighting for the first time in 10 months and while he lacks the early-professional career success of his opponent, he did manage to start his amateur career 5-0, showing promise as a well-rounded mixed martial artist. While he has sustained three defeats as a professional, one of Trinidad’s losses came at the hands of Gabe Green, who is coming off consecutive wins in the UFC. He will now look to get his career back on the winning track, and an inside-the-distance victory over Bailey would do just that with Cage Warriors 139 being among the biggest platforms either fighter has seen yet.
Friday’s co-main event will feature a 160-pound catchweight fight between Cesar Gonzalez and Jamey Lynch. Lynch, 4-2, fought on the promotion’s last trip to San Diego, winning a technical decision over Albert Lee in a fight that went to judges’ scorecards prematurely. He is a pupil of retired UFC fan favorite Chris Leben, who will coincidentally be back in the cage himself on Friday night – as a referee – for the first time in a professional setting. A local of San Diego, Lynch will be looking to make a name for himself at Gonzalez’s expense. The 4-4 Gonzalez comes from a small gym in Viejo, California called Nobody MMA, but enters Friday’s co-main event coming off consecutive victories for the first time in his career, the last of which came at Cage Warriors 130. In a matchup of recent winners, fight fans can expect more of a marathon than a sprint, with eight of two fighters’ coming in fights that reached the judges’ scorecards.
In addition to the feature fights, Cage Warriors 139 will also feature a fun main card. Featherweight Elijah Leggett, who made his professional debut back in February, will look to start his MMA career 4-0 when he takes on former Dragon House featherweight champion Brandon Laroco (6-2). Light heavyweight Armando Murillo Jr. will also look to add another stoppage to his resume when he meets a game opponent in Elijah Harris. Bantamweight and welterweight collisions are set to open the main card, with Dana White’s Contender Series alum Junior Cortez, brother of UFC women’s bantamweight Tracy Cortez set to take on James Settle. Hawaiian Kona Oliveira is ticketed for a fight with former North Carolina Tarheel Chasen Blair, who, like Lynch, is a local of San Diego.
A featherweight bout between Michael O’Leary and Roberto Hernandez is set to headline the prelims, and lightweight Bill Wilson will open the show with a fight against former Lynch opponent Lee. Sandwiched between the aforementioned fights will be welterweight and flyweight scraps, the former of which will be contested between Hakaraia Wilson and Tyler Scoto in what should be a competitive fight. The evening’s lone flyweight fight will pit the 2-0 John Andrus against David Lopez, who compiled an 8-1 record as an amateur.
Which fight are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comments section below!
