Cage Warriors 47 is a card full of beef and bad intentions but we wouldn’t expect any less from the biggest MMA card on Irish soil since UFC 93. The Irish love a good scrap and they are guaranteed a slug fest when heavyweight champion Mike Hayes defends his belt for the first time against DJ Linderman in a rematch of their 2009 battle in which Linderman came out on top. A lot has changed since 2009 however. Back then, GSP was called a greasy cheater, Machida declared it the era of the Dragon and Mike Hayes was a terrible wrestler. Speaking to Cage Warriors ahead of the bout, Hayes in his own words described himself in those words exactly: a terrible wrestler. Fast forward to 2012 and he now believes he is an average wrestler, but that’s all he thinks he will need to beat DJ Linderman. He told Cage Warriors this:
“He can’t hurt me. He still has no power in his hands, the worst kicks I’ve ever seen. He’s tough, I’ll give him that, but he beat me before because I was a terrible wrestler back then. Now I’m a very adequate wrestler and my ground-game is so much better. I feel confident that I can beat him anywhere. I feel like I could finish him early if I want to, but I’m not going to. I’m going to hurt him. I’m going to beat him up and make him feel every shot.”
He says he doesn’t want to finish him early but his wife is in America right now trying very hard not to give birth so that he can be there for the birth of his third child so I’m sure if he gets the chance, he’ll try to put Linderman away. Judging by the weigh in video from yesterday , this fight is gonna be spectacular. You can catch Cage Warriors 47 via live stream today starting at 4pm EST on MMAJunkie.com.
