Cage fighter Martin Stapleton to face Soren Bak at Liverpool Echo Arena

Cage fighter Martin Stapleton

Local cage fighter Martin Stapleton is set to take on Soren Bak, of Denmark, in the Cage Warriors 88 in front of a crowd of 10,000 at the Liverpool Echo Arena on 28 October.

Speaking about his opponent, who holds a 7-1 record, Stapleton said: “Bak is a very strong grappler, but I’m confident I’ll defeat him in the grappling range or the striking range, so it’ll be a good test for both of our skills when it hits the ground.”

After serving 12 years in the Royal Marines, including tours of Northern Ireland and Afghanistan, Stapleton, a Physical Training Instructor, left the forces to focus as a professional MMA fighter. His record currently stands at 19-5.

In preparation for the fight, Stapleton, a former Royal Marines Commando, has been training at his gym, Full Contact Performance Centre on Queensway, SBG Manchester and Elite Boxing in Bolton.

He added: “Training is going really well. I have brought in some good training partners and some good training drills to adapt for this fight, which is probably the biggest European fight card of the year. If all goes well, I’m aiming for the lightweight cage warriors title fight next.”

Stapleton also thanked his sponsors Freedom Strength, Gambaru Fightwear and TT Gains.

The 34-year-old joined Cage Warriors in January this year after leaving rival promoters BAMMA at the end of 2016.

The Rochdale-based former BAMMA Lightweight World Champion wants to use his new contract to earn a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) by the end of the year.

• Martin Stapleton declares UFC ambitions after signing for Cage Warriors

Stapleton made his Cage Warriors debut in February’s ‘Cage Warriors 80’ event at the O2 Arena, London, where he lost by unanimous decision against Anthony Dixy.

However, he returned to form when he defeated Belgian opponent Donovan Desmae at Cage Warriors 85 in June by unanimous decision.

The top five fights of the card will be televised, including Stapleton’s, on BT Sport and streamed via FightPass.

Tickets for the fight are available at the reception counter of Full Contact Performance Centre.